Testing out old radio gear for vintage runners

[markbt73]

For years, I've tried to get as far away from old electronics as possible. I have been trying to use only modern 2.4ghz radios and high-frequency speed controls in everything, and making my way towards eliminating NiCd/NiMH batteries from my standard rotation.

But recent discussions have made me re-think this, and now I'm finding myself craving period-correct radio gear for old runners. The trouble is that what I have is a mishmash of old odds and ends, so I have to sort through everything, figure out a test procedure, and make sure I can use it.

So I started tonight with servos. Somewhere along the line, I ended up with seven Airtronics servos, six 94631 and one 94635 (high torque? BB? have to look it up). I also seem to have two 75mhz Airtronics receivers, but they're either dead, or won't work with Futaba crystals, which are all I have.

Then I remembered: I DO have a working radio with Airtronics/Sanwa plugs!

The trusty old Bandido, with its perfectly-functioning Cadet radio, a badge-engineered Sanwa/Airtronics SR2.

So, out of the seven, five worked.

But they still have the wrong plugs for my pile of old Futaba receivers.

However, plugs aside, I do have a pair of awesome vintage stick transmitters that I can use:

The Cadet is 27mhz. I have two other 27mhz receivers besides the one in the Bandido, and they both work fine with this. And I have five old 75mhz Futaba R102GF and R102JE receivers that work perfectly with the 2GS transmitter.

I also found another S148 servo and a newer Airtronics 94102 with the correct plug type for the Futaba receivers.

So now all I need to do is re-order the plug pins on the Airtronics servos (easy to do, and not even permanent), and I'll have radio gear for a few more vintage runners.

Next up: speed controls. Those are going to take a little more work to test; only half of them have connectors on them at all...

[markbt73]

Found 4 old ESCs that had battery plugs installed, so I tested them...

Novak Explorer: works perfectly. Forward only. Newer than the others; early-mid 1990s.

Futaba MC112B: works fine in forward, but reverse FET seems to be blown.

Duratrax DTX-4: seems to work fine, but backwards. Could only be used with a radio with servo-reversing; i.e., not my cool old 2GS.

Altech: powers up, but doesn't respond to signal. Pots respond erratically. Probably toast. Shame, because it looks really cool...

Still have a Novak NESC-4 and a Super Rooster to test, but I have to open them up and replace battery/motor wires first.

[pizzachaude]

Try fiddling with the pots on the Futaba ESC, reverse doesnt work if the pots are not set correctly for some reason. I have several of those ESCs and havent found one yet that is defective (I must have at least 10 of those)

[Incredible_Serious]

I have HEAPS of old electronic gear, that I usually store in a box or bag until I have both (1) enough parts, and (2) enough time... then I have a dedicated day at testing them all. To do it properly, firstly I get a known set of good parts for a complete system i.e.

- receivers, transmitters and crystals in known working order for all frequencies to be tested (transmitter channels must be reversible)

- a number of known working servos

- a 4xAA battery box (or receiver pack)

- silver can motor in good condition (for testing ESCs)

- alligator clips for connecting any wires without connectors

- battery connector converters, for powering up ESCs

- a couple of known charged batteries, usually at least one each NiMH and LiPo

- Motor break-in stand to mount motors in (RPM do a good one)

- servo polarity reversing cable, for KO and similar servos

- a recent acquisition, a small servo tester, which has proven useful many times over.

- of course, it goes without saying that once you have all that sorted, you also need a REALLY BIG TABLE to get to work on!!!

Then, the idea is to replace only one part at a time in the known good setup, and test. This way, you know exactly what is working and what is faulty, as you're only changing one part. Works really well for testing crystals too.

One last thing I would suggest, to save time in the future. I use an old ream of dot-matrix address label stickers, which I cut up into small (8mm x 5mm or similar) labels. With these, I create a variety of labels, for marking everything once you test it i.e.:

- 27A, 40F for frequency of transmitters and receivers

- OK, DODGY, or DUD, for items that work perfectly, might be a little stuttery, or don't work at all.

- For receivers, I often mark them with "s + -" or "s - +" to show which polarity configuration servos work in them

- Some blank labels, for marking wildcards.... things like "Dodgy ch1", "No reverse", etc.

Come to think of it, I'm probably due for another testing and marking day myself...... wish me luck!

Hope some of this helps!

Alex

[mongoose1983]

For years, I've tried to get as far away from old electronics as possible. I have been trying to use only modern 2.4ghz radios and high-frequency speed controls in everything, and making my way towards eliminating NiCd/NiMH batteries from my standard rotation.

But recent discussions have made me re-think this, and now I'm finding myself craving period-correct radio gear for old runners. The trouble is that what I have is a mishmash of old odds and ends, so I have to sort through everything, figure out a test procedure, and make sure I can use it.

So I started tonight with servos. Somewhere along the line, I ended up with seven Airtronics servos, six 94631 and one 94635 (high torque? BB? have to look it up). I also seem to have two 75mhz Airtronics receivers, but they're either dead, or won't work with Futaba crystals, which are all I have.

Then I remembered: I DO have a working radio with Airtronics/Sanwa plugs!

The trusty old Bandido, with its perfectly-functioning Cadet radio, a badge-engineered Sanwa/Airtronics SR2.

So, out of the seven, five worked.

But they still have the wrong plugs for my pile of old Futaba receivers.

However, plugs aside, I do have a pair of awesome vintage stick transmitters that I can use:

The Cadet is 27mhz. I have two other 27mhz receivers besides the one in the Bandido, and they both work fine with this. And I have five old 75mhz Futaba R102GF and R102JE receivers that work perfectly with the 2GS transmitter.

I also found another S148 servo and a newer Airtronics 94102 with the correct plug type for the Futaba receivers.

So now all I need to do is re-order the plug pins on the Airtronics servos (easy to do, and not even permanent), and I'll have radio gear for a few more vintage runners.

Next up: speed controls. Those are going to take a little more work to test; only half of them have connectors on them at all...

Believe me, using the old radio gear will spark the old memories like few things can, my friend!

And you know something, even when running the HPI Wheely King nowadays I do it using a two-sticker Futaba from... 1984! Can't settle for less! Haha

By the way, you can use all type or brand of servos with Futaba receivers. You just change the plugs and make sure to keep the polarity correct. I have some guide somewhere, if you want it I can probably find it later.

You have nice radio gear there by the way Oh... I know I'm partial to anything Futaba.