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Boomerang tear down and restoration

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Haven't tried any further than maybe 5 feet or so. Need to be further than this? 2.4 gig radio too. I'll try it outside either tomorrow or Friday and see how it goes! Thanks!

Some times your phone in side. ( if that 2.4 gig ) will cause problems , even that it should not :( .

I know if i have my 3D running on my computer running & playing with my rc stuff it upsets it , as

well as the remotes on TV etc . I know you can even get problems from the energy saving lights with

remotes on TV's etc , As the EME that it gives off . I had a job finding this out with a customer for

Pay TV . As the remote would not work at night , but worked in the day . What a nightmare that was .

So yer give it a go out side , but have the car on blocks so it don't race off . :P .

Good luck .

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Well, I gave the Boomerang a try outside this morning in the driveway with no luck. Took it slow, just sort of creeping foward, directional control was okay at first but then the steering got all twitchy like I was flicking the wheel back and forth very fast. I turned it around and to come over to me from about 15 feet away and it took off at full throttle in a wide, right-turning circle out of control. It went through our wet lawn and wound up hitting a cardboard box next to our trash can behind the garage. It was no longer trying to go forward, everything was in one piece, but when I tried it again (on a couple of bricks) it responded the same way, albeit this time without the the crashing part.

It's one of two things or a combination of the two - ESC is bad, the receiver's bad or a combination of the two not getting along.

Any ideas guys? All help is appreciated, thanks!

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may sound stupid but have you checked the controller ariel is screwed in, I had this once and the controller ariel had worked loose so after about 3m distance the car went out of control

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There's obviously some problem.

I'm thinking of a few issues.

One is the Tamiya esc has no BEC circuit, so it's giving full voltage to the receiver. Maybe it's not enjoying the voltage? The new 2.4 receivers often do not have a BEC circuit.

The other is there might be a problem with the receiver.

Did you successfully bind the receiver to the transmitter? You need to bind before you can use.

Your radio might have a problem, it might be a faulty unit that passed QC by mistake, anything could be causing this.

Basicly you need to:

a) Try a different esc that has BEC, borrow from a friend

<_< Try the radio on a friends car which has a BEC, at a different location

c) check that you have succesfully gone through the BIND procedure

What you could do is use a simple receiver battery box for the receiver power, instead of using the red plug from the Tamiya ESC. Just to test.

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Ideal2k, I'm betting you're right about the BEC. It says on Tamiya's web page for the TEU-104bk that it requires a BEC be plugged into the receiver. Funny I would have thought the newer equipment would have BECs built in? I'll also try a different receiver, just to make sure.

Thanks for the input guys!

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It could be, but I've seen pretty much the same kinda thing for $10 inc.shipping from the far east, on ebay.. :lol:

Found one and ordered!

Also, the ***** body and wing arrived today! First time getting a body from them, and it seems to be very good quality. They were nice and easy to deal with, but Canada post was awful about tracking, i.e. there wasn't any, and shipping was very slow. Not *****'s fault at all, they shipped the next day. Stuff from Hong Kong and Japan got here faster and were ordered AFTER the body was! Painting will begin after I get the BEC issue sorted out.

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Found one and ordered!

Also, the ***** body and wing arrived today! First time getting a body from them, and it seems to be very good quality. They were nice and easy to deal with, but Canada post was awful about tracking, i.e. there wasn't any, and shipping was very slow. Not *****'s fault at all, they shipped the next day. Stuff from Hong Kong and Japan got here faster and were ordered AFTER the body was! Painting will begin after I get the BEC issue sorted out.

Yea,,,*****'s bodies are wonderful ,,,Enjoy

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Just installed the BEC and it made it WORSE. The wheels cranked over to the right, stayed there, and the motor was going full throttle. Input from the transmitter had no effect. Took the BEC out and it worked like it worked before, better than with the BEC but still not good.

