beemerfan

iTrader: (39)

After doing it this way, I read back more pages in this thread and found that 305 had made this mod way before I did in this post http://www.rctech.net/forum/8953496-post1030.html. Thanks 305. I saw so many posts about soldering in a pin board that I didn't realize that someone had already come up with this system which I consider better. Also, in 305's post snipping and soldering the programmer board does power the radio without batteries, but the low voltage alarm sounds the whole time it is being programmed because the USB is only providing 5V. It was very annoying so I wound up powering my radio on batteries to program it anyway.

Strip about a 1/4 inch of wire and pull them through, bottom to top. Solder them with a low temp 15 or 20 watt iron and a very pointy tip. Afterwards, snip off the extra wire. The wires or solder joints must not touch each other. If you have limited soldering experience, practice on "bread board" part of the trimmed off extra from the STM8s. If you want to use the pin board system, you could take those from the extra part of the STM8s as well. My photos are attached.

fixitrod

I/we did 4 more controllers using 3 wires (servo wires) and they worked perfect. SWIM in general just needs on wire to program from what I'm reading. So is the controller powering the board and one wire for programming? The S W in swim is single wire from what I've read. I don't know the depth of programming swim... Just trying to learn some.

beemerfan

iTrader: (39)

The 4 pin holes are marked RST, GND, SWM, and 5V. You can see them in the second photo of my previous post. Which 3 wires are you using? I read somewhere in this thread that you need to have RST connected and of course you also need SWM. But if you are using the radio's own power, do you need 5V or GND? Maybe this could be done with just two wires?

fixitrod

I don't use rst. I've tried with different combos of 2 wires and it doesn't work. But on my radio if rst is connected it shuts down when you click program, current tab. Disconnect rst and ding... It works! Its worked on 5 radios so far. So if you have a problem with 4 wires, try to disconnect rst.

theenemy

It makes so much sense to go from bottom to top! I don't know why I was so convinced that I had to go from top to bottom. I will take your advice and try it on the "bread board". I was trying to avoid soldering the wires on the transmitter board and go with the pin board but now that I see your pics, I'll try this way. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post them btw.
I have a craftsman 30w iron and lead free 95% Tin 5% Antimony Solder with Rosin Flux Core. Will these do ?
I also realised that the CD-ROM cable I grabbed earlier wont work. I stripped it off and it has actually only two wires insulated and the rest are strands wrapped around the insulated wires. So what kind of cables are you using? For example I can get cables from an ATX power supply. would they work?

FireFrenzy

Okay so i disconnected rst, which caused STVP to stop complaining about the order of the wires, but it did cause it to crash when i attempted to read out the code...

ANyone have any ideas?

fixitrod

If it's vista or 7 try right clicking on the icon to start the program and select run as administrator. If that doesn't work I'd uninstall and reinstall. When installing just to be safe right click on the installation file and select run as administrator. the right click thing to run as admin isn't in xp.

The order of the wire still matters with 3 wires. You don't need the pin closets to the center of the board (this is on the programming card). I bent my pin down so I wouldn't forget. You could also use a silver poster marker or fingernail polish to mark the connector and board once it works so you always know how it goes on the first time.

Assuming hardware is connected correctly and software is reinstalled with admin rights maybe... But probably not.. It could be USB drivers need updated. If you go to device manager and right click on the USB port types and select update driver it will check. In 7 or vista just open control panel and in the top right type device manager. It should show on the list. Xp go to control panel, system, I think there is a hardware tab and select device manager.

Also, just a precaution turn off antivirus.

To see if the connections working just connect everything up to program the controller, select read, then all tabs. If it populates then open your new file, select program, all tabs and viola! 5 seconds later your done... Ever heard that before ... Hope not !!!

For a cable the simplest for us is a servo cable. 3 wires and the connector slides right on.

fixitrod

Everything I just posted is assuming you snapped half the programming card off and are turning the transmitter power on before programming.

beemerfan

iTrader: (39)

Your tools should work, but you have to be quick on soldering the joints or you will burn too much insulation off the wires and if you burn the surface of the board, it will be hard to get the solder to stick. All I can say is practice first until you are comfortable. It isn't like soldering a NiCD battery pack. It just takes a second to generate enough heat. For wire, I used an old piece of phone cable. The kind that is twisted together in the outer insulation, not molded into it. I trimmed off some insulation from about a 12 inch piece, grabbed the end with pliers and pulled it right out. I happened to have some loose servo connectors pins in my box for the other end and I borrowed the plastic part of the connector from some old computer stuff.

I've been able to program the radio using 4 wires a couple of times now using a Windows 7 32 bit netbook. Only problem was the programmer card seems to interfere with my WiFi while it is active. No big deal, but I had to make sure I had my firmware ready to go that I built using PSX's firmware generator and QuangVuong's tutorial downloaded to my hard drive because it broke my Internet access. Thanks again guys, this is brilliant stuff. Next I'm waiting for someone to mod this radio to work on 4 AAs (6V). Seems it ought to be possible.

Group B Monster

Hey guy I just receive my new fs gtb3 ( the new stock from hobbypartz ) and btw this one came with a usb cable for use with computer but no CD.

My question is DO you trust the builf in fail safe fonction ? I dont really care for my TC but for my HPI savage im a little afraid , if the thing fail to work , that MT can cause serious damage.

So far I test the build in save fail and its work , but what you recommend ? Use only the receiver fail save ? Use only my stand alone fail safe ? or use Both together ?

I dont know if the 7$ rx is reliable or not...

Also another question, On my old futuba 2pl to use the charge port without they wall charger I had to remove a diode inside so I can get direct access to the battery from the charge plug. I check the GTB3 and I saw that the volt reading is 0.3V so someone can confirm there a diode or something to remove to get full battery from the port ? a picture of the thing to remove can be nice too

Thanks

BSchorr

iTrader: (101)

My first outing with this radio was not good at all! Running it in 2wd mod buggy... It would randomly glitch out and couldnt steer, and it would also keep the tires spinning at 20% throttle after applying full throttle and letting off. Bound a different receiver to it... same thing...

Setup a new model for it... and fixed.... wtf!

Indymike5353

iTrader: (2)

FixitRod is getting scarey fast at reprogramming these. 2 guys came up to us and said : "we heard you knew something about these controllers" It took longer for the soldering iron to heat up than it did for Rod to solder the servo cable to the board, reprogram and put it back together! LOL Hes like a GT3b ninja!

reptile

iTrader: (138)

Hi guy's here is my How to for putting a ball bearing in the GTB3 steering.
Enjoy.
(photos are in order with steps first photo to left #1 and so on)

Parts needed 8mmX12MMx3.5MM normal bearing I used traxxas 2 for $4.00 (see Photo)

1) use a reamer and make the whole larger so the bearing fits in the cover snug with no slop go slowly with the reamer( go from front and rear see photo after hole was inlarged.)

2) Next Push bearing all the way on the steering shaft it fits snug.

3) assemble the parts back together now you have a beauty!!

j_blaze14

iTrader: (34)

that looks good, grease seems to go away after about a month, this should be permanent.

QuangVuong

iTrader: (16)

Well looks my measurements were correct. Is the steering wheel more stable and doesn't flex at max travel?

Nice one! Now I need to actually find one. Is this the same bearings that goes around diffs in 1/10 onroads?