Worst RC Car experience ever???? UGH :(

[gtghm]

Ok I don't expect much sympathy necessarily but since I can still catch a whiff of the all too familure smell of toasted electronics in my room, I feel compelled to post my story in that I might find some comfort in telling it.
I am hoping it will have a calming effect on my overloaded brain.

For $225 US dollars I bought a used car from a guy off eBay.
I have to be honest that I did the deal with him off eBay and that it was a buyer be ware kind of thing and that I do not blame him, it was used, I understood that.

But since I have received the car I have had nothing but problems. Problems that would cause most people to start sacrificing chickens and stuff.

First there was the carb idle screw. I needed a carb idle screw for a 1.5 Picco RR engine.
I found out after many emails and long distance calls to the companies involved in the engine, both Piccos US distributor and their old one, Trinity, who is no longer selling the Picco engines or parts, that I could not locate a replacement carb idle screw for that carb.. So I am left with out a car that runs. I go to my LH to get a new slide carb, looking for an OS 2 needle for 60 bucks and get talked into a Surio 3 needle for 40 bucks instead, now, later, I find out why I got taken on that deal, 3 needles are harder to tune… I get home; get the new linkage kit installed as per the directions and stuff. Then I get electronics set up where all I have left to do is clip off the extra dog ear on the servo horn, and with the clip of the nippers snap goes the ear right into the crystal, killing my system. Before I figure out it’s my crystal I decide to look into the possibility that the problem is the gun and set out carefully dismantling it to look for any signs of loose connections and what not. The gun is an M8 that I got for 75 bucks. I would also like to note that I have built tons of computers and once in a while I have run into bad parts and stuff but never like this. I have several computers built by me that are out there running just fine so I feel that I have plenty of experience in the electronics area. In my trouble shooting I reinstalled the transmitter on the side of the gun turned on the power and smoked it. I still do not really know why it happened. I do know that the gun had been obviously dropped because the case was all cracked inside…
So I decide to just pony up with the big bucks and buy a brand new M8 and receiver from my LH so that I can get a fresh new start. Well the order got lost and I waited 2 weeks after I paid for it to come in. During that time I rebuilt the diffs and the rear bulkhead so the screws would stay in cause the carbon fiber plastic holes have been used so much they were stripped. So then I get that all done I go out to play and I loose the break spring and knob. Then just when I think I’m on the down hill side of things I went out last Sunday afternoon and my throttle servo just quits which leads me to this post.
I was trying to isolate the servo problem tonight and I went to turn on the car and as soon as I flipped the switch I witnessed a puff of "off white" smoke from my brand new receiver where the crystal and the power lead is plugged in. On further inspection the crystal has a brownish streak on the bottom where it meets the plug in point on the receiver. I don’t see any burnt areas on the receiver itself but the smoke really looked like it came from the receiver and not the crystal. So worst case, I have a shot receiver I am afraid. I only hope that my LH will somehow help cover this. I know I hooked everything up properly as I was just using it one minute where it was fine then turned it off and back on after a servo swap when it just burnt up. I don’t see any reason that it should have happened at all.

At this point I am not sure what I will do about this car. I really love the hobby. But I can not afford the money at this rate. I haven’t even mentioned the shocks that I bought to replace the broken down pieces of blank that were on the car, and the money I spent on an “easy-out” set cause the screw head for the engine mounts were to stripped out to badly to back them out with a screwdriver…. There is more if I need too…

Part of me wants to really, really give up, but then there is a part of me that wants to stick it out cause I think it’s a really cool and fun hobby. I don’t know what to do…?

Thanks for letting me vent,
“g”

[ApriliaRacer]

I feel for you....

I vented awhile ago about a "deal" I thought I got from a "kid" that worked at a local HobbyTown.

Traded a RTR Mugen MBX4 (original) for a partially assembled Ofna 9.5 Pro. I thought it was a great deal until I started digging into it.

Many parts installed incorrectly or in the wrong place. He used a dremel and one-drop glue to make things fit. All of which looked okay upon inspection but would never have held up under use. Leaking diffs because the set-screw wasn't installed, stripped screws on the diff forcing me to buy new diffs...

