Radio controlled cars.


 
Arun L. said:
2) Get a car that looks like a Dodge Viper, one with blue racing stripes, one with black racing stripes. I coincidentally see a few on eBay today, so after asking them some questions, we'll see how this goes.
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I ordered the two Dodge Vipers I saw on eBay.

Now to test the battery pack on my existing Tsauro-X, as well as hopefully find a car that can do a 360/rotate in place, that has the look of the car I'm going for.

These will take care of hopefully the easier decisions, before focusing more on the Traxxas cars.
 
Ok, so when you power on the remote, the LEDS come on and it beeps or something? Good, we can assume that that part works. Does the car beep or anything when it is turned on?
 
Andrew F said:
Ok, so when you power on the remote, the LEDS come on and it beeps or something? Good, we can assume that that part works. Does the car beep or anything when it is turned on?
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Yes, when I power on the remote, the power indicator LED turns red.

For the car, when it's working, and I flip the switch on, there is supposed to be a small mechanical sound. Kind of like a 0.5 second version of the sound that the car makes, if a direction on the control is pressed and it is heading in that direction.

What I mean is that if I were to hit forward on the remote, and the car was moving in that direction, if I take a 0.5 second sample of the mechanical sound the car makes when it is moving, that's the sound it also makes when I turn the switch on in the car.

That sound isn't being made now.

I tried switching the batteries from the remote, to the car, but it didn't matter. I still don't get an indicator that the car is turned on, or that it responds when I use the remote.
 
Clint said:
Does it have this same receiver / electronics? Doesn't sound like you assembled the board.....


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Yes, that's the same car. It was ready to run, no assembly required.

Also, what do you think about that multimeter above in post # 22?
 
Ok, I'm thinking of getting back into the RC hobby with my son....a couple of questions....

Have the battery powered ones been improved meaning do the RC cars now use li-ion batteries?
I know nitro is still superior but a lot of maintenance, are they battery powered ones catching up to nitro in terms of speed and run time?
Are Clodbusters still relevant? That's the last truck that I remembered when I was into RCs (yah, that long ago).

Thanks.
 
Sam Bee said:
Ok, I'm thinking of getting back into the RC hobby with my son....a couple of questions....

Have the battery powered ones been improved meaning do the RC cars now use li-ion batteries?
I know nitro is still superior but a lot of maintenance, are they battery powered ones catching up to nitro in terms of speed and run time?
Are Clodbusters still relevant? That's the last truck that I remembered when I was into RCs (yah, that long ago).

Thanks.
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The upper end ones usu Li-Po batteries and brushless motors. The electronics in them have all been upgraded compared to what you're describing. With the combination of LiPO batteries and brushless motors you will get longer run time but it's still not nitro. As far as speed, the Traxxas that I have came with another gear I could put in it to make it faster and I've never found the need. You can make them go pretty much as fast as you want. That's my knowledge from about 10 years ago when I was kind of into it still. I I would imagine the electronics have changed a little bit since then but I can't see that it would have been much given where they were at. As mentioned above, LiPO batteries can be very dangerous if not respected.
 
Clint said:
Does it have this same receiver / electronics? Doesn't sound like you assembled the board.....


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I add a radio shack RC car also. I think they all came ready to run and had similar computer boards in them. When I pulled the body off mine it did have a board similar to that. Unlike the other ones that had more individual components that could be replaced. I don't think the RadioShack ones were ever meant to have parts replaced.
 
Jason in CA said:
I add a radio shack RC car also. I think they all came ready to run and had similar computer boards in them. When I pulled the body off mine it did have a board similar to that. Unlike the other ones that had more individual components that could be replaced. I don't think the RadioShack ones were ever meant to have parts replaced.
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Which one did you have?
 
Arun L. said:
Which one did you have?
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I had one from Radio shack called Golden Arrow in the 80,s. It was fun and pretty durable but as I played with it parts finally wore out. After that one I got into the hobby grade RC. I still have a Traxxas but I almost never mess with it. I think it's a fun hobby in groups, but I quickly get bored with it if I'm by myself.
 
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Jason in CA said:
I had one from Radio shack called Golden Arrow in the 80,s. It was fun and pretty durable but as I played with it parts finally wore out. After that one I got into the hobby grade RC. I still have a Traxxas but I almost never mess with it. I think it's a fun hobby in groups, but I quickly get bored with it if I'm by myself.
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Funny. I just purchased a used Golden Arrow.

Partly because I wanted something that worked and looked like my Tsauro-X.

I think the Golden Arrow was the model 2-3 years before the Tsauro-X.

I should be able to use the same battery pack from the Tsauro-X in the Golden Arrow, when it arrives, so that will be another way I can test my existing battery packs.

If my existing battery packs work in the Golden Arrow, then we know something else is the problem with the Tsauro-X. If they don't work, then the battery pack I'm getting from the Golden Arrow should work in my Tsauro-X, so that could solve the problem.