Guess I'll have to take another esc off of a different car and try that first, then try a different receiver with old esc, etc., etc.,

BLAH

Anybody have any better ideas than the old "hunt and peck" method of troubleshooting? Is there a way to test that either are working without doing install after reinstall? Gotta tell you though, this BEC/ESC/receiver thing has me stumped... and a wee bit ticked too.

At least I have the new body all trimmed out and ready for paint. I'm hoping to have the masking done tonight so that I can start painting tomorrow.

Any and all help is appreciated!

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Just installed the BEC and it made it WORSE. The wheels cranked over to the right, stayed there, and the motor was going full throttle. Input from the transmitter had no effect. Took the BEC out and it worked like it worked before, better than with the BEC but still not good.

Guess I'll have to take another esc off of a different car and try that first, then try a different receiver with old esc, etc., etc.,

BLAH

Anybody have any better ideas than the old "hunt and peck" method of troubleshooting? Is there a way to test that either are working without doing install after reinstall? Gotta tell you though, this BEC/ESC/receiver thing has me stumped... and a wee bit ticked too.

At least I have the new body all trimmed out and ready for paint. I'm hoping to have the masking done tonight so that I can start painting tomorrow.

Any and all help is appreciated!

First thing I'd check would be to see if the capacitors are still fitted to the motor. If they are'nt, this can cause you all sorts of problems.

I'd also suggest using something that you know works from another car as a start point, and swap equipment you are using in until the problem appears, i.e. put in old ESC and RC gear and motor first, get the car working properly, the gradually introduce the new equipment one piece at a time until the problem re-occurs. I had a similar problem with 6 channel RC gear in a tank running 2 ESCs, with it randomly going berserk, and that turned out to be having a loose connection on the RX aerial wire to the RX circuit board. Once I resoldered it, it was fine. Are still using the original boomerang metal antenna ? The 2.4GHz radio may not like having the aerial wire wrapped round the metal aerial. Might be worth trying it with a re-re plastic antenna, or just removing the antenna wire from it as a check.

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First thing I'd check would be to see if the capacitors are still fitted to the motor. If they are'nt, this can cause you all sorts of problems.

I switched out the Kyosho motor for a brand new sport tuned motor. I'd HOPE that it'd be fine and there's not end bell...

I'd also suggest using something that you know works from another car as a start point, and swap equipment you are using in until the problem appears, i.e. put in old ESC and RC gear and motor first, get the car working properly, the gradually introduce the new equipment one piece at a time until the problem re-occurs. I had a similar problem with 6 channel RC gear in a tank running 2 ESCs, with it randomly going berserk, and that turned out to be having a loose connection on the RX aerial wire to the RX circuit board. Once I resoldered it, it was fine. Are still using the original boomerang metal antenna ? The 2.4GHz radio may not like having the aerial wire wrapped round the metal aerial. Might be worth trying it with a re-re plastic antenna, or just removing the antenna wire from it as a check.

Rats! I was hoping to avoid the trial and error thing, but I guess that what I have to do. Thanks though! Any other thoughts maybe?

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I switched out the Kyosho motor for a brand new sport tuned motor. I'd HOPE that it'd be fine and there's not end bell...

Rats! I was hoping to avoid the trial and error thing, but I guess that what I have to do. Thanks though! Any other thoughts maybe?

Can't really suggest much else, all of my experience is with old tech as far as radio gear is concerned. I'm still running all 27MHz apart from my tanks. Are there sensitivity settings on the transmitter where you can adjust the dead zone of the stick, or perhaps there is a similar setting on the ESC. I think there is adjustment for sensitivity on the eZRun ESCs I use, but that doesn't explain the steering servo twitching. It might also be worth while disconnecting the ESC, fitting a servo in it's place, and powering the RX through a battery box to see if you still have an issue with servo twitch. If you do it's going to be an issue with the TX/RX. EMC can be an odd thing. Have you cable tied the wires all together neatly, or jammed them all into a small space to make the installation look neat ? Wires running next to each other can induce currents in the wires next to them, causing very strange behaviour. It might be worth extracting the equipment including motor, ESC, and RX and bench testing them with the wires well separated. (I'd leave the servo in the car and put everything else on the bench.)

