RC4wd's ROCKER DIG

[L8Braker]

Originally Posted by run2jeepn

Adjust your EPA for the 3rd Channel...

RC4WD said it sounds like a faulty dig and it isn't sending power out to the motors so I am sending it back for a replacement. I will keep you guys updated. Gotta wait another week or two to drive now.....damn haha

[vodka child]

Originally Posted by bmuzz1

If you look at the diagram it shows the longer motor wires off to each side and the shorter esc wires in the center. When I received my unit one set of longer motor wires were on the side, the other longer set was in the center and the short esc wires were on the other side of the unit. The instructions describe the installation of the unit like I received mine.

-Brian

Cheers Brian, so regardless of the wire diagram or the layout on the unit (in your case the diagram and unit were different) it's short wires to the ESC and long wires to the motors??
Cheers
Darren

[bmuzz1]

Originally Posted by vodka child

Cheers Brian, so regardless of the wire diagram or the layout on the unit (in your case the diagram and unit were different) it's short wires to the ESC and long wires to the motors??
Cheers
Darren

That is correct!

Good luck!

Brian

[Boids]

I sent mine back tuesday cause it failed with less than 2 battery packs through it. I entered my first comp on sunday and it seemed like it kept getting weaker and weaker as the day progressed. I had traded for a punk dig so hopefully i'll be in business for some practice this weekend.

[vodka child]

Got mine through the post on Friday and once i'd swapped the connectors out for Deans plug i hooked it straight up (thanks to bmuzz1 for the confirmation on the wiring - short wires to the ESC long ones to the motors regardless of the fact that doesn't match the wiring diagram from RC4WD)

Not done anything more than a quick run to check it's all up and running will post up a review once i've been able to give it a proper run
Cheers
Darren

[bmuzz1]

I went up to a NARCCA comp in Prescott yesterday to give the dig another shot after tightening the pinions a bit more front and rear and it really seemed to help. They are tighter then I would usually want them to be but it does lock up much better now.

Also as weird as it sounds I had no issues with the glitching that I had before and I ran three packs through the truck yesterday? ...go figure!

All I can think is that maybe it was the heat at our last comp, I don't know.

[helhedded]

I am going to try to wire mine up this week... I hope I don't run into any problems

[Boids]

They have mine now and won't return any e-mails regarding it. It was warm at the moab comp but not hot so i'm thinking they might be too heat sensitive to run in the summer time and might be a winter only dig.

[Lowe's48]

Got my RC4wd dig and went out for the first time with my buddys on sunday,ran about 5 hours with no issue. The temp was about 75 degrees!
Yes,it seem to help alot with wheel lock.I like it,it does have wheel roll in some situations but that could be beneficial as well.

[papabash]

Think I may take mine out and send it in. Went to the rock pile in the garage last night and even on the smooth concrete floor, the rear wheels would still roll while in dig. I think they were rolling slower than the fronts, but not much..............

[landtortise89]

yeah it's a cheaper alternative with lots of potential but i can get mine to roll going up hill on loose gravel. it might work better in a lighter rig but idk.

[vodka child]

finally got my rig back together so have been able to give the DIG a decent test - first impressions weren't great, with very little locking of the wheels and turns and routes i'd been able to make before with my Punk DIG just not possible.

Slacked off the motors (both Novak 55t) and adjusted the pinion gear to mesh tighter, tighter than ideally i'd like, but the DIG improved, holding either the front or the rears pretty well though not the same as the Punk unit.

I then started changing pinion gears starting at 11t front, 10t rear, then 12t front, 11t rear and finished at 13t front and 12t rear. the lower the pinion gears the worse the issues with the locking up of the wheels when using the DIG, More wheel speed and a tight gear mess help change how the unit worked, it's not quite up there with the Punk unit but then it's about half the price.

If you want straight performance then the Punk unit is better, if you want to try different set ups and don't need the DIG to lock the wheels 100% then the RC4WD unit is pretty good value.

Have a few more things to try before i'm finished with the DIG unit set up. I'm not a competion winner or anything so it's the opinion of one hobbiest but hopefully it's useful

[Krakker]

NOT HAPPY, is pretty much the best I can say about this digs performance. First down hill dig and my rig flopped over on it's lid. I was thinking "No way", tried it on another, and watched it roll down the hill like there was NO drag break even. This dig engaged would literally let the wheels roll around like I was free-wheel'n. I'm going to try and set the pinion mesh tighter, but my servo switch (old school dig) would "lock'm up" with the way the rig is set up now.
No offense to RC4WD, but seriously, if your selling a "DIG" unit, it should lock up the wheels. I will be emailing and seeing if the issue can be fixed, or if my unit is defective. I'm leaning towrds defective cuz surely they wouldn't purposely make something that worked as poorly as this one did today.

UPDATE: Well, I'm sending mine back, (Thanks Mike) and getting a replacement. All I can do is hope that they've gotten the holding power straitened out. It should be NO different than the servo setup I was using, just activating it electronically VS. mechanically.
Hopefuly it's just a quality or materials used issue and it'll perform just as good as the old set up.

[papabash]

Originally Posted by bmuzz1

The servo/switch type cuts power completly to the front or rear axle so as long as your pinion is snug it will lock up for you.

Built one up and installed it, used some really heavy switches Jarod gave me, it locks up like a mule! Really don't see much need to go any other route for now. Maybe sometimes old school is best.

