Seralph

Hi I am a complete novice when it comes to R/C so please be gentle with me

My problem is that I have a radio controlled bait boat for fishing which takes bait and rig out in a lake.

I bought it had it for 6 months never been used at all went to france used boat for 2 days then it stopped working
on my return to uk took it back to the guy that built it and he repaired it I tried it out and it seemed to work ok
A year later I returned to france only to find that it only works for about 10 yards then it goes out of control and does whatever it likes.

It has Acoms Techniplus 2 channel radio 27Mhz fitted I have checked aeriel is ok, tried someone elses handset, swapped crystals, made sure batteries are fully charged and I am now at a loss as to what to do.

I dont have any confidence in taking it back to person who built it.

If I were to change radio gear completly what system would you suggest I use.

Or can you point me in direction of problem

Regards Steve

mfr02

Had it been just sitting for that year? It is quite possible that you have gained some of the dreaded "black wire corrosion". Does it have a separate battery for the receiver? The wiring for this may well be suffering from corrosion. This usually takes the form of surface oxidisation of the strands, reducing their current carrying ability down to the point where any load radically alters the voltage that the radio is working on. This is usually most noticeable in the negative wire, commonly the black one, but the surface corrosion is also black. Sanding the corrosion away is normally a waste of time, as the corrosion has usually gone deep. It also travels down the length, making cutting back for a re-termination futile. As the radio relies on a stable supply, this condition gives erratic results.
Are the motor(s) fitted with suppressors? If so,are they working? Interference generated by motors is a prime source of poor range.

Seralph

Good Reply thanks
Yes it was stood for a year and receiver is powered from the main battery
I have just bought a seperate battery pack for the receiver this takes 4x aa batteries so will try that

Interesting that you say the motor can affect range as it was a new motor he fitted when he repaired it the first time not sure of it has suppressors fitted

If I were to buy new radio gear for it what would you suggest and what sort of range would I be looking at I am hoping for around 250/300 yards
Regards Steve

mfr02

Any recommends I made would be a bit theoretical. I have always run 27MHz, much of it Acoms and the odd bit of Hitech, and never any real trouble, apart from the occasional bit of black wire, usually traceable to me letting damp creep in and not looking after the gear properly (store in a cool, dry, well ventilated place etc.). The worst was an ESC that got the dread black wire on the neg power lead. As it was a sealed unit, it was a non-repairable item and got chalked up to experience.

Seralph

How can I tell if the suppersors fitted and if not can I add one
Which one is best and where does it go

Regards Steve

mfr02

Have a look at the motor tags. If you see a small flat component fitted across the tags, thats a suppressor, probably a capacitor of about 100uF. There could be more, one from each tag to the motor case. Some motors have them fitted internally - all you get to see, if you look very closely, is an extra bit of wire vanising into the innards. Sometimes chokes are fitted near the tags. These are small coils, sometimes air cored, more often wound on a short ferrite rod, sometimes on a ferrite ring.