Where do I stand?

[ShaneyB]

Hi all,
Bought a B4.1 RTR on Thursday Feb 16th, used it with my son 3 times since and the steering is still locking full lock right. This has happened twice out of the 3 times I've used it and I'm not happy. My son went to use it last night, turned the transmitter on, waited, turned the car on and sure enough it went to full lock right. This happened the day I bought it so I took it back to DMS the following Monday and it didn't happen (typical).
We love the car but wondering if we have bought a dud? I don't think that I should be changing servo's etc. on a brand new £300 car so should I take it back and get the car replaced?
My son is gutted and fast losing interest in a hobby we haven't even started properly. I think 25 minutes driving (max) in 2 weeks due to a problem I've had with the car since day one isn't acceptable.

Any advice please?

Thanks in advance.

[DCM]

Your best bet is to either contact Darren at DMS or phone CML's http://www.cmldistribution.co.uk/about.php

[MatJohnson]

Have you checked the trim on the transmitter itself?

Another option, is take the servo out, and make sure that it moves in both directions, there is a chance the servo horn could have jumped/slipped. If that is the case, take the servo horn off, set the transmitter to have the trim in the middle, then put the servo horn back on in the center. This should sort the problem.

[mattybucks]

I'm sure Darren at DMS will be more than happy to help you. Give him a call, or go into the shop.

[Matt Butcher]

contact cml or the hobby store you brought it from, does sound like a bum servo tho!

[ShaneyB]

Thing is it's sometimes ok. Servo horn is vertical when the wheels are straight and steering trim is neutral. As soon as I power up the car the wheels lock to the right. First time it happened the wheels were twitching even without touching the transmitter and if you even touched the wires from the receiver to the servo it went mad indicating a connection problem. I just don't want to take it back only for the problem NOT to resurface on this occasion, look like a newbie (which I am) come home only for it to happen again and frustrate the hell of me and my son.
It's his birthday present he's had about 15 minutes of fun with. I'd rather not swap the servo on a brand new car in case it has further problems.

Thanks again all.

[sosidge]

Since it sound like you bought it over-the-counter from a shop I am sure they will be able to help you out, just do your best to replicate the conditions that make the servo lock to the side when you go into the shop. Nobody should tolerate a car that was faulty out of the box.

Is it a 2.4GHz or 27MHz version transmitter? If it is the 27MHz version, make sure the transmitter antenna is fully extended and make sure the transmitter batteries are fully charged. Try and keep the transmitter a few feet away from the car when switching on. Also make sure the car is fully charged. Locking to the left sounds a little bit like the failsafe might be kicking in which would be because of a bad signal.

Is there anything unusual about your house or the place you are trying to run the car? Lots of high-tension power wires, metal frame construction, lots of wireless video connections nearby can all cause problems.

The other tell-tale is that wobbling the wires makes the steering twitch - it shouldn't really do that, and suggests a wiring fault. Beyond making sure that the plugs are fully pushed into the receiver and that the main battery plug is making good, clean contact, there is not much you can do. If it is the older brushed-motor version it is possible that the motor capacitors are faulty and it is causing interference, but that would normally only show up when you were running the motor.

[Darren Boyle]

Hi Shane (and all),

As I said when you popped it back into the shop last week (and it worked perfectly fine for us) if it does it again pop it in and maybe leave it with us for a "proper" checkover. It was very hard to do "anything" last time when you popped it in since it was working 100% normal (as it should do).

If you can pop it along to the club this thursday (as you said you were intending to last week) and we can take a proper look in a racing environment if you wish. If needs be I can take a spare servo along with us and swap it out if there is a problem that arises (just let us know in advance that you are coming).

A problem with the servo, will not be anything inherant with any thing else on the car (except maybe the reciever at worst), by that I mean the ESC, gearbox, shocks, chassis etc are all totally independent items of each other, therfore if there was an issue we would get the servo (the problem) swapped out for you. It is unlikely that CML would suggest we swap a "whole car" (that works perfectly well when we looked at it) due to just one component having an issue, we would deal with that issue and put it right if required.

Obviuosly you have our number already (since we have already spoke on the phone) let me know what you would like to do and we can go from there as suggested when you popped in.

Regards the "wobbling wires" and twitching, we checked that if you recall in the shop and could see no issue, the only time we got a twitch was when we (half) pulled the plug out (which you would expect due to a poor connection). From what i could see you had no issue with loose connections or the like. My personal beleif is that what you might be experiencing is simplky the 2.4ghz radio not binding right on power up, which is usually cured simply by turning off and back on again. As mentioned above also make sure that you are not too close to car when switching on (a foot or two away is fine) and hopefully some of these simple pointers will be all that you need to cure the teething troubles you are getting then you can get down to the club and enjoy some racing.

Best Wishes

Darren

[Darren Boyle]

Also to add, some of the other help and advice received in the other threads where you have asked is also worth looking at, some good obvious things in them worth double checking too....

http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93678

http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93790

http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93800

But rest assured, if it is an issue with anything, we will do our very best for you to ensure it is sorted out as swiftly as possible (except for on a saturday of course when we are out racing too )

[ShaneyB]

Cheers Darren,
I'll check the car again lunchtime and if it is still the same I'll bring it in today.

Didn't come Thursday as the wheels were locked but in hindsight I should have and you could have had a look there.

May see you lunchtime.

Thanks again.

[dave g]

if it does it again,take a video of it on your phone so you can show darren and it may help identify the problem?

[ShaneyB]

Yep,
Done that tis time.

Cheers