managing a collection

[wilsonian]

How does everyone manage their collections with regards to transmitters and recivers? At the moment I have a mix of 2.4ghz and 27mhz. Im wondering if one 2.4ghz transmitter for many recivers is a good idea when only one car is out at a time.

[Backlash]

Having one transmitter for multiple receivers / cars is certainly the most economical way of doing it, and not a bad idea if you are going to be the only one driving your cars.. 

The only time it becomes a problem is if you break your transmitter on an outing (and have no spare) or if you want to have someone else drive your cars with you, in which case you can either carry one of your older radios and receivers with you to use as a spare or fit to a second car, or buy two identical transmitters and multiple receivers..

 

[markbt73]

For the vintage cars, I like the idea of having a period-correct (or close to it) radio, and each car tends to have its own setup. The transmitter is displayed on the shelf along with the car, sometimes without batteries, but ready to go if I should feel the need to throw some AAs in it.

For the modern stuff, I have a handful of cheap 2.4 setups, and a couple of them have two receivers each. All receivers are Velcro-mounted, so they can be swapped around easily. Re-trimming steering or flipping reversing switches has never bothered me, so I don't bother with transmitters with model memory.

[TurnipJF]

I have one multi-model 2.4GHz transmitter and multiple receivers, of the same make as my mates' ones, so that if we need to borrow each other's transmitters or want to try each other's cars, all it takes is a simple re-bind.

[wilsonian]

So I have 2 Carson setups and I ordered a few FS recivers before knowing they only work with FS transmitters. If I get an FS setup I could potentially make all my cars 2.4 Ghz. 2.4 also doesn't use as many batteries as the old acoms setups.

Are there any transmitters that will work with any reciver?

[Juggular]

Back in the days, many of us had no choice but to do collect transmitter sets (if you didn't want to transplant one receiver every time).  It got confusing, so I put masking tapes on the handle (or on the base) with the name of the car. 

Then in 2017, I got a Flysky GT3B for about $45.  Now, I can manage them by selling half of these or putting them away in a storage box.  

Each FS receiver costs $5-6, so you can mount receivers to 10 cars for under $100 (1 transmitter and 10 receivers).  GT3B or GT3C can only remember 10 cars.  So you can commit 9 cars to the memory, and leave the 10th to whatever you want to bind at the time, if you have more than 10 vehicles.  Binding is a quick and easy process (much easier than swapping crystals).  

Or as Backlash said, you could have 2 transmitters.  To play with another person or to go over 10 car limit.  I was hoping that FS-GR3E receiver used with GT3 could be used with another Flysky transmitter like GT5 (about $100).  Sadly, no.  Also, the receiver for GT5 is expensive (about $45) because it has a gyro inside. 

I don't mean this kind of gyro by the way... though that would be funny...

[NameUnchanged]

In my collection my vintage RC cars do not have electrics in them

where as in my modern replicable cars each have a esc servo and motor but I only have a few 2.4ghz receivers and 

remotes

so when I want to use a car I put a reciever in the car I'm going to run and use it saves me money eventually I will have 2.4 for all my cars

[Juggular]

1 hour ago, wilsonian said:

Are there any transmitters that will work with any reciver?

1

Even within the same company, transmitters and receivers often don't work.  So... probably not.  At least I haven't heard of any. 

35 minutes ago, NameUnchanged said:

In my collection my vintage RC cars do not have electrics in them

where as in my modern replicable cars each have a esc servo and motor but I only have a few 2.4ghz receivers and 

remotes

so when I want to use a car I put a reciever in the car I'm going to run and use it saves me money eventually I will have 2.4 for all my cars

That's smart... and far less wasteful than what I did.    

My habit of equipping every car started with HotShot, Willy's M38, Fox, Mad Bison.  You have to gut the fox to get to the receiver.  

 

[Jonathon Gillham]

I have a mix of transmitters which means multiple cars can be run at once, costs are kept down and I don't have to store a tx with each car.

I have 2 decent tx,  Futaba 3PV (sons) and Sanwa MT4S (mine, for race cars). These have all the adjustment you could ever want(probably didn't know was possible!) and multi model memory. If you aren't racing you don't need to spend that much as the rx also cost a lot, although I think the 3PV is good value as its a nice piece of kit for pretty good money. The idea behind these is that they aren't for anyone to use, only people who know what they're doing.

Then there are 3 cheap sets which don't have multiple model memory (admittedly 2 of these are Futaba because I didn't know about Flysky etc when I returned to the hobby). These are in 'loaner' cars which are set up for anyone to grab them (a couple of TT02B at the moment) and they get used and abused. Not intentionally, just people who don't know how to drive rc cars, neighbours kids etc.

From here I will be buying either Sanwa or Futaba rx or a cheap Flysky set. I won't buy the better flysky as that defeats the point,  i want all of those cars to be able to run at once.

