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Old 2002.02.08, 03:41 PM   #1
Draconious
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Antenna Alteration (improvement)

A while ago I thought I fried my Z.. I even saw smoke. Ever since this happen my range has been HORRIBLE I tried many things to get it back to my 60 foot and beyond range one of my expiremental antennas had... but it would hardly go past 6 foot before haveing a Zeisure (coin a new term hehe).

I thought maybe turning the dial setting on the variable resister under the PCB board, same side as crystal, the square silver one, might give me some range back. I saw absolutly NO change while changing this dial... I might have even turned it beyond its ability to function... it is likely broken now. But this could also be what fried too.. and it just aint worked since the deep fry.

I today decided to try to adjust the dial on the under side again, this is a hazard, cuz I do it with the batteries INSTALLED and the power and transmitter on.. trying to find a setting that wont give my Z a Ziesure. While doing this I remembered the tech tip for removing this dial, they said to solder the antenna to a different location.. so I touched my home made tool for adjusting this dial (a folded and cut piece of my aluminum) to this location (again risking the total melt down of my circut board, never said I was sane). When I did the Ziesure was greatly reduced... and this tool I was using was only about an inch long and quarter inch wide. I then got brave and started touching it to whatever else I thought might help, I found 3 places that reduced the Ziesure twitching greatly. But the one in the photo (will attach later) is the one that worked the best.

I got some solid wire and started holding it to these locations, eventualy while holding it to the sweet spot I chose I could walk my 60 foot distance from my TX with out the servo twitching more then a very quiet almost unoticable twitch, I could probly walk twice as far before it starts acting up...

The wire is half the diameter of the Mini-Z wire and was labeled GOLD WIRE, but I think its brass, or some colored stainless steel, its not magnetic but conducts heat and voltage realy good, the gold color does NOT sand off.. so who knows maybe its realy GOLD .

When all done and assembled my Z now as far as the radio is concerned works as good, and far better than, new! Infact I was running it upto 10 feet away with the antenna on my transmitter fully retracted . But when some one in other room turned on the hair dryer it started going nuts, so I pulled out my antenna and it worked again...

Conclusion is that when a Zs range is bad, the part that fried is likely that underside dial... although touching a wire, or conductive screw driver, or razor blade (I used all 3 in the past) to the sweet spots I found would determine if you could fix your range the way I did, but I dont recomend it because you will likely fry it if its not fried already, if you slip and touch things your not supose too... or the red black wires on the esc board cross (one of the design flaws).

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dracon...nnaByPass1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dracon...nnaByPass2.jpg

Each color is a diff sweet spot, one of them has a few places that will work for solder points.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dracon...SweetSpots.jpg
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Last edited by Russ; 2002.11.07 at 07:27 PM.
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Old 2002.02.08, 09:54 PM   #2
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Good job drac!!! now we know what hi_iq probably does!!! LOL Anyway, I'm willing to bet that round pot adjuster you fooled with is the rx filter. If you fry it, it won't let hardly any signal through. If you remove it, your signal gets through fine, but if any other signals are introduced (eg, hairdryer) it will once again go nuts!!

Props to you!!!
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Old 2002.02.09, 09:16 AM   #3
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Well further testing, working perfectly, still better then new! -- and that hair dryer thing was only because my Antenna on my transmitter was retracted... and oddly, it would only do it in one spot on the living room floor (hair dryer about 10 foot away), one spot about half a foot in diameter... while the hairdryer was on, maybe a pipe or someting was reflecting the signal at just the right frequency to make my car turn to the left . Once I pulled the TX antenna out half way to full, it went away, or at least was very minimal... the TV didnt do anything to it, my computer dont do anything to it (and my PowerSupply is definatly causing interferance but not seen on my Z), the refrigerator still does interferance, but only 10% of what it was doing when I first got my Z, the vacuum cleaner didnt realy do anything I noticed to it... its all good

Now all I have to do is fix a few structural things... and maybe rewire my power wires as per my other thread... and it should be race ready again!
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Old 2002.02.11, 11:23 PM   #4
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Still working... occationaly single twitch but I've yet to notice it while driving it... kinda hard though since I messed up my steering in another way -- might make a new post on that, it like dont want to turn when i tell it too servo gear collide or soemting.

