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Is there a US distributor or do we have to order direct? And if we order direct, how much in US dollars?

Thanks,

Without the servo being powered off the BEC from the ESC, there are no power fluctuations at the receiver anymore. So my PT is powered just fine.

Raced a whole day with the deal I made up, and the car was super crisp all day.

Please forget I said anything about the issue. I noticed there is a company or two that manufacture a device that is basically exactly the same as the thing I built (for RC airplanes). But hey, I haven't seen any others with solutions on here. Only problems, complaints, and reservations. I think most of the problems stem from the low current output of some ESC BEC, like the quantum. Also, certain servos just draw lots of power for high torque or high speed, so certain combinations make big problems. I suggested the Capacitor fix, and it worked for many. Then I figured out the 5v regulated output device to power the servo independently from the BEC. At least I am trying to solve problems for the good of the people.

Thanks to the JR/Spektrum support crew at the Cleveland race. Contrary to reports from Horizon service, they were fixing things on site and were kind enough to take care of me.

I've had my issues before dealing with the people on the phone lines, but the guys on the front lines at the tracks were top notch...

Extra thanks to Skip....it was a pleasure meeting you...hope to see you again soon at the races.

Kwikvdub we don't have a US distributor you can order direct and the price is around $29 plus shipping.

PitCrew, we're like you we solve problems for the good of the people, it's good to see what you've done and it works.

It's not the total solution even when you take power direct from the race battery the ESC will still let the power go down below 4V (the minimum input for a PT) because of the ESC power-fail level so your PT could miss laps. Our Bug Booster solves all the power problems with a PT and doesn't need a battery to power it.

There are also other problems as you and others have said to do with high power servos etc, the Spektrum also has problems to do with the power-fail voltage on ESC's etc for which there are solutions that fix the problems.

PitCrew, I'm not trying to find more problems but the servo needs 6V so it will run slower I guess? You lose some of its high speed but no more receiver problems... until ESC power-fail problems when the race battery voltage gets lower and you accelerate hard.

Servo does not NEED 6 volts to operate. Notice they are rated at 4.8/6.0.

I didn't notice any sort of slower response running it at 5 volts. But its only at 18% less voltage, so if the servo had a transit time of .15 seconds for 60deg rotation (@ 6volts), then at 5 volts it is .177. .027 seconds is not that much time. Less than 3 hundreths of a second for 60 degrees.

It depends what servo you use, limiting the current to 2A is not ideal and a lower voltage of 5V is not the best for optimum servo performance. As I said there are several possible problems to do with speedo BEC circuits, some are weak at around 1A, some can become overloaded (despite a 5A rating) due to lack of thermal protection on the BEC circuit etc. Some receivers have problems being too sensitive and being affected by 'glitching' and some high power servos just add to the potential problems. Get the wrong speedo with the wrong receiver and the wrong servo and you can end up with all sorts of problems... add to that PT problems and you can have missed laps and a lack of control.

Because we push everything to the limit when we race there will inevitably be problems luckily most times there are also solutions, and some solutions are better than others!

Limiting to 2 amps is not ideal? Well, then maybe I should just plug it back into my receiver that is only geting 1.6 to power everything. Yeah. I like your thinking on that.

This thing can be built to put out 10 amps if I want it to. I just figured since it worked with a capacitor in the receiver at 1.6, then 2 should be plenty considering it is only powering the servo. And it worked Perfectly...

PitCrew, your solution will be fine for some (most) - well done I say. Others (like myself) may want to go for higher voltages to the servo, that's why instead of regulators im using two diodes and capacitor to feed the servo on the electric car, the change in response was large.

So by using two diodes connected in series, you are getting 1.2 volt drop (.6 volt threshold diodes?)? Thats a good idea too. However most good packs are putting out somewhere around 8 volts to start with, and probably only drop to 7, so your servo speed can change througout the race. But its probably not noticeable. Nice job.

Nice to know somebody appreciates the thought...

PitCrew as au_Nightmare says and I agree it probably works ok for most. I am just saying there are other solutions and that your solution is not the total solution, if it was everyone would use it.

What I ask is why are there problems? Why can't the Spektrum work without problems? Why can't PT's work without problems? But then if all these products worked without problems (by being designed better) we'd have no problems to find solutions for!!

I can't speak for Spektrum, but many of the problems are from esc's that just don't put out enough power to power the receiver (transceiver) PT, and servo's. The same problems probably plagued users of FM as well, but were written off as "glitches"- common using FM technology. Instead of glitching, the spektrum basically turns off. Its either on or off, no fading. So, the technology merely accentuated a problem on the ESC side.

As far as other problems associated with their manufacturing technique, I guess they need to figure that out. For instance, my transmitter module is messed up- the bind button doesn't work. I took it apart and bypassed the switch to bind my receivers.

Even with these faults, I am more than pleased with the performance of the spektrum. I have not had ONE glitch at all in the last 8 months of weekly(2 times per week on average) racing. I LOVE it.

Maybe the 5 volt device would be better suited to running just the PT, in those cases where the user feels they need a bit more voltage to the servo, regardless of the fact that some ESC's can't maintain that voltage at the desired current draw from the servo motor. Thus causing voltage depression on the whole BEC circuit and shutting down the receiver.

PitCrew, you're right many of the problems are to do with esc's that have a weak BEC. Our ESC's (MRT) are designed with a 6V 3A BEC and we don't have any problems. With the Spektrum and PT's we're talking about another problem, one that with the Spektrum being 'new' technology the designers could have allowed for, specifically the voltage the Spektrum receiver can work down to, some other receivers also have this problem.

As I said some ESC's have a "power-fail" (receiver priority circuit) that works between 3.5V and 4V, if receivers can operate ok below 3.5V then there's no problems. ESC's are often now designed to operate down to 3.5V so they work ok for 4 cell (4.8V) racing without a separate rx pack. The problem is the same for PT's they don't work below 4V so there can be problems with missed laps. Just because Spektrum (and other 2.4GHz radios) don't show up the "glitches" doesn't mean there are no problems any more, instead of "glitches" you just might have it go into "failsafe" and stutter or stop etc when the voltage gets too low.

your spektrum is not fcc approved. I just found out.

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