Remote Control Truck question

[ballaratdragons]

My son has a giant RC truck. It was bought at BigW and is one of those 1/6th scale Giant trucks.

But the problem is that the hand controller has broken.
Knowing nothing about this stuff am I able to use any 2 channel 27Mhz hand controller or does it have to be a specific one made for that particular toy?

It is this one: http://www.bigw.com.au/toys/vehicles-remote-controlled/bpnBIGW_0000000237084/radio-control-1-6-scale-ford-f150-9-6v

We tested a small 27Mhz hand controller from a small RC car but it didn't work.

[M110]

If the controller has a pop-out channel crystal, like proper ones do trying making sure it is pushed in properly.
Best I can suggest for one of those

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Andrew. I wouldn't know where to look for a crystal, but this controller is broken.
A couple of electronic components were bent over and one of them broke in half and a long piece of thin copper wire came out of it. And a plastic sliding part has a section broken off and is gone. It needs the bit to work.

In other words, it is stuffed.

My son got a bit adventurous when it stopped working and opened it up and broke several parts inside. :sadeyes:

All I need to know is if ANY 2 channel 27Mhz trigger hand control will work with the truck. :)
or are they all different and I have to get the right one for this truck?

[Astroman]

As Andrew said, check to see if it has a Crystal, it may look like a plastic rectangular cover with either 27MHz on it or with a frequency on it like 27.365Mhz. When you say Broken, do you mean Physically or electronic? Sometimes there is a small wire attached to the antenna that if turned too many times or just turned can break the wiring to the antenna, making the unit seem like it's broken... Also check Battery levels and orientation, some of us have been known to put dead batteries in backwards before (I wont go into details about my faults :D ) If the batteries were put in backwards and the circuitry doesn't have reverse polarity protection, it could have fried something inside, hopefully that hasn't happened.

Just a couple of things to check.. Also check the trucks batteries and wiring, they take a fair amount of punishment, but only takes one bump to break em.

[Astroman]

If you can't get it working by Wednesday Ken, I can look at it to see what you can do with it, bit hard working things out without it in my lap :D You may be lucky if you can get another 27Mhz controller to change the crystals over for it to work, most 27Mhz controllers are similar.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Andrew, yes you can look at it on wednesday please.

Yes it is physically broken. Not an aerial wire, but an electronic component on the circuit board broken (a thing like a resistor or diode or something like that) and it has copper wire hanging out of it that is thin as a hair. And other components have be pushed over and may be broken.

Also the plastic sliding bit is beyond repair.
The whole hand control unit needs replacing, I just don't know what to replace it with.

[ballaratdragons]

I searched photos of electronic components and the broken bit looks like a Transistor, or maybe an Inductor :sadeyes:

:shrug:

[Tandum]

It might be cheaper to replace the whole vehicle if it's just a toy. Not sure on postage but this one from the US (http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXZJC4&P=0)is 1/14th or this one (http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXZJC5&P=0)is 1/16th. Most of the HK shop links I have only sell big boy toys and they'll cost ya a lot more than $50 :)

[ballaratdragons]

This truck is 1/6th scale and is not really a toy, and it cost $90.

I am not going to replace a whole $90 truck if I can get a $29 hand controller for it :lol:

That's like saying "throw the whole telescope out because the Secondary mirror has a scratch on it" :screwy:

[Tandum]

Well excuse me for offering a suggestion.
It is a toy, it only cost $88 with radio and is the wrong scale for competition.
Good luck finding a transmitter.

[ballaratdragons]

Mate, what is your problem?
There's no need to be a smartarse.
For me it was a silly suggestion.

1. To my 18 year old son it is not a toy but a gift his Dad saved up a long time for,
2. $90 on a pension is a hell of a lot of money,
3. Who said anything about competition?
4. Where did you learn Maths? $29 is a lot less than another $90 (which is what they cost in Big W regardless of how much they are online)

My son broke his controller and I am asking where I can get one for him, or IF I can get one. There is no need for your attitude!
Maybe you earn enough to throw away. I don't.