And this antenna fix should work on any mini-Z... weather components were fried or not.. I dont know for 100% sure, but it should. I say this cuz I kind of worded it like you have to fry it in order to try it, but it is still a risk of frying it whle trying it .
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Old 2002.03.09, 05:00 PM   #5
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hi drac i tried to email you regarding this fix that you did but couldnt get to you. I tried the bypass fix and now my friend's car is good as new. it has much better range although at 15 feet with the tx antenna retracted it loses control. No problem with antenna extended though. I soldered the antenna point to one of the green sweet spot. My friend says he is eternally grateful to me. LOL.

Would you happen to have a clearer photo of the markings of the sweet spot that you have put up? I can only see the 3 green ones and faintly the red one although I am not sure if that is the red sweet spot. I can't see the blue one at all. Will the red and blue spots achieve this same effect
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Old 2002.03.09, 05:09 PM   #6
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Oops my site says red blue green... I used red green yellow heheh... will fix that later..

any way the points intended to be circled are the points on the board itself... points that are exposed, or directly attached to them with out passing through a component or shorting things out will work. One of the photos is a zoomed in photo of the same area... just not circled... I planned to get better pictures by now.. but I never did, those came out tooblury.. had to clean lense hehe...
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Old 2003.01.07, 02:49 AM   #7
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drac...

thanks for the lead to this thread... saw the pics on this thread as well as your own site...

i decided to follow suit, and tried it out yesterday... and it works!!! no more zeisures (wheels going left right left right uncontrollably, with no control over the throttle) beyond 20 feet!!!

the pictures show the board much bigger than it's actual size... so naturally when i took of the top... i said to myself... man that's really small, drac soldered it where???

i thought if you and jagr were able to do it... what the heck...

tried to practice the movements with an unpluged soldering iron... (i decided to choose the two points similar to yours) man my hands were really shaking...

enough practice, just do it!!! so i soldered it on with a 30 watt soldering iron and a really shakey hand...

whew thank God it was over... and thank God it works....

now that it's fixed, anybody wonder why the thing had limited range in the first place?
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Old 2003.01.07, 03:11 AM   #8
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hmm... now just looking at your site... would it have been better just to solder it onto the original positioin???
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Old 2003.01.07, 05:46 PM   #9
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You can do the original possition, but if the capacitor inbetween that solder point and the rest of the board is damaged its not going to work that great... the sweet spots are an alternative by pass, due to fried boards, and what not.. in some cases extended range over stock (but not always the case). Its primary need is REPAIR... its not realy a mod.

If you solder it back to original location and it works all the better..
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Old 2005.06.27, 12:14 PM   #10
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Need Your Help

I did the same thing Drac did, and saw smoke. My range is very poor now. I am trying to fix it, and saw this thread. The only thing is I cannot open the links for the sweet spots Drac talked about. Please help! Email at gobutai@hotmail.com
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Old 2006.12.16, 11:25 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gobutai
I did the same thing Drac did, and saw smoke. My range is very poor now. I am trying to fix it, and saw this thread. The only thing is I cannot open the links for the sweet spots Drac talked about. Please help! Email at gobutai@hotmail.com
Sorry to bring out the old post.

Do you guys know how to do the bypass for MA 010? If not, can anyone post the picture of Drac used to have illustrating the bypass dial? I really some desperate help : (
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Old 2006.12.16, 02:19 PM   #12
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The best way to fix it is a new PCB... even if you "fix it" it will never work as good as it is supose too...