I am still interested in a Traxxas, but I wanted these simpler/easier items first. I will need to do more learning / research before I decide on a Traxxas.

And a multimeter is also a good thing to have, especially when I'm using devices that take 6 - 10 batteries. One bad battery could render the device useless, so it will be good to be able to test that too.

There is also an indoor track at the hobby store I went to last year. Not sure how often I would go, I'd have to try it once to see how much I enjoy it.

Otherwise, I'll make do around home.
 
Arun L. said:
Funny. I just purchased a used Golden Arrow.

Partly because I wanted something that worked and looked like my Tsauro-X.
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I started feeling nostalgic about one of my first RC cars so I looked up the Golden arrow on YouTube and found a few people actually have videos on that thing. I'm always a little surprised on what you can find people making videos about when searching YouTube.
 
I got my Radioshack Golden Arrow, as well as my new order of rechargeable batteries.

That car worked.

As I suspected, the battery pack in the Golden Arrow was compatible with my Tsauro-X.

I then put some of my new rechargeable batteries my Tsauro-X. That worked.

I then tried the battery packs I had before, in my Tsauro-X. It worked.

I guess the problem might have been 1 bad battery, from the ones I had before. I had tried switching the batteries that were in the car, with the ones that were in the remote. And the remote worked both times, and the car didn't move either time.

So I didn't think the problem was one of the individual battery.

But maybe it was.

So I now have a working Tsauro-X again, as well as a Golden Arrow.

The Golden Arrow came a few years before the Tsauro-X. They look similar.

I noticed one annoying design that was on the Golden Arrow. There's a triangular shaped bar formation that gets in the way of connecting the battery pack to the car. That's not there in the Tsauro-X.

Also, the battery compartment on the Golden Arrow seems to be a little harder to open. Just the way you push and open it, is a little harder.

Other than that, I'm glad to have two working cars.

I also noticed that if I use the Tsauro-X remote, there is a slight interference with the Golden Arrow. But not the other way around. The Golden Arrow remote didn't seem to interfere with the Tsauro-X.

Thanks for everyone's help, with suggestions as to what to try, and possible battery pack issues
 
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So, on to cars that do 360 rotations.

I'm looking at one of these two cars, that can climb up walls/ceilings:

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07WFMZKML/tvwb-20

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0815WFH8Q/tvwb-20

The first one has suction cups. It also has better reviews for its wall climbing ability. I also tend to think a smaller car will be able to go up walls easier, so I think I'll go with that.

For cars that do 360 rotations:

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01MAWH4DS/tvwb-20

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B081FFJX66/tvwb-20

The 2nd one is a tank that shoots foam balls, so it seems cooler. So I'd lean toward that.

The downside was that the run time for the car is only estimated at 12 minutes. That's not much at all.

Also, I sent them an email with some questions on Sunday, and they haven't responded. If below, I'm reluctant to get something that won't have any support, then this is the same thing. However, the replacement parts for this (battery pack) seem much easier to find online, so it might not be as disappointing.

Lastly, I also saw some cars that were gesture activated. You put a strap on your wrist. Then using your wrist motions, you can control the car. Such as waving up makes it go forward (I think), down makes it go backwards, palm up makes it rotate.

That also seemed cool.

However, they were all from companies in China. If something goes wrong, I doubt I'll get much support. So unless I can find a USA company, I don't think I'll try for this.
 
Clint said:
The new digital radios are a lot better and not susceptible to interference and flutter, but that was part of the charm 🐱‍🐉
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I can imagine setting up a race with a friend, only for something to happen at the end with the interference.
 
Clint said:
Lets see the pics!
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I didn't realize until just now, when I was taking a picture, how much bigger the Tsauro-X is.

The body on the Black Dodge Viper doesn't feel as integrated with the car. It feels a little more like I could pull the body off, if I tried. The Blue Dodge Viper feels more like one piece (even though I know it's not).

I'm happy that everything works.

I also ordered today the Mech tank, and the WomToy wall climbing one.


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The car that I thought was supposed to climb walls, doesn't.

People have been posting videos for a wall climbing car, under the wrong listing. They were posting it under the "stunt car" listing, not the "wall climber" listing.

I'm returning it.

Also, the Mech Blaster sounds like a blender. It's a big turn-off. It also doesn't do 360s very fast.

The whole point of 360s is that it's supposed to do them fast. That's when it's fun to watch.

Originally I had ordered it from Walmart. But 9 days went by, and they hadn't shipped it. So I cancelled, and ordered it from eBay.

I just check, I can't return this according to the listing.

The "laser guide light" that you can activate, from the Mech Blaster, is a very tiny red dot. Barely visible.

So, I still need to find a car that does 360s fast. It would be great if that also climbed walls.

I think I'm going to put this search for 360s and wall climbers on hold for a bit, just tired of the recent disappointments.

At least the Dodge Vipers and Golden Arrow met my expectations.

I'm going to focus more on the Traxxas, I haven't done that yet.
 
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