Technical Question
 

I bought my son a Tyco, Dune Devil Pro for christmas, I took it out of the box to try it out today and the controller is.... not sure how to explain it but when I pull the trigger to go or turn the wheel sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. it almost seems like the car is out of range but im right on top of it. it works/doesn't work every couple seconds.

I bought this on Amazon and dont want to go through all of the hassle to return it if there is something i can do to fix it myself.
Anyone have any Ideas?<br type="_moz" />

RE: Technical Question
 

Check batteries are good.

Make sure rfeceiver antenna is extended up the antenna tube on the truck.

Not sure if the antenna on the transmitter can extend or not, but make sure it is up if possible.

I looked that vehicle up and it states a 60 ft range, so that's not a lot if you are inside due to odd reflections from things. Try it outside and see if the range improves.

RE: Technical Question
 

antenna on truck was up, antenna on remote is a soft hose but I tried holding it up also, batteries in remote are brand new and in car was a brand new 9.6V which was charged overnight. I did try it both inside and outside.

RE: Technical Question
 

I bought 2 of them (one green and one white) they both act the same way, I put AA batteries in the car instead of the 9.6v batterry with the same results...hmmmm

RE: Technical Question
 

What frequency are they? 27 or 49 MHz? Mostly curious as I had that happen to me with a 49 MHz unit (different vehcile). Although unlikely, did you get the two transmitters mixed up?

RE: Technical Question
 

one on each freq, I opened them and tried them one at a time so no i didn't get it mixed up.<div>
</div><div>Kinda frustrating though i read some decent reviews for these (even though they are still in the "toy RC" category) and neither one of them seem to work worth a crap</div>

RE: Technical Question
 

1/ Now, I'm sure you don't want to do this, but I found it in the review section of Amazon.com:

RANGE! Range is horrible. The transmitter is powered by only two AA batteries. I originally got under 20 ft without a modification I describe below.

TRANSMITTER MODIFICATION FOR ADDITIONAL RANGE

This simple mod involves replacing the 2xAA batteries with a standard 9Volt battery.
This will void your warranty and you do it at your own risk.
I am able to get over 80ft with this car now by juicing the transmitter up to 9 volts. Here's how:
(1) Remove all the screws from the back of the transmitter.
(2) Pull the rear cover apart.
(3) Pull out the existing AA batter holder and CUT both the red and black wire to remove it.
(4) Solder or wrap a 9V battery connector (the "hat") to the cut wires. You can go to radioshack or cut them off some old electronic item you have.
(5) Put the hole thing back together (don't put the old AA battery holder back in).
(6) Insert new 9V battery. The battery cover will stay in as long as a 9V battery is installed; you'll see what I mean.
(7) You now have double the range!!!!!

Me again....I suppose you could temporarily connect a 9 VDC battery to the AA connections with some alligator clip test leads to see if it helps.

AND, only 2 AAs in the TX? Wouldn't take much of a voltage loss there to screw things up, so don't use NiMh or NiCds. Go with Eneregizer or Duracell.

2/ Typically, if everyting else checks out, the Transmitter and Reciever may not be aligned to "exactly" the same frequency. Also, the Tramsmitter output may not be maximized. Unfortunately, these are not things easily accomplished at home. Nor do I have the particular radio system, so I can't give specific details. Basically, it appears you may have to send them back.

If you know a friend who dabbles in electronics, he can tweak the frquencies by adjusting the receiver front end (potentiometer, NOT a tuning coil). Without test equipment, you move the vehicle back until the transmitter stops controlling the vehicle, and then make a slight tuning adj until it starts operating again. Keep moving back and repeating until max range is obtained. For the transmitter, they quite often de-tune the output crcuitry to the antenna. Typically, a slight adjustment of the second tuning coil back from the antenna (and you really need an oscilliscope for this, although you can do the "moving away" trick) can maximize output power to the antenna.

I suspect the day your two vehicles were made, someone didn't do the radio alignment correctly. So, I recommend sending them back. It's a pain, but there are lots of other "cool" RC stuff to pick from. A last ditch effort may be to call Tyco. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll send you two new ones with no questions asked.

RE: Technical Question
 

thanks Argess i may try the 9v with one of them to see if it helps (probably the aligator clip version). good idea to try to call Tyco and see what they tell me.

all tyco (Mattel) could offer is a refund, they said the car had not been manufactured since 2007 and they did not have any instock<br type="_moz" />