When it was all said and done, I had spent another 225 bucks just to get the buggy in the shape it should have been in if you built it right out of the box.....

[itdood]

That's what is commonly called "working out the bugs" and is half the fun :D

It'll be a source of pride when you get it 100%

As for ebay, live and learn. I would never buy something from ebay, IMHO, it's just too risky. Like in this case, if you had bought new it would have been worth the extra $200.00 or whatever.

[Breakin2]

Wow, I think I would have given up after all that. I'm impressed you've stuck it out. This hobby certainly has its frustrating parts, but I've never had an experience that can relate to that.

[cheerwhiner]

i would never buy a used nitro vehicle without being able to look at and drive it first. Customers say "I could just go on eBay" and I say that yes, you can, however we will charge you to even look at them when you bring them in. Honestly for quick stuff I don't, but the other guy will.

[packetdreamer]

rc hobby rule #84:
never take a used car from someone you cannot readily punch in the nose.

but seriously. i have learned my lesson well. after 3 "very much less than i expected" deals with used rc cars, i have decided NEVER to spend cash on a used car. no one gives you all the details about the used car. i have found that car condition is too relative. one mans "good condition" can be that the car still moves with you pull the trigger and give it a little push.

[HauntedMyst]

rc hobby rule #84:
never take a used car from someone you cannot readily punch in the nose.

lol Tha'ts a good rule! But I have to say, I've bought and sold lots of cars on ebay and the boards, as in probably 15 or so and only ever had a major problem with any of them except one, so either way you look at it, I'm ahead of the game and don't think it's fair to write off buying used.

My advice, pack up the new M8 and send it in to Airtronics and see if they will cover it under warranty. Then put the car away for week or so. Some times you just have to get things out of your head for a while before you work on them again. When your ready, do a complete rebuild of the car double checking everything, including your servos. Check all the electronics for shorts and frays. You'll figure it out.

[gtghm]

Thanks guys, Its not so much about eBay I think but more the run of bad karma, or what ever you would call it that seems to surround me and this car.

I have tried to go at this by just fixing the broken/worn parts happily but even when I pony up and get the new parts something seems to go wrong.

I mean the odds of this whole thing...

Now I'm really concerned on how to get the current situation rectified.

I know that I hooked everything up correctly. I can't for the life of me see any reason why it smoked. It should fall under the less than 30-90 day garranty, I hope, but I am worried that my LH will give me crap about wanting to replace it.

"g"

[HauntedMyst]

The LHS won't replace it, Airtronics/Sanwa will. There should be an address and number in the manual where you can send it in to.

[gtghm]

The LHS won't replace it, Airtronics/Sanwa will. There should be an address and number in the manual where you can send it in to.


Thats what I am worried about, I think that is bunk. :(

My LH should go to bat for me on this. They are the ones with the direct connection. Why should I pay them their mark up if I end up having to be the one to coordinate a replacement from the manufacture?

I expect that from an OEM type purchase but for a reatil one, I don't think so... Why are they there if they won't go to bat for me, the consumer, on situations like this?

If I can't get my LH to work for me on this then why would I ever buy any thing from them again? I might as well do all my business with on-line companies and then go direct to the manufacturs for problems.
In turn that should lead to haing to pay less for stuff too...

I hope I don't have to deal with this but it is my biggest fear right now...

Thanks,
"g"

[rocknbil]

"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all . .. GLOOM, desPAIR, and agony on meeeee!!! . . . "

Word UP ^ ^ ^ man that totally bites. As for the comments about retribution for the used stuff - I totally, completely agree with you there, yeah, it's used, take it on the nose, but what happens next is just . . . .well bad. The new stuff should still be under warranty.

A little tidbit that may or may not get you through these times. I've had days, weeks, months, entire YEARS like this. What I've come to realize is that believe it or not, there IS a reason for everything, even though it's not apparent at the moment. It looks like this is a test for you, maybe one of tolerance and patience, or maybe one just asking you how bad you want it.

The glass really is half full. Either that or just too big. :D

[gtghm]

Update,

My LH dosen't care to look at it. He will, but refered me right to airtronics if there is anytihng wrong with the unit and not the crystal.

