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View Full Version : i-series transmitter weaker?


russp
2007.04.14, 09:07 PM
Ok, so I got my Nascar I-series in the mail today. Set it up and immediately notice when running I'm getting some sort of interference since in a certain part of the track (RCP track) I am getting throttle glitch where all of a sudden the car speeds up causing me to hit the wall. Crazy bad. So, first thing I tried switching crystals, still the same issue. Next tried my MR02, no issues. Then tried my MR02 with the same crystals and the new transmitter. Some very minor issues (need to run this test more to verify). I then started switching back between the KT-5 that came with my I-series Nascar and the KT-5 from my MR02. When doing that I swapped the battery pack and the crystal so that all that differed was the transmitter. I did this while driving the Nascar.

So far my conclusions are that I get the screwiness in the throttle much worse when using the new KT-5 than with the one I got with my MR02. I checked the antenna on the car and the new transmitter several times and both seem secure. I tried to eliminate anything I could see as causing interference such as shutting down the nearby PC, turning off flourescent lights to see what effect they would have. I can't tell that they affected it any.

Ideas? Is the new transmitter weaker? They are both Kt-5's by Perfex. Is the new I-series more susceptible to interference or glitching? I do need to spend more time using the new transmitter on my MR02 to see if it really is the transmitter or maybe just the car itself and the slight difference in transmitters just exacerbates it.

Ninja
2007.04.14, 09:26 PM
sounds like the transmitter has a weak signal. You can boost it up on the radio if you want to take it apart. I did this with mine long ago and never had any problems with interferance untill tonight. :(

russp
2007.04.15, 06:52 PM
Transmitter appears to be crap. I tried it with my MR02 and I'm getting interference in the same spot on the track that I did not before and don't get with my MR02 transmitter. I don't know if this is indicative of all new KT-5's or just this one but if I was someone who had bought this as my only set I would be pretty ticked and be sending it back. I would like a KT-5 that works to go with this set but I'm soon getting an MX-A for the MR02 so I guess it's tolerable, just not very impressive.

shuter
2007.04.15, 10:58 PM
sounds like the transmitter has a weak signal. You can boost it up on the radio if you want to take it apart. I did this with mine long ago and never had any problems with interferance untill tonight. :(

What do you mean by take it apart and boost the signal?

Ninja
2007.04.15, 11:04 PM
you can take the screws out, and split the case. on the back of the board, there is a square pot that looks like the old frequency tuning pot on an 01 board. Looks kinda like [(=)] but the box is bigger. it is right above 5 horizontal jumpers. and just to the left of where the "on" LED is mounted. all you have to do to boost the signal is turn it clockwise. It will drain batts a little faster, but nothing to worry about.\



Edit, I only turned mine about half a turn. With only a 1" antenna, not even sticking out of the body, could run up to 200' away as long as I was out in the open away from anything high powered electrical.

shuter
2007.04.16, 08:45 AM
Thanks Ninja thats a good thing to know.

soulstice
2007.04.16, 08:50 AM
Where are you running your cars?

I had a similar problem recently. There was one point in my garage where every car on AM would bug out a bit. There's some metal on the door, so i thought there might be an off chance that it was picking up stray signals.

Lo and behold when i raised the door up a bit, the interference was gone.

russp
2007.04.16, 09:34 AM
Where are you running your cars?

I had a similar problem recently. There was one point in my garage where every car on AM would bug out a bit. There's some metal on the door, so i thought there might be an off chance that it was picking up stray signals.

Lo and behold when i raised the door up a bit, the interference was gone.

Basement. It's one corner of the track in particular where they tend to freak out, although over a wider area with the new transmitter and much worse. I turned off the PC that is close to that corner but left on the UPS so possibly that is what is interferring with it. I'll try cutting power completely tonight to the whole PC rack and see what that does. That, or maybe the builder decided to bury a bunch of scrap metal just below that part of the floor (not uncommon).

russp
2007.04.16, 09:03 PM
Basement. It's one corner of the track in particular where they tend to freak out, although over a wider area with the new transmitter and much worse. I turned off the PC that is close to that corner but left on the UPS so possibly that is what is interferring with it. I'll try cutting power completely tonight to the whole PC rack and see what that does. That, or maybe the builder decided to bury a bunch of scrap metal just below that part of the floor (not uncommon).

Ok, through testing and process of elimination I have been able to determine the following:

1) It was an interference problem, the largest contributor of which was a vcr plugged in nearby my wife had been using for some video conversions. If everthing electrical near the corner is shut down the interference goes away completely.

2) The KT-5 included with my I-series is definitely weaker. This may be just the unit I have but it's weaker than 2 other KT-5s. Ninja's suggested pot fix will probably cure this.

3) The receiver in the I-series car is weaker (ie: of poorer performance) than that in my MR02. I concluded this due to the fact that the I-series car always had more issues with interference no matter which transmitter I used in comparison to the MR02. Whether this will show up in race conditions with other cars and transmitters running I can't say, but it definitely appears to be an inferior receiver (not totally surprising I guess).

arch2b
2007.04.16, 09:27 PM
i don't agree with your conclusions regarding the i-series receiver as a broad characterization of the i-series in general but have no doubt you are experiencing real faults with yours. mine however has proven to run very well. it has much less noise and or twitch than any of my other mr-02's infact.

i never used the i-series tx on my cars. infact i gave it to my son to use with his awd drifter and i must say it's worked flawlessly for him. i've/he has used it on small tracks at home and larger tracks in a shopping mall and not had any issues controlling his awd.

i certainly regret your not exactly pleased with your i-series car. you can always import a japan nascar kit which i'm told comes on a normal mr-015 or just pick up the autoscales.

so far the reviews have been rather good. we will no doubt get a much more accurate reading on them as more and more reviews are posted though. this is i think the first bad review i've read out of the couple i've seen posted.

russp
2007.04.16, 11:25 PM
i don't agree with your conclusions regarding the i-series receiver as a broad characterization of the i-series in general but have no doubt you are experiencing real faults with yours. mine however has proven to run very well. it has much less noise and or twitch than any of my other mr-02's infact.

i never used the i-series tx on my cars. infact i gave it to my son to use with his awd drifter and i must say it's worked flawlessly for him. i've/he has used it on small tracks at home and larger tracks in a shopping mall and not had any issues controlling his awd.

i certainly regret your not exactly pleased with your i-series car. you can always import a japan nascar kit which i'm told comes on a normal mr-015 or just pick up the autoscales.

so far the reviews have been rather good. we will no doubt get a much more accurate reading on them as more and more reviews are posted though. this is i think the first bad review i've read out of the couple i've seen posted.

I'm still keeping mine as I think just a better transmitter (or this transmitter with the power upped) makes it run fine. Possibly I have a somewhat inferior unit but in any case it still runs ok with the right conditions. Hence, I would not say I'm displeased as of right now, as long as I don't experience any more problems. If it starts doing this during race conditions then of course I will be pretty upset but I'm guessing that won't happen.

hrdrvr
2007.04.17, 11:46 AM
It could be just that particular KT-5. Ive got one with a really weak signal. I cant drive more than 20' away from it without serious glitching. Ive got 5 or so KT-5s, so I never thought twice about it, until now :D All of my KT-5s came with standard boards (ie. not i-series).