ZipZap range

[d00kie]

So hows the stock range of a ZipZap? I haven't seen this discussed yet, so I'm assuming that its better than the stock Bit range; but assuming does has its drawbacks, thus better I ask. :D

[lowerdfool]

unlike most people on this board I seem to get around 15 to 20 feet on both frequencies. all I've done was untie the not in the antenna. :shrug:

[Axel]

I got around 10 - 15 feet after untying the knot, but then I ripped out that antenna and soldered on a really really thin (about 1/4 mm) copper wire which was a bit longer and I get around 45 feet outside.... Not too bad. That's almost enough to where you'd need binoculars to see your car very well.

-Alex

[zacdaddy]

hey man....mine goes about 10 to 11 feet inside.....i untied the not and still the same.....what gauge wire did you replace your antena with...and does it matter? Help a brother out heheh

[Axel]

hehe, ya, they kinda suck sometimes if your not lucky. I've found that for some reason a sloppy soldering job = bad reception. Check out your board and I bet there's a big glob of solder where the antenna connects... not almost flat like it should be.

Here's what I did. I de-soldered the antenna and got all the excess solder off of mine. Then I got this thick speaker wire for my bass guitar rig... probably around 12 guage. I stripped that and took out a singly wire of the 80 or so that make up the twisted wire. I took mine off of the negative side (I've heard that since it's copper it does better). Then I just soldered that thing in there nice and clean like. It sticks up about 6 inches and flops around, and since it's so thin it looks really frail, but it never breaks or flops down to where it gets tangled in anything so I'm ok with it. It's no where near as easy to see as the stock one either since its sooo thin.

Reception will always be better outside (unless it's raining) than inside. But I still get 25-30 feet inside right now. Inside there just tends to be a lot of appliances and stuff causing electrical interference. A lot more than outside. Give it a try and let me know how you do.

I'm spending my time trying to find a good 3.6V Lithium Ion rechargeable to get in there and to figure out how to mod the recharger so I'll get full use out of my battery (I need a 4.2V charge going into it... exactly 4.2 v). That battery should just about tripple the motor speed though :-)

-Alex

[MTL]

i got approx. 15-25 feet inside....thats just amazing, because my Bit even has a longer anntena and goes only about 15ft inside
i untied the knot in the ZZ though...it seemed to help
i also have a vent on the roof of my Eclipse that i made, and i put the anntena through there....not sure if it helped though, it increased the length fron the roof about half an inch

[mechanist]

Did some experimenting with my ZZs right after I got them last night.
Here are my approximate results:

27Mhz:

In the house:
5' range - stock

~8-10' range after drilling a 1/16" hole in the front left fender (like a car radio antennae) and threading the antennae through it.
NOTE:Just couldn't do any better in the house. I untied the antennae know, checked the hair thin wires in the chassis to make sure they aren't touching anything, took my controller apart to make sure everything was attached right. Shrug

15-17' outside


49Mhz:

In the house:
as far as I can get away from it in my tiny house. I was 2 rooms away 35' or so and still controlling it. (Drilled hole in front left fender for hood again)

Ouside: Didn't test yet.

In my office at work today though it only goes about 7' before sputtering out. But I'm surrounded by computers and electrical equipment so I'm guessing that there is some sort of interferance here.

Also maybe the 27Mhz just doesn't like my house for the interferance or something since I get an OK range outside. The 49Mhz still kicks it's ass generally though.

Maybe I'll try replacing the antenna on the 27Mhz one later on...