Thanks for the support guys. I'm still not sure if i will ultimately sell my system and car or if I will continue the hobby but I am not going to let it go unfixed.

I know that the enviroment is static and there are no boggiemen or devils running around in my car, I do beleive there is a reason for everything. Still, a bummer is still a bummer and this definatley is a bummer.

I hope that it will balance out soon.

"g"

[TUCRACEMAN]

When I was 8 my friend drove my Outrage into the storm drain. I was pretty mad; but, my brother came over, went into the storm drain, and retrieved my car. Brothers are cool!
~Dave

[_HUMAN_CLAY_]

I hope the deal I just did on e-bay does not go down liek that.....

[HYPA]

Nice experience, luckily it only happened to you with an RC car. I purchased my real car from another state and ended up getting a pig. $5000 later it's still a heap of **** and I was told it was immaculate. It's pretty much my fault as I am too trustworthy and people like to take advantage of that, but still...........................I haven't had a bad experience with ebay or with RC yet so I have my fingers crossed ;)

[TrickSpeed]

Drove an hour to the track, unloaded everything. Set car on track, and proceeded to punch the throttle. The trims on the radio must have moved when it was in the trunk, because it was a little to the left when I later checked. Car got squirrely, I tried to correct, but ended up traction rolling. It ended up breaking a solder joint on the + wire to battery (3 wire esc). Didn't bother to bring the soldering iron, so i Ended up driving 2 hours total in hot weather, and my car didn't have A/C. So 2 hours of driving for 5 seconds of track time. :mad:

[mwcet8k]

Update,

My LH dosen't care to look at it. He will, but refered me right to airtronics if there is anytihng wrong with the unit and not the crystal.

"g"
That's total BS. You're exactly right about buying from your LHS. If they do nothing to help you beyond the service you could get buying gear online, what's the point? You support them and in turn they should support you. Period.

If I were you I would put all of your equipment away for a few weeks and try to occupy yourself with other non R/C activities. There have been plenty of times during my years of R/C when it seemed like nothing would ever go right. I've found that sometimes the best solution is to do nothing at all for a while, then come back with a clear head and give it another go. Nine times out of ten everything will go WAY smoother.

At that point, the gremlins will have gotten bored with your lack of effort and wondered off to drive someone else nuts!! ;)

[rocknbil]

This is not the LHS's fault, it's Airtronics policy. Part of it is to maintain "quality control" but it's definately at the cost of customer service, and the hobby shop is acting under their policy. The only way they could give you a new radio is to eat it themselves, and that's no way to run a business either. If they fiddle with it they void YOUR warranty as well as if you did it yourself.

[rccardude04]

As far as why your receiver smoked, what brand of servos did you switch between? If you had an older receiver, the plug polarity between the older sanwa style conectors is different from newer futaba/jr/hitec/airtronics z connectors. Might check to make sure they're not backwards on the + and - (black and red) wires on the servo.
Another option you may have, is to put this car aside, keep your new M8 transmitter and whatever servos that you have which you KNOW work with the radio. Get it fixed, then go pick up the least expensive kit you can find. Something NEW. This will insure that you have something functional, and you'll know how to take it apart and put it back together in your sleep after you've built the thing. It really helps.
But don't fret, it happens to the best of us. Maybe you're just getting your bad luck out of the way now instead of later on. Just stick with it :)
-Eric

[gtghm]

As far as why your receiver smoked, what brand of servos did you switch between? If you had an older receiver, the plug polarity between the older sanwa style conectors is different from newer futaba/jr/hitec/airtronics z connectors. Might check to make sure they're not backwards on the + and - (black and red) wires on the servo.
Another option you may have, is to put this car aside, keep your new M8 transmitter and whatever servos that you have which you KNOW work with the radio. Get it fixed, then go pick up the least expensive kit you can find. Something NEW. This will insure that you have something functional, and you'll know how to take it apart and put it back together in your sleep after you've built the thing. It really helps.
But don't fret, it happens to the best of us. Maybe you're just getting your bad luck out of the way now instead of later on. Just stick with it :)
-Eric

