57Mhz Car Range Probelms

[Admin]

Hello all,

a friend of mine, after obtaining a 57MHz bit char-g was amazed by the

absurdly short range of the remote control: whereas my 45MHz car can

be controlled from as far as ten meters, his car started to stutter

after less than two meters, and stopped working short after that.

After some investigation, we found the cause: inside the remote,

between L3 (which, in fact, is a resistor) and R9 there’s a 30pf

capacitor, directly soldered between the two components — this looks

quite like some type of “hack job” done only to pass a compliance

test or something alike. After removing that capacitor, the 57MHz car

has exactly the same range as the others.

I hope this helps…

[Admin]

Just out of curiousity, which 57 MHz car was it? My red RX-7 hasn’t had that problem.

Of course, this is good information for everybody. I keep hearing about that blue WRX having that problem. I haven’t finished the body-detailing on my WRX yet, so I don’t know if mine has that problem yet or not.

[Admin]

Hey Chris

(Jjust noticed you’re a first-time poster – WELCOME!)

That’s VERY interesting about the capacitor in the TX unit. My 57MHz GT-R hasn’t had any of the symptoms that you describe but then, I haven’t really pushed it beyond 2 or 3 metres.

I will open up a 57MHz unit tonight and do some testing/soldering and post some photos and a quick write-up over the weekend.

Thanks again for your post…. a worthy heads-up if I’ve ever seen one!

Cheers

Derek

(at work – errrch!)

[Admin]

Hey i just tried that trick on my 35mhz, and it does seem to work! I can get better range now with little or no stuttering!

Good find mate!

[Admin]

I’m gonna have to do this on my ‘beater’ car… Xanavi skyline with busted tub, broken chrager clips etc etc… 🙂

It has always had crap reception… will do a pictorial of it for everyone!

[Admin]

chrisR

i want to have your first 7 kids man, u saved my car from shelfdom. It goes all over the place now, i have the wrx blue 45mhz and have been complaining on these forums for like 5 days or something. now i can actually post happy msgs.

thx again to everyone who gave me ideas to help fix this car

ryan

[Admin]

Sweet! I’m going to start cutting capacitors tonight!

[Admin]

i popped mine open and pulled the capacitor out, but at the same time accidentally pulled the blue aerial wire off.. and i didnt see where it was (doh)

so cant wait to see some pics.. i need 2 put my aerial back on 🙂

but even without it, the thing still has reception of like a metre haha

so it must b improved 🙂

[Admin]

I just cut the cap and now my range has TRIPLED! I used to have about 6ft range before it stuttered. Now I went the full length of my kitchen (~18ft), around the island (out of sight) and back! I’ll try to get a picture up tomorrow.

EDIT: I also decided to open up my multichannel remote to see if the same mod would work on that. As far as I can tell, the answer is no. Also, I suggest notopening your multichannel remotes…there are far more piecesthat can be easily lost and are not secured.

[Admin]

just figured out where the blue wire went today while i was bored after work and got it all back together again and the range has improved out of sight (almost fiiguratively speaking 🙂 ) i can now drive it from one side of the house to the other without having to get up (and not a single stutter either).. must be at least 10 meters it even seems as tho its a little faster ?? now too with the better signal

[Author]

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