My boat lost connection in the water!!

[Surfertroy]

My boat goes out 25 to 30 yards in the water and it shuts down. Lost connection with radio. Go out in the raft to get it. Pull it out of the water and it runs. Put it back in the water and it doesn?t work.. This sucks and keeps happening. Help please!!!!!

[plinse]

Some radio systems just don't work on water and if you have a carbon hull the antenna has to be on the outside so you better give us some more information on your boat ...

[RaceMechaniX]

You need to tell us a little more so we can help.
What radio and receiver?
Is the antenna exiting the hull and clear of anything else?
Is the hull carbon, fiberglass or wood?

[Surfertroy]

The boats are the TFL Zonda 41" carbon fiber boats, with 2075 motors. The receiver is the MR4000 Spektrum the radio is the DX2E Spektrum. Both boats have the same gear. And they both do shut off in the water.

[Surfertroy]

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[Surfertroy]

The hobby store here in Vegas to me to buy another radio and receiver. They sold me the Spektrum DX3 Radio with the Spektrum SR315 receiver. They didn't work at all. Wouldn't bind or anything. A waste of money!!!

[Cedavis34]

Last weekend I took an AQ Lucas Oil out for my first spin, and it had a similar issue. Except it lost signal and kept going. The first set of packs I used I ran it parallel to shore, and everything was good. On the second packs, I started to go out and back, but then on one of the outs, it just kept going, off into the horizon. I grabbed a nearby kayak, paddled to a fisherman, then we went looking for it on his boat. We found it on the other side of the lake, flipped over, with the throttle still pegged.

It still has the Tactic TR324 receiver and TTX240 transmitter. Would low batteries in the transmitter cause that, or a faulty ESC or receiver? It was not a pleasant experience, and I am hesitant to take it back out without changing something.

Thanks!

[Surfertroy]

I had a boat do the same thing but, it kept running until it hit a wall. Totally destroyed my my boat. So , I got this new Zonda 41” boat and I have nothing but problems with it. I am hoping someone can fix my issue!!!

[plinse]

At very first you should check the "Fail Safe setting" of your boat.

To be honest I don't understand why there are some RC-systems still on the market having no adjustable Fail Safe. A reasonable setting would be "hold" on the steering and "off" on the motor as you want a boat with lost signal to stop. The last steering is probably the best for the current situation but running a boat with "hold" as a Fail Safe reaction on the motor must end in crashing it. Checking the RC including the Fail Safe reaction is essential prior to first use on the water.

Using a carbon hull the antenna MUST go outside for about 10cm above the carbon. The active part of a 2,4GHz antenna is the thin part in the end of the wire and this should be at leat 10cm above the boat facing upwards.

Spektrum actually is not the best choice for boats. Everyone at our lake running Spektrum changed the RC after some time but even Spektrum should do better then 25 to 30 yards.
On the other hand finding no further improvement at a range of 120-150 yards was quite normal using Spektrum Ground RC at our lake and for fast boats this is still not enough.

If you want to do high speed runs with your Zonda you better switch to Futaba or Graupner SJ.

The advantage of Futaba is the Japanese quality, the disadvantage is the price and that they have many different 2,4GHz systems so many transmitters and receivers are not compatible. The best receivers according to range are the high quality air receivers and they don't work with the ground transmitters.

The advantage of Graupner SJ is that they keep the high quality air receivers compatible to the ground transmitters. Range is a matter of cost but the average receivers work well for an ordinary boat and with the GR16 I measured more then 700 yards of range on water with a GPS plot. This is what most people here use for high speed runs.
The weak spot of Graupner SJ is the poor software quality.

[jaike5]

corrosion X all RX pins and board, plugs from the esc and servo. turn radio off after hook up to make sure fail safe is working before launch.

[RaceMechaniX]

You have a composite hull which will block receiver reception, but I do see the antenna coming out of the hull.
Do you have any friends with a Futaba radio that would be willing to let you run a test with their receiver and radio?