The servos were/are the standard futaba 3003's.
The reciever was/is brand new. The connectors were fine.
I took the reviever into the LH and they plugged in a batt pack into the power side of the reciever with out the crystal and the thing darn near burst into flames. The crystal socket glowed bright red and smoked.
He said that he had never seen such a thing. He felt that Airtronics should not have a problem replacing it. Its just a matter of me being with out the reciever while they replace it plus the cost of shipping.
I am lucky though in a way, in that I do have an extra Futaba FM 75mhz reciever that came with the car. It just didn't have a gun. So I poped in the crystal from the new/blown reciever and it worked just fine.
So all I need is another channel 66 crystal, cause I'll send the blown reciever with the crystal that came in it. Plus I will still need 2 new servos.
I have decided to go a head an just get 2 new servos, that way I know that the electrical system should be solid.
The conversation with the guy at the LH included discussing if the reciever malfunction could have caused my throttle servo to crap out which he replied yes but... he said that it's possible too, that the servo shorted and caused the reciever to short out... And throw in the fact that I'm using Futaba servos with Airtronics reciever and gun, Airtronics might use the situation to not cover the fix of the reciever... So since the possibility might exist that the dead servo might have caused my reciever problem I don't want to get a replacement reciever and throw it on with out replacing the other servo too given that it might fowl out later and cause this same problem all over again...

This leads me to think about desiging in a couple of fuseable links or something so that if a servo shorts or the reciever goes it dosen't take out your whole system.

Also that puts me in the servo market...

I have a couple of general servo questions.
My car is an on road 1/10 scale HPI, RS4 Nitor racer 2 to be exact...

Question #1) What do I really need in a servo? Even if I were to race?

I read somewhere that being an on road car that I really don't need a high torqe servo for the throttle. That high torqe servos are really more for off road and helicopter/airplane type stuff... is that true?

Question #2) Also what about digital servos? Do I need a special reciever to make those work?

I was wondering if something like this (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34056&item=5908731335) would work for me?

Thanks,
"g"

[rocknbil]

For steering, the stronger the torque, the less it's going to have to work to hold you in corners. You can probably do fine with anything 50 oz/in or better, you just want fast up front.

The throttle's a whole different issue. You want it strong AND fast, especially if you have a throttle return spring. Servos have to work so hard against the TRS as it is, standard ones will begin to get very slow after a time and stop working at completely. You want it to be able to pull that spring easily. Although when you pull it with your hand it doesn't seem that much, you have to remember it's all under leverage. I'd say the stronger the better there.
If you're not using a TRS, it doesn't matter as much, but the below still counts and you need some good pinch on the brake.

You DEFINATELY want it fast. With a standard servo, about .28 - .32 transit across 60º, give your RC a hard dry roll across the pavement and see how long it rolls from the time you hit the brakes to when it actually stops. I was getting 6 feet in my GT's. Going at full speed, that can be up to 20 feet (or more) just waiting for the servo to swing over and hit the brakes . . . hello wall . . . and to add to it it's working against a TRS. As fast as you can, I use a Futaba (9404??? 9204?? I am awful with ##'s) - .09 sec, 111 oz/in @ 6.0v, .11 sec, 89 oz/in @ 4.8 v. I get about two feet max on a dry roll. :D

[gtghm]

So what about the digital servo's? Do they work with any reciever/transmitter combo?
What is the advantage if any for use in an on road car?

What is TRS?

So the servos I posted about above are a little on the slow side with not strong enough?

"g"

[W33dM4n99]

Sorry to hear about that man...I feel for ya.

TRS stands for Throttle return spring...I hope you get all this worked out

[rocknbil]

Yeah 3003's are "average" - I think they're what, .28 sec and under 40 oz/in? Don't remember the specs. They're good little servos, just not fast and strong.

I didn't comment on digitals because I don't own any. I've read up on them and they're more accurate and overall faster, and I don't think you need anything special - they'll still work with an analog RX - their only downside is they use a lot more power than a standard servo. Heard some rumors of being more glitchy, but then also heard rumors of them being more glitch-FREE.

When I don't know myself I try not to say. :D