Spectrum DSM radios don't work under water?

[badger]

I have seen many videos with crawlers submarined under water driving. Have any of you guys tried it with a DX3 radio and receiver? I tried it yesterday and found out how quickly miss piggy turned into a boat anchor. It would drive into the water fine, but once it was submerged it completely stopped working, and once I pulled it out of the water it started working fine again.

I am going to throw in my FM receiver and try it again.

Here is miss piggy being winched out by Dean.

 

[KRAWLR4life]

Dang Newbie....you'll learn...lol
John

 

[Rockpiledriver]

No I don't think the older receivers are "water resistant"

But I believe the pro version is.

 

[dezfan]

Great series of pics!:lol:

 

[slobin3d]

makes sence, hi frequency waves dont penatrate dense things well, kinda the same way red light penatrates better than blue. you should get more range under water with the FM setup, but even RC subs run the're antenna on a float to keep it above water. In addition the DSM wire being so short its already 4-6 inches further under water than the FM counterpart.

 

[Bam Bam]

Great series of pics!:lol:

If you go threw them real quick its like it comming out of the water or going in the water:lol: :lol: !!!

 

[badger]

No I don't think the older receivers are "water resistant"

But I believe the pro version is.

I'm not asking if they are water resistant. I had my **** double bagged and water proofed.

Even though everything was completely water proof I could literally hold the throttle at full above water spinning the tires, then dunk it under water and it would come to a stop, like it had no radio signal at all. Once I pulled it back out of the water the rig would work fine again.

Again, let me make myself clear, no radio equipment was hurt during this experiment.

 

[EeePee]

Scroll really fast up and down and they're dancing!

And well crap, I was about to waterproof the whole rig til I read this.

So, you can hit the gas above water and it's fine, dunk it in the water and it'll stop, then lift it back out and it'll run?

Major dud.

 

[Rockpiledriver]

Again, let me make myself clear, no radio equipment was hurt during this experiment.

Clear as mud.

Range is definately an issue with the spektrum signal. I think 300 feet is about max and that is nowhere near the range of a good FM signal.

Most racers that do land or water speed trials won't use spektrum because of this. I have seen this happen first hand at the world's fastest challenge a couple months ago, and again last Saturday at the LA SAW boat race. Water makes it more difficult for the signal to travel, so I'd say that is likely the problem.

 

[EeePee]

Range is definately an issue with the spektrum signal. I think 300 feet is about max and that is nowhere near the range of a good FM signal.

But Spektrum claims 3000 (3K) feet. I've cut my antenna down to 4 inches and the trucks will go further than I can see them still under my control.

 

[badger]

Clear as mud.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Range is definately an issue with the spektrum signal. I think 300 feet is about max and that is nowhere near the range of a good FM signal.

Most racers that do land or water speed trials won't use spektrum because of this. I have seen this happen first hand at the world's fastest challenge a couple months ago, and again last Saturday at the LA SAW boat race. Water makes it more difficult for the signal to travel, so I'd say that is likely the problem.

Interesting.

I can't believe that a complete newbie such as myself has to find this out first on RCC. :roll:

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

makes sence, hi frequency waves dont penatrate dense things well, kinda the same way red light penatrates better than blue. you should get more range under water with the FM setup, but even RC subs run the're antenna on a float to keep it above water. In addition the DSM wire being so short its already 4-6 inches further under water than the FM counterpart.

I agree with the wavelength not passing through water, being how dense it is. It will just reflect right off the surface.

 

[Rockpiledriver]

But Spektrum claims 3000 (3K) feet. I've cut my antenna down to 4 inches and the trucks will go further than I can see them still under my control.

I've heard some say that too.
Here's one for you, While at I-Hobby inside the convention center I was tooling around just fine with the 2.2 when all of a sudden the rig stopped and continued backward at slow speed until I shut it off. Turned it back on and it was fine. Only happened once with that rig. Later that day and throught the weekend my Super would do the same thing but it happened SEVERAL times.

I was told it was likely due to the fact that the older RX's had the antennae (sp?) wire routed between the boards in the receiver. Well I was real worried that I'd have this problem at our Oct comp, but didn't have time to check because I got my rigs back the morning of the comp.

It has not happend at all in either rig at the 2 comps we have had since Chicago, and NOTHING was changed. Weird

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Maybe a cordless phone or wireless camera system interfered?

 

[Thorsteenster]

i hope you had the winch line allready hooked up before heading into the deep blue. do yall do anything to the motors before dunking?

 

[rockwerks]

i hope you had the winch line allready hooked up before heading into the deep blue. do yall do anything to the motors before dunking?

nope it actually helps the motors out. (brushed)

back in the day we used to break in all new motors by directly hooking to a 6v battery and dipping them into a glass of water. nice way toset brushes

 

[dezfan]

nope it actually helps the motors out. (brushed)

back in the day we used to break in all new motors by directly hooking to a 6v battery and dipping them into a glass of water. nice way toset brushes

I still do this to my motors!:lol:

 

[EeePee]

Maybe a cordless phone or wireless camera system interfered?

Good guess. Supposedly these 2.4 GHz dealies switch to an open frequency right? Can I assume the phones and whatever else do also? Granted there's only 80 channels that the Spektrums choose from, so who knows.

Underwater driving not being a factor, nothing beats the Spektrums for glitch free operation. The fact they operate outside of the normal RFI/EMI frequencies is reason enough to me to run the DX3.

 

[badger]

i hope you had the winch line allready hooked up before heading into the deep blue. do yall do anything to the motors before dunking?

Nope, I am not one of those girls that needs a life line already hooked up. I drove right into that ****, then learned that it didn't work under water. :lol:

Like rockwerks said, brushed motors work fine under water.

 

[badger]

Maybe a cordless phone interfered?

Why would anybody be using a cordless phone under water? Besides, I didn't see anyone in the water talking on a phone.