Knight Hauler Help

[berman 5315]

I recently bought a NIB knight hauler FOK and have loved every minute of the build and how it operates,

but I have a few queries with some things and hoping you guys can help.

First of all, I've done an RC no-no and wrapped the aerial/antenna wire up in a small cable-tied bundle inside the shell and only put enough aerial wire to get to the top of the plastic tube for cosmetic's sake.

I dont mind the factory black antenna tube as it looks similar to an RT/CB aerial but I dont want to have a metre of unsightly wire sticking out of the top of the tube and dragging on the floor or go to Tamiya's ugly Telescopic Antenna to get more than the 20m range I'm getting at the moment before the truck decides to go haywire.

I know I'm probably clutching at straws but there must be an alternative without comprimising scale looks?

Secondly, I would like to get the side markers working in front of the doors. Do I just buy 2x 5mm (From memory I think the hole is 5mm and not 3mm) yellow LED diodes and tap into the existing 3mm 'winker' wires for the headlights on either side in parallel?

I had other questions too but I've forgotten at present.

Cheers in advance for any help

Regards

Neil

[Shodog 1835]

antennas don't like to be bundled, you could cut a wide piece of lexan and wrap the antenna wire around it.

for the air cleaner, just tap into the winker circut and add bulbs to the air cleaner. thats what i did on mine and it works great.

[berman 5315]

Thanks Shodog

I went to **** Smith and the 12 year old chubby kid there didn't seem to think they sold anything but 12v LED's and didn't look interested in helping me.

I went to Jaycar and the guy there plugged the winker I cut off into a test box to find it was 3v, found the correct coloured heatshrink for me, and also a length of rainbow coloured 16way wire, so i could peel off the correct green and yellow colour to match the winker, now it looks factory fitted

On another note I undid all the aerial wire and routed it around the speaker box, taped to the electronics mounting board and then back up the antenna tube... No such luck, it's still happening. By the time I go change into 3rd, the front wheels start going nutty and you can hear the engine sound from the MFU miss and splutter

If anyone cares to post any idea's, i'm willing to try them...

Oh, and I cant decide on a trailer, but that's the least of my worries right now

Regards

Neil

[turbine2 0]

Try a different receiver. If you go for 2.4GHz systems the aerials are tiny (as in you won't need an external one).

[berman 5315]

Thanks turbine. Unfortunately I dont have any another 3+ channel recievers, apart from a JR propo but it's 40meg as opposed to

the 4VWD's 27am. Can you use a 2.4ghz reciever with an AM transmitter or do I have to change the whole kit over? Or do you mean the little plug-in aerial kit's that give you the 2.4ghz aerial? (I'm not really up to play with 2.4 yet).

Cheers

Neil

[jagsxr 0]

h i have an rc aerial from a boat and it is springy on the bottom so just attach the receiver wire to the base of the aeriel

and look quite scale

and regards 2.4 ghz yer i have a 3 channel and they are great but you need the whole system

and with regards the side winkers i used optical fiber for the side winkers and just connected them up to the l and r indicators

good luck with the radio

[berman 5315]

Thank's for you help jagsxr, I might look into the rc boat aerial.

The reciever is now mounted as close as possible to the antenna mount in the back of the sleeper and all aerial wire is outside the truck.

the first 1/3 of the wire runs up the antenna tube, the 2/3rd of the wire runs back down the outside of the tube and the last 3rd runs back up the outside of tube again with a very small bit of insulation tape holding the wire top and bottom to the tube.

The truck now goes about 25m (5m more) without playing up, still not far enough to enjoy 3rd gear runs (Although I do plan on buying some form of lower turn motor, as I think it's too fast with the stock 540).

*I have checked the plug's to the reciever,

*I've made sure the right crystal (Tx/Rx) is in each module

*My transmitter batteries are fully charged

*I've double checked that no motor wiring (vib or driven) are near any reciever wiring or the aerial

I'm considering changing the crystal's with one from another RC. 1, to rule out the crystal (and frequency) and 2, because I actually have a set of crystals in my clod buster where they are marked with the futaba sticker TX and RX and they only work back to front.

I've also ordered a telescopic antenna from JR-RC the other day, but I'm not holding my breath it'll fix things

Any other idea's anyone? (before I start buying new recievers etc)

Cheers

Neil

Oh, I' might retry the setup feature of the MFU again

[jagsxr 0]

no worries , i have not had any problems with the receiver but i am on 40 meg so that might not get as much interference

this is the kind of thing i have http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AERIAL-spring-loaded...=item1c0f7c223c

but it does not look that scale but works

and if you could change the crystals over that might work?

[berman 5315]

Thanks mate. That one doesn't look that bad actually.... I will see what this tamiya antenna does when it turns up in the mail first.

I dont get this problem with any of my other RC's. All are on AM bar two (one is FM and the other is a JR synthesised).

Will try the crystals and report back.