[photohoward1]

Is the Antena Good? It's not frayed on the end is it? The last 1" is the most important on a 2.5 system.

[Fluid]

Opinions aside, Spektrum radios are just fine for fast FE boats traveling up to 100 mph and beyond. I?ve been there done that for almost two decades with my Spektrums as have many fellow club members. If both the OP?s radios lose signal then there is a reason, and throwing money at it with high-dollar radios isn?t the answer.

A Tyler mentions, the carbon hull will stop all signal so an external antenna is mandatory. Unfortunately as Howard points out, the OP may have ruined his antenna by bending the end sharply and crimping it with the cap. I?ve seen this happen repeatedly, it?s not difficult to do. The only part of the antenna which receives signal is the last inch and if that or the coax cable connecting it to the receiver is damaged internally it will not work. The radio won?t bind without an antenna either. The radios are not junk, he needs someone to help him hands-on apparently.

My Spektrum radios have a range of at least 900 feet, the farthest I?ve tested than. That is too far away anyway since the boat becomes difficult to see well.



.

[Surfertroy]

Hey guys thank you sooo much for info. We have ordered a new radio and receiver from Oxidean Marine. Hopefully it will work.. I will be running the boat today. I moved the antenna to the front. Hopefully it will work better.
Thank you so much again
Troy

[mobius]

Like many, I have had boats run away in the 40+ years I've been playing with them. Please, as plinse says if you have fail-safe on your radio check and be sure it's set to shut the motor off when you lose radio signal. If you don't have fail-safe I'd seriously consider getting a radio that does. I lost a cat at high speed several years ago, and it ended up hitting someone's dock almost 1/2 mile away. The boat was completely destroyed. I check to be sure no one is on the lake before I run, but it gave me a real scare! These things can do some serious damage. I now run a radio that works with diversity receivers and I add long antennas.

[1coopgt]

Like many, I have had boats run away in the 40+ years I've been playing with them. Please, as plinse says if you have fail-safe on your radio check and be sure it's set to shut the motor off when you lose radio signal. If you don't have fail-safe I'd seriously consider getting a radio that does. I lost a cat at high speed several years ago, and it ended up hitting someone's dock almost 1/2 mile away. The boat was completely destroyed. I check to be sure no one is on the lake before I run, but it gave me a real scare! These things can do some serious damage. I now run a radio that works with diversity receivers and I add long antennas.

Just curious. Where do you get the longer antenna wires from? I'd like to pick up some longer ones for my receivers.

[NativePaul]

All the name brands sell replacement aerials and generic Chinese ones are available too, they are all interchangeable on a U.fl plug, although I would ignore the Hitec/Multiplex aerials unless you have one of their radios, as they are a sleved dipole designs as opposed to the others that all use a coaxial monopole. Futaba and Frsky at least sell extended ones, the Futaba extended ones are 400mm long.

My first port of call for the OP would be setting the failsafe, then straightening the aerial at the top of the tube, even if it is still in good condition when it is bent over on itself like that it is effectively reducing the length and being an untuned length will drastically reduce range. If that has no effect then as others have said you may have damaged the aerial by bending it over so tightly and for the price it is worth replacing it for a new one if you can easily do it. Most decent radios have the aerial on a U.fl connector and can easily be replaced, but some cheap RXs like those used with my Spektrum DX2 are directly soldered and while it is possible to cut the plug off a normal replacement aerial and fit one, it is not only tricky to do, but the unshielded soldered connection is a bad design, and I would try to find a compatible replacement RX with a plug.

Have a word with other club members/lake users, I travel all over to race, and many times have seen people having radio problem's only for local club members to say "yeah brand X and Y doesn't work well here, because of that phone tower or the airport over there etc, we all use brands A and B". So you could just be flogging a dead horse with that brand's protocol at that location, maybe I have been lucky but my Futaba FASST has always been fine for me, and has always been on the locals A and B list when others have had problems.

[mobius]

I'm using Futaba gear and get long antennas from their service department.