Sheeesh! :shrug:

[ballaratdragons]

Thank you Andrew for offering to help with my son's hand controller on Wednesday. It is definately a 27Mgz controller as it has it written on the unit.
He will also ask you hundreds of questions about Stormchasing as he is fascinated by it, so be ready for it ;)

[M110]

If a wire is broken off inside, I am totally out ideas, Ken I'm sorry. I think you would need to find another one the same to test out if it works. Do any of his friends have you could use to test. Can you put up a reasonble close up pic of the the controller so I can see whether it has interchangable crystals, and tell you where it is.

[Astroman]

I can't guarantee a fix, but I'll be able to see if it could be replaced with a third party controller.

[DavidTrap]

Ken,

I can only offer general advice from my current experience in flying RC planes, and from such cars in my youth.

These days, 27MHz transmitters are really only used for "department store toys". The more serious "hobby store toys" use 29Mhz (or 2.4GHz) - 27Mhz was abandoned long ago for the more "serious toys" due to interference from CB radio (which itself then moved to UHF). There is no guarantee that another transmitter will work as the control codes for this transmitter/receiver combination may well be proprietary for the manufacturer. You could try buying another transmitter, but it will be "good luck" if it actually works.

Like it or not, we live in a disposable society. The manufacturer of this car is extremely unlikely to supply spare parts - never seen anything like this on the shelf of BigW and most of the local hobby shops really aren't interested in carrying spare parts for cars $<200. Professional repairs would be uneconomical. My guess is that you will only get this working again if someone volunteers their time and electronics know-how.

I wish you and your son well,

DT

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks both Andrews and David :thumbsup:

M110 Andrew, I will try take a close up image but my camera isn't really good at macro.

I had a further play with his controller and strangely, when I accelerate on the controller it makes the truck go in forward and reverse only when I touch the aerials together, :shrug:
but won't do anything when the aerials are apart :lol:

[M110]

Ken,
Don't worry about the pic. If astroman is going to came and have a look at it for you. He will be able show you what and where the crystal is.

[ballaratdragons]

OK thanks.
I tried anyway and they are all blurry :lol:

[Astroman]

I'll bring my #3 Hammer just in case :) Seems to do a good job on most things RC :D

Good to see another RC flyer here too David, thats where most of my experience comes also, RC aircraft and cars. Dont do it as often as I would like though... Might need to retire, but I am told I am too young at 38yo :D

[M110]

Sorry Ken, there only so much I can do from my little island. It's a bit hard to be hands on from down here.

[ballaratdragons]

She'll be right. Andrew is bringing his hammer :lol:

[M110]

lol. I hope he has some good luck with it.....

[Morepower]

This is a xtal, some are housed in a rectangular plastic cover. They plug in so have a look at both controllers you have and see if you can find them, they should be there, maybe even inside. Just swap them over and see if it works, it did for me on an rc chopper. Hope this helps.

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/RC_radio_crystal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RC_radio_crystal.jpg&h=906&w=1168&sz=209&tbnid=5BjdlStnqYC6aM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drc%2Bcrystal%2Bpics&zoom=1&q=rc+crystal+pics&hl=en&usg=__A026joLvOx8byMmnY4N453WmD50=&sa=X&ei=Bw5oTfTzIIOucN68qY4M&ved=0CCAQ9QEwAg

[Astroman]

I have a certificate in all hammer operations, so should be able to at least hit it a couple of times, which usually does the trick.

[acropolite]

I hate to upset the transmitter fault tragics, but the reason the controls stopped working could equally well be a receiver fault.

[Astroman]

Could be, but until we have a good look at it and given the information provided, we can be 50% sure it's the Tx.. Will let everyone know in a few days.

[M110]

:lol::lol:

[ballaratdragons]

Oops, I forgot to update this story.

Andrew came over, checked all the parts and confirmed that it was definitely a broken hand controller.

We looked up the part number and found the manufacturer in Hong Kong. Emails back and forth and all is sorted.

I ordered a new Hand Controller - $17 and all is well :thumbsup:

Thank you to David and Andrew M110 for your helpful suggestions and to Andrew (Astroman) for his hands-on help. :)

[Astroman]

Glad you got it sorted Ken.