TQ3 transmitter

[theant]

So I was running the maxx up and down the road trying to tune and all of a sudden the truck grew a mind of its own and at the same distance as the other passes, it turned and rammed into a curb. Nothing got damaged or broken and it was still running when I finally caught up to it, although it did nail that curb pretty hard!

Question is, why did this happen? I did replace the antenna tube the other day when it broke in half but when I inspected the wire inside the tube, there was no damage to it. Other thing is, do you slowly lose range as your transmitter batteries get weaker?? Would it make a difference to lengthen the wire? The batteries are a bit old now but seem to be good still. I am running the older TQ3 radio, and no I am not really interested in upgrading the radio just yet.....not til the new year anyways.

Forgot to mention that the rx battery was fully charged too.

[08kgraves]

as your batteries die you slowly lose range. by the sounds of it im guessing you dont have a fail safe? if not you should get one. then the next time you get out of range it will just put on the brakes.

[2010450x]

Fail safe is a must. Unless you upgrade to an tx rx system with one built in. I have the same AM TQ3 and had that issue when i first got my truck.

[08kgraves]

make sure you get the throttle return spring as well. i still need one myself though

[theant]

All good recommendations!! I will start with the return spring. So lenght of antenna wire does not really affect this then? I have seen guys with super long wires hanging out of the antenna tube. No I do not have a fail safe though. I have read about guys having alot of problems with their failsafes. Any good ones?

[08kgraves]

nothing but a good experience with mine. once it gets out of range say batteries dying in my remote, it just hits the brakes on me i walk down the street a little and once it gets a strong enough signal it releases them and i can drive it back rest of the way.
mine is made by dynamite. and it says race guard micro on it. plug and play easy to set up. cant remember if it was $20 or $25

antenna tube should be full length and as long as the wire comes out the top it shouldnt matter to much after that. mine comes out and wraps around my tube 5 million times and is taped at the end of wire and end of the tube to protect it some. the 2.4 system needs like a 2" tube if that with the wire contained in the tube lol.

[theant]

2.4 would be WAY better for sure. A decent setup can run you over 100 bucks though. I might have to look into that dynamite failsafe. Thanks!

[2010450x]

I have the same failsafe. At my lhs it was 25 plus tax. Just look at fleabay, you can find all kinds of good deals on there. Heck you can get the traxxas 2.4 tx and rx for like 34.99

[08kgraves]

the best deal i found on the traxxas 2.4 setup was i think $45 or $46 shipped.

[theant]

Still way cheaper than the lhs or Traxxas power up program. My lhs will do the power up for the tx/rx for around $80.

[08kgraves]

yeah, ebay can be awesome alot of time lol

[TastesLikeChicken]

All good recommendations!! I will start with the return spring. So lenght of antenna wire does not really affect this then? I have seen guys with super long wires hanging out of the antenna tube. No I do not have a fail safe though. I have read about guys having alot of problems with their failsafes. Any good ones?

The length of the antenna wire absolutely effects your range. Do not cut it. Wrap the excess wire around the antenna tube
and finish it off with some electrical tape or shring tubing to keep it from unravelling.

[Tankdg]

I am little confused, everything I read until now said the antenna wire needed to be fully extended. So how much tube are you guys using? One post said 2 inches and then wrap back down the tube. This does not effect range? If not I am all in, I keep breaking tubes. I was thinking of having it stick out the back window to protect it a bit more when I land on my roof.

[theant]

They are a pain when they keep breaking in half thats for sure!!! I am using a regular length antenna tube, but the wire only sticks out about a half an inch. So if I were to solder on a much longer wire, then this should help with range issues right?

[Tankdg]

I have the 2.4 system and my antenna is probably about 10" long. Is this the one you guys are wrapping?

[08kgraves]

My 2.4 is short tube no wrapping. It doesn't even come out of the body on my racemaxx or my slayer. My basher has the old am radio with a standard length tube. The extra comes out and wraps back down the outside.

If you boil the tube it will soften it up and make it more flexible. Try that

[theant]

Hmmm, so maybe the 2.4ghz Traxxas link system is the one with the 2" antenna? Funny cause my 27mhz am antenna is 10" long as well.

[Snook Man]

So if I were to solder on a much longer wire, then this should help with range issues right?

No, the antenna wire needs to be a certain length. If Longer or shorter than what’s called for, it will have a negative effect on the range.

