my HPI Pro4 is not behaving!!! Radio interference?

[yellow15]

I’ve recently purchased a HPI pro4 and Novak SS5800. It’s really awesome apart from the radio interference problem that I could not mange to fix.

When my car is about 50-60 feet away (mostly at the far left corner of the track) .. the car responses very strangely. Sorry I don’t know what is the correct word to describe it but its like the motor is choking/jumping badly? and sometime the steering servo would lost control at the same time.This happens mostly when i apply light/half throttle and when the battery voltage starting to drop. When the car is close to me, I usually don’t have this problem. I have a TT01 with the same radio gear and i don't have any problems when i'm running it on this same track. So far I’ve tried the following things but none of them fix my problem:

1 Checked all the wires make sure nothing is losen
2. Move the receiver from next to ESC to the upper deck, then move it to the front bumper. Applied some electric tape on the upper deck to avoid the antenna wire from touching the graphite upper deck.
3. Checked antenna wire make sure it’s in good shape.
4. Tried new GP3300 battery + new radio battery
5. Switched to a different frequency.
6. I've searched the brushless forum and after seeing some other problem here got the same problem with the SS5800 and someone suggested the cheap AM radio can be the problem, I went and bought a new mid range FM radio to replace my old AM radio (which is working fine on my other RC) and again I installed brand new Alkaline batteries.
7. The new FM radio doesn't fix my problem and actually i think it makes it slightly worse (but not much).
8. As the steering servo was from my other old RC which is about 7 years old and i have to swap the +ve/-ve wires, i think it maybe the problem so i've disconnected the steering servo (just for a try)
9. Tried a few different frequencies.

This is how my car looked like at this point.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/yellow15/RC/DSCN0020.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/yellow15/RC/DSCN0021.jpg

So i went to my local hobby shop again and they suggested me to try:
10. A longer antenna pole
11. Move the receiver back to next to ESC (standing up)
12. Shorten the power wires between the ESC and the motor.

Done all but again none of these helps :(

I went back to my local hobby shop again and this time they suggested me to try a new servo, so i bought a new Futaba 3003 servo and installed it last night. Haven't got a chance to go back to the track yet but i really doubt it'll help and i'm running out of idea now so if you guys can give me some suggestions it will be really great.

1. should i replace the capicator that comes with the SS5800 with a bigger one? or would it make it worse?
2. i was suggested to use some tin foil to wrapped the ESC power wires.. do you think it will work/help?
3. Should I mount the capicator on the lower deck besides to the motor
4. What else should i try??


Sorry for the long post but i'm really running out of ideas and need help :(

Richard

[gizmoguy303]

I would put your receiver back where it was. I wouldn't try any of the 4 suggestions you concluded your post with.

Make sure your antenna wire doesn't come in contact with the parts of the chassis. A good way to install it in your antenna tube is make a small hole at the base of the tube and push the wire through that. That way the wire won't have to touch the chassis or the antenna tube mount.

Try the new servo and put the receiver back with the antenna set up as described. Some metal gear servos produce interference - the plastic gear Futaba servo you bought should be better. Try this and let us know. Good luck! :D

[yellow15]

I would put your receiver back where it was. I wouldn't try any of the 4 suggestions you concluded your post with.

Make sure your antenna wire doesn't come in contact with the parts of the chassis. A good way to install it in your antenna tube is make a small hole at the base of the tube and push the wire through that. That way the wire won't have to touch the chassis or the antenna tube mount.

Try the new servo and put the receiver back with the antenna set up as described. Some metal gear servos produce interference - the plastic gear Futaba servo you bought should be better. Try this and let us know. Good luck! :D

do you mean put it back to the front bumper? the guy from the hobby shop said because the front bumper position is quite low and the distance from there to the antenna pole is quite far away so it'll make it worse.. :confused: so you think that's not true?


Yeah i'll try the new servo and cut at the tube as you suggested and see if it helps.. any more suggestions guys? the track is not so close to my home so i would like to try a few more things if possible before i go there again.

[gizmoguy303]

No, put the receiver in the conventional position on the chassis. Putting it on the bumper isn't a good idea.

[xxxkat]

What radio are you using?? Never ever put your reciever on the front bumper..or any bumper.. ;) Put your antenna mount on the bottom chassis,for some reason when you put the mount on the top plate it glitches.. :confused:You should also try to keep your wires in order,makes it alot harder to get damaged.I would also stand the reciver on its side,and see how this works.

[yellow15]

ok i've actually already moved the receiver back to the main chassis next to the ESC and stand on its side (i.e. vertically) But why never put the receive on the bumper? because i'll smash it easily?

Yeah the manual suggested me to put the antenna mount on the bottom chassis but there is simply not enough room for it if i'm putting the ESC and receiver there as well. Esp the Novak Brushless ESC is so big :(

How about i tape the receive on top of the steering servo? then i can put the antenna mount back to the lower chassis.

[gizmoguy303]

The reasons of not putting anything on the front bumper should be obvious! :D

You can put the receiver onto of the servo with double-sided tape if needed, but you should be able to mount it on it's side and have room to mount the antenna mount as well.

[yellow15]

i'm running a IDP-X1 Synthesized 40MHz FM radio

The reasons of not putting anything on the front bumper should be obvious! :D

Doh!!! :D LOL

[mugenX5]

Try changing frequencies, longer antennaon tx, shrink wrap on the antenna before it enters the antenna tube, tying up all wires on the esc and elevating them above the chassis, mounting servo tape under every piece of electronics, check to see if your batteries are worn on the edges. Well, thats all I can think of, so keep us posted. By the way, I had the same car with a KO radio and never had a problem. In fact , ever since getting the KO, glitching has been nonexistent.