Another thing, I find rere or basic Tamiya will work perfectly on any rc gear, but the race level kits seem to always need adjustment. The steering always needs work, usually servo throw, and changing throttle curves etc is really helpful for some, especially 2wd, classes too.

[Juls1]

I used to always run one high end transmitter and up to 20+ receivers. 

As time has gone on, I’ve collected a few rtr cars too and my investment money wise has become less of an issue I realised it’s nice to be able to hand friends and family a car to drive along with you. For that reason I have a number of models built for that purpose with there own radios. Of course no one gets there hands on my favorite or most expensive models! 

Juls

[Kingfisher]

I use Spektrum. It was the first radio/reciever I got, and I kinda stuck with it. Every car (16 I think) has a Spektrum SR210, SR310, or SR410 reciever in it. 90% of the cars are bound to the DX4C that I use, and the other 10% are bound to the Spektrum radio that my girlfriend uses. If, we want to run 2 cars that are bound to the same radio, we just bind one of them to the other radio. 

[Mad Ax]

Currently I use a Spektrum DX3C controller, bought new at a local model expo a few years ago.  Up until recently it's been cheap to set up new cars as Orange 3-channel receivers were under £10 each, however thanks to changes in Spektrum technology (I read somewhere recently this was due to change in EU law..??) Orange have discontinued their DSM2 transmitters.  I'm not sure if a replacement is on the way soon.

That said, I have a 20 model memory on the DX3C and just about 20 receivers, so I probably don't need any more.

I personally hate having to re-bind and re-set every time I get a different car out, so ultimately I want all my runners with their own set of permanent electrics.  (This is only really a problem when I e.g. set up a buggy with a soldered brushless combo, then enter in a race day with a brushed control motor and have to pull it all out*).  It's not just flipping reverse channels and setting trims but setting endpoints, steering rates, dual rate switches, winch controls etc... that becomes a bit of a pain.  Especially when you're racing multi classes at a busy event and you have to quickly swap from one car to another between heats, marshalling, repairs, cooking lunch etc..., or at open bashes when suddenly it's SRB time, then 10 mins later it's Wheelie time, then it's drift time - you want to be ready to grab the car and go.  (And don't get me started on Fox and Hotshot radio boxes!!)

As Backlash has said, the problem with this is if you want to loan a car to a friend while you drive - you don't have a spare Tx, you can't do it.  So my latest plan is to buy a FlySky 6ch stick controller, and all my "backup" cars will operate off the stick.  So my E-Revo will run off the the wheel, the racing clod off the stick.  My SCX-10 Jeep scaler off the wheel, my home-brew Yota scaler off the stick.  My modded CC01 off the wheel, my stock CC01 off the stick.  My Top Force off the wheel, my Manta Ray off the stick.  My D4CS drifter off the wheel, my TT02D off the stick...  Then any time a mate wants to play, we can play with the same type of car together without having to mess around with binding up a spare controller from the back of the drawer.

The cost of receivers is a major factor for me in choosing what transmitter to buy.  I'd love a Sanwa wheel controller for racing (especially drift) but I can't afford to spend big bucks kitting out all my cars with Sanwa receivers.

*Ax's Anecdote

This actually happened last weekend.  I entered my TL01LA in the Super Stock class in the Iconic Cup with a Team Powers Cup Racer control motor.  I took along my TB01 almost-Evo as a backup car.  After heat 1 it was clear the TL01 wasn't going to cut it - it was a fast track and I just couldn't get the gearing I needed to keep up on the straights - so I swapped to the TB01.  The TB was fitted with a Super Stock TZ motor, so I had to gut the entire back end to swap it out for my spare Team Powers motor.  I was surprised by how much effort it took to change the motor - even to change the gearing is a pain, requiring continued screwing in and out of soft Tamiya plastic.

The TB01 was also set up for rallying, with long-travel shocks and soft springs, but I couldn't be bothered to swap over the TRF shocks from the TL01, so I went out in heat 2 with the car as it was, using some old Sorex 24 tyres on Tamiya rims which I'd used on the TL in heat 1.  The rain came in and the tarmac got really greasy.  By the end of the day, everybody else was sliding around with wet tyres on their hard-sprung TA03s and 04s, while my softly-softly TB rally car was a real dream to drive on its ancient slick tyres.  I started the B final in 7th place and picked up a 3rd place finish purely by not spinning or crashing during the entire race

[Kingfisher]

13 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Currently I use a Spektrum DX3C controller, bought new at a local model expo a few years ago.  Up until recently it's been cheap to set up new cars as Orange 3-channel receivers were under £10 each, however thanks to changes in Spektrum technology (I read somewhere recently this was due to change in EU law..??) Orange have discontinued their DSM2 transmitters.  I'm not sure if a replacement is on the way soon.

I just got an orange receiver off of eBay with hopes of using it with my DX4C. 