[theant]

Really? I did have an issue with the wire a while back where the wire broke right off about an inch from the rx. I soldered a new wire back on and kept going. However the range has been pretty short from that point on, but I didnt think much of it. Maybe I should just get a new TQ3 rx or even a new Link 2.4.

How long should the wire be for the TQ3??

[Snook Man]

24 inch of 24 gauge wire seems to work well depending on the exact frequency.
There is debate over which works best, 27 or 24 inches. I saw no difference in either.

[Tankdg]

I am still confused. Are you guys saying one of these systems comes with a little short antenna?

[theant]

So I would guesstimate mine to be around 15 inches...probably too short then. Thus the reason for my short distance in range.

[theant]

I am still confused. Are you guys saying one of these systems comes with a little short antenna?

The newer 2.4 trucks come with the "link" system and that provides a stubby little antenna.

[Tankdg]

So no wrapping on my older unit?

[JLRevo]

I am still confused. Are you guys saying one of these systems comes with a little short antenna?

Am radios have long antennas. 2.4ghz have small wires. My Futaba's antenna is maybe 2 inches.


HTC Evo 4G on Tapatalk Pro

[Tankdg]

I have a 2.4 and a long antenna.

[Texas Wheelman]

From the factory the 27mhz AM radio receiver antenna is 24 inches long. If it's shortened, it will definitely affect range. Ideally, as much of it should be out as possible, but in my experience, rollovers can tear antenna wire that's exposed. When I ran 27mhz radios, I'd keep the wire inside the tube and bundle up the excess in the receiver box. I still had plenty of range and never lost signal out to 1/4 mile or so. Keep in mind that every situation is different, though. Radio interference, power lines, equipment starting to fail, all can contribute to loss of signal.

[08kgraves]

the 2.4 system has more wire than 2". the tube for the wire is typically only 2" long though. like on mine the extra wire is just down inside the receiver box. but because they get so much better signal you can just have an antena tube that doesnt even leave the body. then its way way way way less likely to get damaged.

[Tankdg]

I will be wrapping the antenna tonight. I was thinking about using shrink tubing but that would be a pain if i need to get to my receiver. But then again how often should I need to do that?

[theant]

So I now have a new 24" antenna wire soldered to the existing wire that is coming from the rx board. There is probably around a foot of wire coming out of the top of the tube. I wrapped the wire around the tube all the way to the bottom and taped it so it wont come unravelled. There is still about 3" hanging at the bottom. Is this how it is done or are you supposed to wrap it only half way down the tube and leave the rest hanging? What do you guys do?

BTW, I realized that the antenna tube pushed into the rx box and pinched/tore the antenna wire.

http://s1218.photobucket.com/albums/...t=IMG_5486.jpg

[Tankdg]

I wrapped my antenna last night and went out and ran it a little. I did not test the range since it was dark and cold but I did not have any control issues in the front yard.

[theant]

Unwrapped, mine had a range of a few hundred feet at least. I had my buddy hold up the truck and I walked down the road quite a ways and kept trying the steering. I had no glitching or issues with the range. I am just wondering if this will change with it wrapped around the tube a hundred times.

[Tankdg]

I would just try quickly rolling around your finger and taping the wad to the receiver box first. If that works then wrapping around the tube should be fine.

[theant]

Update: I took the maxx out last night and ran it up and down a street with no problems with glitching. I was able to get it pretty far, so range seems to be good still. Also, the range does not seem to be affected by the antenna wire being wrapped around the tube....

Next step, I am going to pick up a failsafe. Throttle return spring is also a good idea, but I would rather have BETTER insurance with a failsafe. I think that my lhs carries the Duratrax failsafe, anyone used the one from Duratrax?

[Tev364]

I have a digital rx tx that I got brand new on hobbypartz.com the fly sky one paid 35 for it and its awesome. the only thing is you have to set the parameters of the servos but after that its good to go and extra rx is 7 bucks runs 10 check it out and it has built in fail safe

[theant]

yeah, i thought of that, but a failsafe by itself is only 20 bucks. my tx/rx should be good still.

[Tev364]

but for 15$ extra you geta entire better system makes since to me to upgrade and run more than one truck for only 7 bucks each seems much cheaper then sell your old system. but its choice

[theant]

Your saying to upgrade to the 2.4 system? ya, that is what I will eventually do, but for now to keep costs low and because Iam getting a set of BB shocks for xmas, I will go for the failsafe first and use it on another truck down the road.