[yellow15]

ok i've installed the new servo, moved the antenna tube to the lower chassis (so it's almost touch the ESC), cut a hole so the antenna wire goes straight into the tube and not touching anything else.. separated the wires from the receiver to the ESC and servo (instead of just cable tie them together), mounted the capcaitor to the lower chassis as well (so it's further away from the power wires), and this is how it looks like now:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/yellow15/RC/DSCN0022.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/yellow15/RC/DSCN0023.jpg

I'll be going to the local track tomorrow and hopefully i can tell you some good news.
btw i'm just using some "normal" double sided tape that i bought from the stationary shop.. (the one that looks exactly the same as the servo tape apart from it's white) would that make any difference ??

[turbo_687]

mayb u need a new set of crystals???

[gizmoguy303]

The white double-side tape works fine, but can be a hassle to remove. The tape that you buy in the hobby shops seems to be much easier to remove. That's the only difference.

That setup looks much cleaner than the first one you posted! :D Hopefully everything will go well now.

[yellow15]

mayb u need a new set of crystals???

I'm now using a Synthesized FM radio so don't use crystals. But i did try a few different frequency channels. And when i was still using the old AM radio, i did try two different set of crystals (which i'm sure they are all good as i'm using them on my other RC at the same track with the same model of radio gear with no problem.) :(

[Mike01]

Glitching is almost always caused by the receiver. Try a different receiver. They're not expensive and an extra is always good to have around.

[yellow15]

Glitching is almost always caused by the receiver. Try a different receiver. They're not expensive and an extra is always good to have around.

yeah but i was using a AM radio at the beginning and i've now swapped to a new FM radio (with a brand new FM receiver) and it's not helping :(

[Prelude14WRX]

well, I had relatively the same problem as urs(look up forum"glitching....please help") I did all these test and found out that its the reciever/radio. I then got the stupid hitec controller(u lost a customer hitec ;) ) and put it in my street car. When ever that stupid controller/reciever had a crystal set near the number i had...it glitched in the same spot on the track messing up my lap times by at least 1-2 laps. I now am going to use an AM radio because no one at the track uses the crystals 1-6 and my old AM controller worked awesome back when i was starting to race.

So, my advice to you is try a crystal (or crystal number in ur case) that no one uses and is far away from others.

[yellow15]

The weather was so bad yesterday so i couldn't take the car to the track :( So instead I was sitting in front of my computer (and my RC) and searching the web for some "miracle" solution for my problem. It seems it's very very common problem and some people got it fixed (or minimised) by moving the receiver so it sits on top of the steering servo. So i did that and also shrink wrap part of the antenna wire (the end close to the receiver). Hope it'll help :/ But anyway i'll report back when the weather clears up.

So, my advice to you is try a crystal (or crystal number in ur case) that no one uses and is far away from others.

Thanks i'll give it a try but i doubt (which i hope i'm wrong) it's the case as there were time when i was the only one on the 40Mhz channels and my Pro4 still got the problem :(

[Prelude14WRX]

alright yellow15, tell me how its goes. Theres nothing worse than glitching(well, maybe a DNF)

[willmac]

Sorry, but I just bought a tc3 and was wonderin how you like the ss system and pro 4? Thanks

[Exe]

Hi,

i got exactly the same setup, my car looks like this, try it out, never have any problems except some strange driving place near big metal construction where other drivers are having problems also...

Sorry, but I just bought a tc3 and was wonderin how you like the ss system and pro 4? Thanks

I use gear ratio 7.6, and i've got too much power, unless i drive on extremely
high grip tracks. runtime is insane, something approx 15-20 minutes, though
when i drive, i do it without any drifting. Novak rules! No maintainance :D

[TC4RACER]

maby u should drive u car around in ur house to see if it has any Radio interference befor u take it to the track, maby u should see if ur car works with different electronics, maby ur hobby shop will lend u some

[yellow15]

the Pro4 + Novak SS is great! Good acceleration, torque and superb handling even i'm just using the stock suspension settings.

Took the car to the RC track again during the weekend to try out my new setup but my damn ball diff was losen and i didn't have the tools with me to tighten it up. :( But i still did a few laps anyway and it seems my radio interference problem is gone now :D
i'm not 100% sure if the problem is completely gone now as i was driving it quite gently (trying not to destroy the diff) but from the couple of laps i did, i didn't notice any weired response so hopefully it's all good now!

I'll go back to the track middle this week again and do some more testing.


Exe: How can you get 15-20mins run time!!!??? i only got 8 - 10 mins at most out of my GP3300 stick pack :/ This is my local track:
http://www.nhrccc.org.nz/nhrccc.jpg
Quite technical track and i'm running 7.03 gear ratio (34 pinion, stock 98 spur) Do you think the gearing is too low?

[SS Pede]

Exe, what radio are you using, and is it 75 mHz?

yellow15, keep us updated.

[Exe]

i got 29 mhz =] from hong kong :D
i use 31 tooth pinion. actually i don't know how i get such a
long run time... everybody wonders... me also...
btw, i neve use stick packs, they suck, also i connect wire
directly to the battery, and i have a high end charger,
futaba cdr-5000... :p

[gizmoguy303]

Dang, that is a nice track...:D

[willmac]

gizmoguy303 Dang, that is a nice track

AGREED