NEED SOME R/C ADVICE

The link of our radios is more than long enough. We drove a bot across the school without being able to see it. It went at least 200 yards before it wouldn't control anymore.

[Billfred]

What about a Vex controller? The kit can be made to work with relays, has a nice FM radio, runs off of AAs or rechargeables (your choice), you can add in a kill switch to the back of the radio (probably a good thing for something with that much power), it can tether when you want to test radio-free, and it has plenty of room for expansion. (Autonomous programs, anyone?)

A Vex kit goes for $299, and the programming kit (which you may or may not need, depending on what you need or if your friend has one) is $99. It's not that bad a deal--you might just build a Vex robot with it, too.

[Tristan Lall]

I know you didn't ask, but the FCC won't be too happy with you if you use an aircraft frequency with a ground vehicle. So whatever you choose, make sure it operates on the correct band (e.g. 75 MHz band, like the Vex controller).

Also, avoid large, garish, red text.

[Qbranch]

I second using a vex controller, they work very well as an inexpensive FM reciever as well as a programmable controller if that's a need too.

Personally, I like to use an HPC explorer development kit from microchip.. It works very well and is much less expensive than a robot controller if youre handy with C programming. You just make up a progam on one HPC for the OI pannel that reads in analog voltages and some digital input, some output if you want, and packages it into a string.

Then, the recieving end just has to take the analog/digital inputs and make them into pwms or just simply copy the digital in to and out.

For wireless between the two, i like to use a MaxStream data modem. And for range... the Xtend modem has a range of 40miles line of sight with no FCC license needed, 256bit encryption and internal data packetization.

Just hook up RS-232/485 or near any interface of your choice to the modems, and bingo, wireless data. These can also be used in a network mode if you need to communicate with multiple devices.

Good luck!

-Q

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Billfred

What about a Vex controller?

Originally Posted by Qbranch

I second using a vex controller, they work very well as an inexpensive FM receiver as well as a programmable controller if that's a need too.

Some notes on this: You will most likely be fine with a vex system if you use the vex controller module and vex receiver. Do not attempt to use the vex system for integration with a standard Futaba-like receiver. From experience the system does not work nearly as well as you would expect. I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind it, I suspect it was a power issue in the receiver which may just have been the one I used.

From other RC experience I would say at least get a PCM receiver, or one of the newer ones based off of the 802. system. The newer radios have the ability to "lock" into the receiver which basically minimizes radio interference.

no offense to these forums but your questions might be better answered at www.rcuniverse.com they are forums dedicated to RC hobbies, and you may be able to buy something used inexpensively from one of the members.