[Mad Ax]

If the dx4c is dsm2 and the orx receiver is surface dsm2 then you should be fine. Let us know how it goes 

[TurnipJF]

There are also some firmware lockouts that affect the Orange GR300 that have been overcome with the GR300R, so if you have one of those on the way, your chances will be improved. 

[racer1]

I'm doing it the hard way.  Every car has it's own transmitter with the name and color of the car on the bottom.  With transmitter/receiver combos becoming so cheap it doesn't bother me to have one for each. 

 

[Wooders28]

I started to have trouble with my 27mhz stuff, nothing to do with 27mhz, just they are 30+ years old and get glitchy.

Swapped to multi memory 2.4, and it's brilliant, since then I've got 3 multi memory systems and 1 basic, so i can bash with a few if us and the kids can drive my low turn cars with the Throttle EPA turned down.

Unfortunately, the cheap multi memory radios I've got, are out of production now , and rx are getting harder to find (although 2 have just landed on my doormat 😎)

[Kingfisher]

12 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

If the dx4c is dsm2 and the orx receiver is surface dsm2 then you should be fine. Let us know how it goes 

Will do. I plan on binding it tomorrow.

[Kingfisher]

11 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

There are also some firmware lockouts that affect the Orange GR300 that have been overcome with the GR300R, so if you have one of those on the way, your chances will be improved. 

Ok. Maybe I misunderstood something. Is "Orange" the brand name or a term used for the color of a Malaysian knockoff? Mine isn't a GR300 or GR300R. It's an SR3100, and the color of it is orange. It has no actual brand name on it, just SR3100, and Made in Malaysia. 

[Jonathon Gillham]

4 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

Ok. Maybe I misunderstood something. Is "Orange" the brand name or a term used for the color of a Malaysian knockoff? Mine isn't a GR300 or GR300R. It's an SR3100, and the color of it is orange. It has no actual brand name on it, just SR3100, and Made in Malaysia. 

I have one but for Futaba and it is branded orange, and is a clear orange case, so my one is both

[TurnipJF]

19 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

Ok. Maybe I misunderstood something. Is "Orange" the brand name or a term used for the color of a Malaysian knockoff? Mine isn't a GR300 or GR300R. It's an SR3100, and the color of it is orange. It has no actual brand name on it, just SR3100, and Made in Malaysia. 

Orange/ORX is a brand in its own right, with its own products, some of which work with other big name brands. Their GR300R DSM2 receivers work with Spektrum transmitters for example. But they are Orange branded items, not pretend Spektrum ones. 

[Kingfisher]

2 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

Orange/ORX is a brand in its own right, with its own products, some of which work with other big name brands. Their GR300R DSM2 receivers work with Spektrum transmitters for example. But they are Orange branded items, not pretend Spektrum ones. 

Had to go back to the auction to see. The brand I have is BlueMX. If mine shows it on the receiver, I missed it the first time around. Anyway, here's the link:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Spektrum-SR3100-2-4GHz-3CH-Surface-Receiver-DX3R-DX3E-DX2S-DX4C-Transmitt-O/122850445529?hash=item1c9a7508d9:g:vqkAAOSwuIlaV1xd

[WillyChang]

BlueMX is similar/identical to the clone SR3100s in grey cases.

Which is probably a good thing as the proper ORX was a fresh redesign afaik, circuitboard layout different & case shape different. And they mostly stopped working with the later/current Spektrums even the ones supposedly DSM2-compatible. 

And I've my doubts they're truly "Made in Malaysia", it's more than likely China made and the labelling merely leftover from their cloning the Spektrum graphics. 

[TurnipJF]

53 minutes ago, WillyChang said:

And they mostly stopped working with the later/current Spektrums even the ones supposedly DSM2-compatible.

Aye, Spektrum cottoned onto the cross-compatibility of the Orange GR300 and altered their TX firmware to lock it out, but Orange overcame this with the GR300R, which the TX sees as a Spektrum DSM2 RX.

[WillyChang]

11 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

Aye, Spektrum cottoned onto the cross-compatibility of the Orange GR300 and altered their TX firmware to lock it out, but Orange overcame this with the GR300R, which the TX sees as a Spektrum DSM2 RX.

Is that on a DX4 & later?

I'm boycotting horizon avoid giving them any more $$ after their douche-move & refuse to go DSMR or whatever they call it theseadays. Don't need any of their modCONs  so why upgrade... currently accumulated the whole DX3x lineup so there's totalling at least a 100 memory slots to play with  won't run out quite yet.

(for rough bashing I'm moving to Flysky... they're great!) 

I haven't got many ORX... main reason being HK was asking $20 for them when the other clones were half that... plus at least 1 if not 2 caught fire & released their magic smoke. 

Can't even tell if my ORX are GR300 or R - just checked, their label don't say. 

For the record, Blue vs Orange here's a pic 

case is different, circuitboard totally different - the plug pins are opposite direction even