[berman 5315]

Changed the crystals, no such luck

The telescopic antenna should turn up tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm stumped

[jagsxr 0]

i think you will find that your radio gear is knackered have a look at the aerial that comes out of the reciver and the transmiter to see if they are in good condition or put all of the radio gear in another car to see if it it is the mfu ?

[berman 5315]

I hope it isn't, the whole kit (including radio gear) is only 2 weeks old. Ok I may have to swap it with a 2 channel set.

[berman 5315]

Telescopic antenna made it worse, goes about 10 metres max before going haywire. Maybe it's destined for the shelf, I cant afford to replace the radio gear or an MFC-01

[jagsxr 0]

i would take your mfu out completely and put in a normal esc with the same reciver and see what the range is like

and then try another reciver if it still does not work coss it sounds like your reciver is knacked???

[berman 5315]

I might give that a try tomorrow jagsxr, just want to say thanks for your continued help, i appreciate it

Today I put the Futaba reciever and the 4VWD in my clodbuster (obviously only running the 2 channels), and got no hiccups or glitches with them.

The other day I also emailed the distributor in Japan whom it was imported through to see if I have any options for replacement, no reply as of yet.

[jagsxr 0]

well if it is not the radio gear you might want to but it back in but not connect any of the lights or sound

and see if that effects it ?

[berman 5315]

You mean just use the MFC-01 as a speed control only?

[jagsxr 0]

yer no lighs or sound ..... give it a try ?

[berman 5315]

Ok well I'll give anything a try, will give it a go over the next couple of day's and let you know how I get on.

[PsychoAtom 0]

Hi Berman,

Did you see what happens if you turn of the transmitter while the rig is still on?

While troubleshooting my MFC for another issue, I realised that I get glitching problems probably due to interference in the location where I was testing the rig (eg. near electronic equipment, chain link fence, etc.). It's a long shot I know but just to eliminate that factor, perhaps try testing in a different location?

I also had to follow the calibration procedure in the MFC instruction manual to solve my problem (coupler unit not working).

Cheers.

[berman 5315]

Hey PsychoAtom,

No I haven't tried turning the transmitter off while the truck is on yet. I will give that a go.

I've recalibrated the MFC (see earlier post's) a couple of times with no such luck.

I do live in a little village type area where all my surrounding neighbours have electronic garage doors, but it always seems to be the same distance

in any direction that the truck starts going haywire, which makes me think it's not them.

Also I noticed with RC, when you start to lose reception with an AM set, you usually intermittently lose both steering and throttle.

With my truck, it never takes off on it's own, it doesn't do it's own thing with the throttle and I still have full control over the left stick. But the steering goes absolutely nutty between left and right, and the MFC-01 sound you can hear rev and drop like crazy.

I think I will have to take a video. I was going to go to local carpark and try your's and Jagsxr's idea's today, but it's just started raining.

Thanks for everybodies help so far.

[Paigan 0]

Thank's for you help jagsxr, I might look into the rc boat aerial.

The reciever is now mounted as close as possible to the antenna mount in the back of the sleeper and all aerial wire is outside the truck.

the first 1/3 of the wire runs up the antenna tube, the 2/3rd of the wire runs back down the outside of the tube and the last 3rd runs back up the outside of tube again with a very small bit of insulation tape holding the wire top and bottom to the tube.

The truck now goes about 25m (5m more) without playing up, still not far enough to enjoy 3rd gear runs (Although I do plan on buying some form of lower turn motor, as I think it's too fast with the stock 540).

*I have checked the plug's to the reciever,

*I've made sure the right crystal (Tx/Rx) is in each module

*My transmitter batteries are fully charged

*I've double checked that no motor wiring (vib or driven) are near any reciever wiring or the aerial

I'm considering changing the crystal's with one from another RC. 1, to rule out the crystal (and frequency) and 2, because I actually have a set of crystals in my clod buster where they are marked with the futaba sticker TX and RX and they only work back to front.

I've also ordered a telescopic antenna from JR-RC the other day, but I'm not holding my breath it'll fix things

Any other idea's anyone? (before I start buying new recievers etc)

Cheers

Neil

Oh, I' might retry the setup feature of the MFU again

I( was having the same problem. Getting a new transmitter did not fix it. I am now using the telescopic antenna and routing the antenna wire up into the overhead sleeper. I taped it down in a zig-zag pattern so the entire length of it is exposed and does not cross over itself. I am now getting over 500 foot range without any problems.

Paigan

[berman 5315]

Hi there, thanks for the advice. Do you run an MFC with yours? Mine seems to have less glitches with the trailer connected now, but about every second time I drive approx 35m it still happens.

My antenna now runs right the way out of the tube and the excess is loosely knotted around one of the deflector brackets on the back of the cab, I'm not using my telescopic antenna.

I also tried soldering a few capacitors on the motor.

Regards

Neil