I think it's definetly worth your while taking your time to pin down exactly what is causing this, there's not much worse in this hobby than watching an out of control RC impact something immovable at full throttle. I watched one sink into a pond after the ice it was on cracked. I tried to reverse out of the hole the front wheels had dropped in and they threw water onto the ESC, causing it to cut out, and the boomertanic to go down on it's first trip on the ice :lol:

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Well, I got a hold of the hobby place's help line that I bought the transmitter from late last night and they think its an issue with the transmitter. Now I shouldn't complain, because after all they do have a help line, but when I spoke with the guy he didn't offer any alternatives, no questions about the set-up, just an, "I'll send you a return shipping slip and we'll either fix it for you or replace it within 10 days." I was hoping the guy might have said something definitive like, "Your ESCs the trouble, its incompatible with the 2.4 radio system." or something that I could take care of today. But they will take it back which is a good thing. I am going to try all the alternatives offered previously here though FIRST, then box it up and send it off.

MadInventor, Jeez! That had to be painful watching your Boomerang sink through the ice! Did you get it back or was it a goner? When mine took off out of control the other morning and arced over the the driveway and through the backyard towards the garage, I had a vision of the (pretty expensive and NEW) bumper snapping at the mounting points, just like it did back in 1987 when I broke the first one. Everything sort of went into slow motion as I waited for the crash! Luckily there was a big cardboard box to go out with the trash sitting there by the garage and the Boomerang hit that.

Thanks for the help too, I appreciate it! :lol:

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What servos are you running ?.

Framerate caused me some big problems & i was replacing servos THINKING that they were stuffed .

Yes different servos dig & not dig made a big problem . My servos were twitching & the car was taking off ,

Not good when it's a nitro ( going full throttle ) & you have no control of it & all it was the frame rate was wrong .

Not sure if this will help , but it may be worth looking into it .

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Well, I got a hold of the hobby place's help line that I bought the transmitter from late last night and they think its an issue with the transmitter. Now I shouldn't complain, because after all they do have a help line, but when I spoke with the guy he didn't offer any alternatives, no questions about the set-up, just an, "I'll send you a return shipping slip and we'll either fix it for you or replace it within 10 days." I was hoping the guy might have said something definitive like, "Your ESCs the trouble, its incompatible with the 2.4 radio system." or something that I could take care of today. But they will take it back which is a good thing. I am going to try all the alternatives offered previously here though FIRST, then box it up and send it off.

MadInventor, Jeez! That had to be painful watching your Boomerang sink through the ice! Did you get it back or was it a goner? When mine took off out of control the other morning and arced over the the driveway and through the backyard towards the garage, I had a vision of the (pretty expensive and NEW) bumper snapping at the mounting points, just like it did back in 1987 when I broke the first one. Everything sort of went into slow motion as I waited for the crash! Luckily there was a big cardboard box to go out with the trash sitting there by the garage and the Boomerang hit that.

Thanks for the help too, I appreciate it! :lol:

Yes, I got the car back, I waded straight in after it, had to smash through the ice to get to the point where it sank, then had to submerge myself up to the shoulders to reach the bottom to fish it out. One very cold experience, but I did manage to dry it all out, and even got the radio gear and esc working again :lol:

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What servos are you running ?.

Framerate caused me some big problems & i was replacing servos THINKING that they were stuffed .

Yes different servos dig & not dig made a big problem . My servos were twitching & the car was taking off ,

Not good when it's a nitro ( going full throttle ) & you have no control of it & all it was the frame rate was wrong .

Not sure if this will help , but it may be worth looking into it .

Well, I tested it out on two different servos, both from other radios that weren't in use. One was a Kyosho and the other Hi-Tec. They both worked okay when initially plugged in to the receiver, but then started to twitch after a few seconds. Nothing huge, but when I held it, I could feel the mechanism moving, which I'm pretty sure is not good.