[Krakker]

Originally Posted by papabash

Built one up and installed it, used some really heavy switches Jarod gave me, it locks up like a mule! Really don't see much need to go any other route for now. Maybe sometimes old school is best.

Some guys use it click after click, my old setup was just fine for me tho. I can't understand why or how you couldn't get the performance out of a "new style" dig unit (like this Rocker dig) knowing what the component needed to do for the user. I think testing should have been done better maybe or compare the type of switches and holding power that are being used by "old school" dig set ups, and then use what's needed to duplicate that performance.

[Boids]

I got my rocker yesterday and got my punk working , Did some testing on the carpet ( wife wasn't happy about that lol ) the punk locked the rears up and the rocker had about 50% wheel speed. I then took them onto the tile and the punk locked up and the rocker had about 20% wheel speed. The punk was able to make tighter turns on both surfaces. The rocker dig seemed to like the slicker surface better than it did the high traction surface. If you run on alot of slicker type rocks the rocker might get you buy but on high traction rock you'll hate it.

[EvilTwin v2]

Ok, I just read through this thread, and it's obvious that many of you don't understand how this dig or for that matter most dig switches work.

When you activate the dig (either front or rear), you're disconnecting the power from the speed control from that motor. I don't care what ESC you have, it doesn't matter, you're no longer connected to that motor. From that point, any dig switch will either do one of two things, leave the circuit open or shorted.

1. It will disconnect and leave the circuit open to the motor. With this method, you have as close to free wheel as you'll get with a motor. This is the way the RC4wd dig is, and is an option with the punk RC unit or with the homebuilt units. The only way to get resistance with this style is by using an overly tight gear mesh at the motor.

2. The motor is shorted. By shorting the motor (running the + & - wires of the motor together), the internal resistance will pretty much lock the motor, thus giving a very solid locked dig. This is not nearly as solid a lock as a drag brake, but will hold pretty darn well in most applications. The homebuilts and punk RC units can both be setup to short the motors.

[Krakker]

The description of the Rocker Dig, strait from RC4WD's site:
The new Rocker Dig provides F&R Dig with a push of your radios control. This small unit can be placed in almost any competition crawler and allows full control of F&R dig on any MOA crawler with ease. Rocker Dig eliminates the old setup, no more servo and toggle switches.

This tells me that they are selling this as a "DIG" unit. Not a "free wheel" component. IF their part is for that purpose, then why bother calling it a DIG unit? Seems to me that they should include more info about it's set up and use IF it's meant to be option #1.

I've put my "old school" setup back in with NO changes to the pinion tension and POW!!! Locked up. The Rocker in the same pinion set up was non-existant. ( I truely think there might be something wrong with it since it seemed to lock up the first few times I used it on the floor) It's performance has gone down hill with every try I gave it.
I'm not giving up, they are sending me a new one but perhaps they should have asked "us" what we wanted it to do, be it Lock, or semi-Free Wheel.
Their marketing tells me they're trying to DIG into Punk's arena. Their response to my feedback was that it was to Lock UP the rear or front when engaged. Perhaps soon they will have a version 6 out and it'll be smaller and better.

[papabash]

Originally Posted by EvilTwin v2

Ok, I just read through this thread, and it's obvious that many of you don't understand how this dig or for that matter most dig switches work.

When you activate the dig (either front or rear), you're disconnecting the power from the speed control from that motor. I don't care what ESC you have, it doesn't matter, you're no longer connected to that motor. From that point, any dig switch will either do one of two things, leave the circuit open or shorted.

1. It will disconnect and leave the circuit open to the motor. With this method, you have as close to free wheel as you'll get with a motor. This is the way the RC4wd dig is, and is an option with the punk RC unit or with the homebuilt units. The only way to get resistance with this style is by using an overly tight gear mesh at the motor.

2. The motor is shorted. By shorting the motor (running the + & - wires of the motor together), the internal resistance will pretty much lock the motor, thus giving a very solid locked dig. This is not nearly as solid a lock as a drag brake, but will hold pretty darn well in most applications. The homebuilts and punk RC units can both be setup to short the motors.

Okay, that makes total sense; I was looking at it wrong. BUT..... although there have been a few times when I wanted freewheel, 95% of the time when I use dig, I need it to lock up solidly. Rolling past gates because the tires don't hold pretty much negates the purpose of having the dig to begin with. My old school switch now does exactly what I need it to. I would never have knowingly bought a dig that doesn't lock up.
My experience is pretty much parallel to Krakker's; the RC4WD unit seemed to work at least partially when new, and has gotten progressively weaker.

[EvilTwin v2]

Originally Posted by papabash

Okay, that makes total sense; I was looking at it wrong. BUT..... although there have been a few times when I wanted freewheel, 95% of the time when I use dig, I need it to lock up solidly. Rolling past gates because the tires don't hold pretty much negates the purpose of having the dig to begin with. My old school switch now does exactly what I need it to. I would never have knowingly bought a dig that doesn't lock up.
My experience is pretty much parallel to Krakker's; the RC4WD unit seemed to work at least partially when new, and has gotten progressively weaker.

If you're talking about the holding power of the dig has gotten weaker, then that will be due to some other component in the system. When the unit is in dig, it goes to open, with no resistance in the circuit.

Try tightening up the gear mesh at the pinions. This will help.

Honestly, I too wish that the RC4wd unit went to a short instead of freewheel. I like how much more of a sealed unit it is (over both the Punk RC and the homebuilts), but unless you're running a worm geared axle or prefer the freewheel, I just don't see it as being the best choice.