In some cases the antena resolder wont even work... and with the new PCBs out this photo is very obsolete... the components are layed out different.
Whatever you do, dont use more than one color! or it will short out... yellow is original antenna location.

Cyan/blue worked best for me I used the hole...
Attached Images
File Type: jpg REWire4.jpg (9.4 KB, 126 views)
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Old 2006.12.16, 07:03 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Draconious
The best way to fix it is a new PCB... even if you "fix it" it will never work as good as it is supose too...

In some cases the antena resolder wont even work... and with the new PCBs out this photo is very obsolete... the components are layed out different.
Whatever you do, dont use more than one color! or it will short out... yellow is original antenna location.

Cyan/blue worked best for me I used the hole...
Thanks Drac! Please guide me through a little. Should I solder the antenna to the suggested circles (I guess, it would be a trial and error to find out the sweet spot).

Your previous post said it performs like new after the bypass, of does it deteriate over time?
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Old 2006.12.16, 07:21 PM   #14
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Well back when I posted that... it felt like it was new, but later I bought a new car, and did more racing... and well that feeling went away fast. I have sinced tossed that PCB out, after canibolizing the fets . I use to be cheap and fix everything, with a sort of ghetto repair job, now I tend to try and replace it when money permits... the PCB being the most expensively over priced part on the car... makes it hard to replace with out just buying a whole new car set.

Which is why 3-4 years later I recomend a new PCB over fixing it, if it was just the fets you can fix it but once the reciever is damaged its time for a new PCB... but it cant hurt to try... if you are just going to play with the car it coudl work good enough for that... if you race it, do not bother racing with a car fixed this way.

Kyosho needs to drop the PCB replacement set down in price, $45-60 range would be more realistic than the $89-99 it currently goes for... since you can buy a whole new readyset for that, on certain sites thare are selling them so low they will be losing their kyosho dealer contract just the way Tower Did

Just use only one color if you try to solder it... I put more than one circle so you can solder it in mulitple locations to make the solder joint more sturdy... just dont mix the colors or it will short out... and then it will be time for a new PCB .

I also use a solid single strand of wire... liek that used to wind motors... using stranded wire in those tight quarters risks a strand comming lose and shorting it out...
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Old 2006.12.17, 06:36 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Draconious
Well back when I posted that... it felt like it was new, but later I bought a new car, and did more racing... and well that feeling went away fast. I have sinced tossed that PCB out, after canibolizing the fets . I use to be cheap and fix everything, with a sort of ghetto repair job, now I tend to try and replace it when money permits... the PCB being the most expensively over priced part on the car... makes it hard to replace with out just buying a whole new car set.

Which is why 3-4 years later I recomend a new PCB over fixing it, if it was just the fets you can fix it but once the reciever is damaged its time for a new PCB... but it cant hurt to try... if you are just going to play with the car it coudl work good enough for that... if you race it, do not bother racing with a car fixed this way.

Kyosho needs to drop the PCB replacement set down in price, $45-60 range would be more realistic than the $89-99 it currently goes for... since you can buy a whole new readyset for that, on certain sites thare are selling them so low they will be losing their kyosho dealer contract just the way Tower Did

Just use only one color if you try to solder it... I put more than one circle so you can solder it in mulitple locations to make the solder joint more sturdy... just dont mix the colors or it will short out... and then it will be time for a new PCB .

I also use a solid single strand of wire... liek that used to wind motors... using stranded wire in those tight quarters risks a strand comming lose and shorting it out...
Completed Agree! If the replacement PCB was cheaper, I wouldn't try risking fying the PCB just to fix the range. And will tower not carrying Kyosho product, I don't know where we can find replacement for MA010 board. And I agree that spending $99 for pcb replacement, then why not at a completely new car.

The MA010 pcb is definitely different, and I tried to touch the antenna to different places last night, but still no luck. I think I need to make sure the antenna has better contact before retrying. Will let you guys know if I found a "sweet spot" for the MA010 pcb, wish me luck!
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