I also found this very strange: with the speed controller disconnected from the receiver and the power to the car turned on, the car moved slightly. The steering was dead on center, so it wasn't moving because the front wheels were coming on center, somehow, some tiny bit of power was getting to the wheels to move the car (we're talking like 5 mm here, not like it shot off the work table!). It did this every time I tried it. Any thoughts as to how that might happen and/or affect the other issue I'm having? *sigh* Oh well...

Thanks!

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I also found this very strange: with the speed controller disconnected from the receiver and the power to the car turned on, the car moved slightly. The steering was dead on center, so it wasn't moving because the front wheels were coming on center, somehow, some tiny bit of power was getting to the wheels to move the car (we're talking like 5 mm here, not like it shot off the work table!). It did this every time I tried it. Any thoughts as to how that might happen and/or affect the other issue I'm having? *sigh* Oh well...

Thanks!

I wouldn't worry about this. I suspect the ESC requires a signal from the rx for it's neutral position, and if there's no signal from the rx, when the power is turned on you might get a slight 'spike' on the control line. I think I've seen similar from my cars when turning them on before the transmitter, the car just has slight jolt forward when the power is turned on.

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Have you ever noticed how getting ready for the holidays eats up all your extra free time?

Yeah, that's where I'm at these days. Haven't even looked at this car since last weekend. The wife and kids have me going in 10 different directions at one, and not one of them leads to my hobby table.

More to come, probably after the holidays!

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Dratted holidays, getting in the way of our Tamiya time. :)

For me in Montana, it's not only the holidays, but the fact it gets dark so early and so much cold and snow that by the time I get off work there is no time at all to go outside. I feel your pain brother.

By-the-by: if in your resto project you end up with or run across a right rear upper A-arm for the the Boomer, please send me a PM. I am desperate for one as I've got a broken one and cannot find a new or used one for love nor money. I just want a runner, so a decent used one is fine, but all I've got is a broken one. The closest I've seen is a parts tree from the UK for 29 pounds sterling + intn'l shipping - which I wasn't even going to inquire about.

Barring some miracle, this old Boomer is going back in a box rather than getting a much needed resto, but I'd love to get mine going after following this thread for a while now. :P

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I'm sorry to say that I don't have one of those, taliesin, and I did a pretty good search too. Wish I could help you out... No luck with Craigslist or the 'bay? Those hobby places in the far east seem to have just about everything. Good luck in your hunt!

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I'm sorry to say that I don't have one of those, taliesin, and I did a pretty good search too. Wish I could help you out... No luck with Craigslist or the 'bay? Those hobby places in the far east seem to have just about everything. Good luck in your hunt!

How are you going with the twitching elec problem ?.

On the transmitter in the settings you may need to change the servo dig settings if you are not using the dig servos . ( Called the frame rate . )

Dig servos run 5.5ms frame rate & the standed servos don't . I had to change mine to 16.5ms frame rate . Just read the servo info to see what it needs to be .

Good luck .

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I'm sorry to say that I don't have one of those, taliesin, and I did a pretty good search too. Wish I could help you out... No luck with Craigslist or the 'bay? Those hobby places in the far east seem to have just about everything. Good luck in your hunt!

No worries, but thanks for looking. I've been trawling ebay but nothing yet. I'm patient though.... :)

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No worries, but thanks for looking. I've been trawling ebay but nothing yet. I'm patient though.... ;)

Why not use a double set of adjustable top links ? The upright is held reasonably securely by the lower wishbone. Couple of long screws to hold the links in place on the gearbox casing and upright, and away you go. You can also adjust the camber of the rear wheels as well then.

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Why not use a double set of adjustable top links ? The upright is held reasonably securely by the lower wishbone. Couple of long screws to hold the links in place on the gearbox casing and upright, and away you go. You can also adjust the camber of the rear wheels as well then.

Nice idea, I hadn't thought of that! I might look into it. Just thinking out loud, I wonder if there is a problem with the downward travel without that funky little limiter tab on the bottom side? Hmmmm. Now i want to go fool about in the parts bin to see what I might have in stock....

Anyone tried this before? Great idea MadInventor!!!! Thanks.

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