Radio range is weak

[ChrisBlue233]

Hello All,

I have a Fly Sky GT3B transmitter and receiver and I have noticed I can only go about 30-40 feet max away from me and it will cut out and my optical killswitch will disable the engine. I have the antenna sticking out of the body shell in an antenna tube. It does not help any and there are no cuts in the antenna and it is not damaged in any way. I am wondering if it could be 2 things. The transmitter takes 8 AA batteries and I use rechargeables, which fully charged, the screen says it’s 10.7 volts out of the 12 volts if I were to use standard alkaline AA batteries. Does this reduce the range because it has reduced voltage? I also have a ton of wiring over the receiver body itself and the receiver sits next to the optical killswitch. I have hardly any space for wiring so I’m hoping I can get a LiFe battery instead of the bulky 6v nimh pack. Does all the wiring on top of the receiver reduce range?

 

[1Coopgt]

I think you may have answered your own question. I would try 8 aa batteries and see if your range is better. All the wires shouldn't matter. Mine looks like a rats nest in side the radio box. Let us know how you make out.

 

[cbaker65]

Mine gets to at least a 100 yrds ,about a block an a half away on the rechargable Energize batt.s an it says the 10.7 volts too!

It could be your area or also a resistor bad in the circuit board!

 

[AnubisBC]

My Futaba 3pk would run to the end of my comfort zone at 9.0v, I don't think voltage is the primary root cause. Could be a lot if interference in the area, or just a dud send unit in the radio.

 

[Seandonato73]

I've ran rechargeable nimh batteries in receivers for years with no I'll effect on range. Fly sky is hit and miss on this. My gt3-c is on my rock crawler for this reason.

 

[Bryan K.]

I'm one of the people that have had range problems on the GT3B and GT3C. I chucked both of them. My experiences were the exact same. I had a 10 ft range on average and 30ft if I got lucky. I purchased at least 12 receivers all from different sources and they all had the same issue. It's not worth it to run cheap stuff that has a risk of failing. A few people I know run them as well and it seems very dependent on the area you run in. They seem to be glitchy around certain interferences. There was only one place in my area where my Flysky worked glitch free and actually had decent range. Either go for Spektrum or Futaba, I've had really good luck on the newer spektrum DSMR Stuff, and although I haven't used Futaba, many people have and swear by them. I just don't use them because IMO they are grossly overpriced. For Spektrum you can buy SR3100 3 channel receivers for dirt cheap online ($10-$15) and they work flawlessly.

If flysky works for you in your area, then that's cool. But I've personally seen enough issues with them from myself and other people in my area. That's enough reason for me to never touch them again.

 

[ChrisBlue233]

Too bad it’s 3 days over to return it to Amazon lol. I guess it all a learning curve but I’ll be going with a different brand I’ve heard good things about the spektrum so I’ll probably be trying that next. Probably will get a LiFe battery as well to hopefully give me more room in my tiny radio box and when I bash for hours and it starts falling on its face and acting weak especially with dual steering servos. Good thing I did tons of overtime at work lol.

 

[enzo3856]

Too bad it’s 3 days over to return it to Amazon lol. I guess it all a learning curve but I’ll be going with a different brand I’ve heard good things about the spektrum so I’ll probably be trying that next. Probably will get a LiFe battery as well to hopefully give me more room in my tiny radio box and when I bash for hours and it starts falling on its face and acting weak especially with dual steering servos. Good thing I did tons of overtime at work lol.

I would try having all those wires under the receiver if at all possible...
I was having some issues with the NiCd battery pack in my car... once the pack was getting low my range was inconsistent... I switched to LiFE and it is been problem free...

 

[ChrisBlue233]

I would try having all those wires under the receiver if at all possible...
I was having some issues with the NiCd battery pack in my car... once the pack was getting low my range was inconsistent... I switched to LiFE and it is been problem free...

I bought a LiFe pack so I’m going to try it out tomorrow. I think with the dual servos it’s making the voltage on my nimh pack dip too low. Since the LiFe pack is a lot smaller, I will have a ton more room to move around the wires in there.
I also heard the no name nimh pack that comes with the car isn’t known for being a quality pack.

 

[21bangbang]

Id just get the Futaba. Sure they're more expensive, but they're better. Quality costs, and you can get a basic model for cheap. 160ish I paid I think. Well worth piece of mind imo.

 

[ChrisBlue233]

I am using the original radio that came with the car because my fly sky receiver channel 2 decided to go out and now I have no throttle. Something is wrong with the receiver so they are sending me another one. Probably had problems from the beginning. I don’t have a channel 3 button on the original controller for the cut off but it’ll do for now. I’ll probably just wait for the replacement, sell it, and get a Futaba.

 

[21bangbang]

Careful running with no kill switch. Make sure to share any recordings of runaways to show people what can happen.??

 

[ChrisBlue233]

Careful running with no kill switch. Make sure to share any recordings of runaways to show people what can happen.??

I run in a field where it’s all fenced off and no houses are nearby. The worst it can do is hit a fence lol. It’ll still cut it off when it loses signal or the battery gets too low I just don’t have a switch on my controller for it. Might just go ahead and order the Futaba right now.