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Friday, March 29, 2024

Diagnosing a Receiver Problem

This article was originally published in RC Driver’s April 2015 issue.

Ask Tony

You got questions, I have answers. Feel free to ask any RC related questions; questions on tuning, on article cars, on racing or just to ask how I’m doing! I’ll do my best to answer all of them.

QUESTION:

Hi Tony. First off I wanted to say you guys and gals put out the best magazine and I’m hoping you can help me with my problem. I have a Spektrum DX4C in my oval car. The problem is when I power it up, the servo makes a lot of noise and does not respond. I have put different servos in it, even brand new ones and have the same problem. My chassis is a graphite RC10 with a Speed Passion 17.5t brushless motor. I switched Tx/Rx with a Tower Hobbies 2.4GHz system and it works fine. Am I doing something wrong?
David M. Troupsburg, NY

ANSWER:

Hi David, You’ve done everything you should to track down the problem; different servos, new servos and even swapping out the radio system. This just sounds like a typical case of a bad receiver. Even though receivers are, for the most part, pretty durable, any hard knocks can shut them down. Since it’s in your RC10 oval car (assuming dirt oval), I’m going to rule out moisture, but any dirt or debris kicked up from the track can easily leak in through the receiver ports and possibly cause havoc on a receiver. If you like your Tower Hobbies 2.4GHz radio system, stick with it. If you’d like to go back to your DX4C (my suggestion), pick up a new receiver and you should be fine. To help protect it, I would suggest doubling up the servo tape used to attach it to the chassis, basically raising it slightly and adding a little more cushion. Good luck!

Thanks for contacting me!
Tony

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