Salt Lake Mini-Z Club Forum

Mini-Z Discussions => Mini-Z Formula 1 => Topic started by: briankstan on December 11, 2008, 10:48:01 AM



Title: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: briankstan on December 11, 2008, 10:48:01 AM
So since I’ve been having issues with my formula 1 board   :censored:  I decided to just upgrade it to the new 2.4ghz ESC board. 

Things you will need if you want to do this.

1ea. RC Unit Set for 2.4 ghz. (part # MZ303).  This if for the MR-02 upgrade and will need a few modifications.
Some wire to extent the ones that are short. Power wires (red/black) Power switch wires (new board they are white, old board they are black).
Soldering iron, solder, and a steady hand.

1st you need to removed the existing board from your chassis,  servo motor and potometer.

The new new board has everthing attached to it, however you will need to extend the on/off switch wires as the ones on the board are not long enough.  You will also need to extend the power wires.  This does required some soldering and they are very close to each other so go slow. You won’t want to short out your new board.   Since I was having problems with my old board I simple removed the power switch, and the power wires that run to the battery terminals and used them.

The Pot wires are long enough, but you will need to deepen the slots that hold the wires to the servo gears.  The old board has only 2 wires on the new boards there are 3 wires going to the pot.

Re route the wires installing the pot and servo motor.  And install a screw to hold the board in place, then assemble the front steering components and add the top cap back on, making sure you don’t pinch any of the wires.   Now you will have a couple of small issues to deal with. When you put the metal bridge piece on, You will notice that there isn’t enough room for the ICS plug that is on the new board.  Some have used the front wheel bushings under it to raise it up.  I simple shaved the top of the plastic plug off so it would fit in the factory locations.  You’ll just want to make sure the pins in the plug don’t contact the metal, so don’t take off any more of the plug than you need to for it to fit. Now you can install you shock (if you are using one).

The second issue is an easy one,  since the board is sitting different than the standard F1 board you need to reverse what side the motor wires run to.  Install you body, and remember you don’t need to put that antenna back on, it’s not needed any longer.

Now pair the new board with you 2.4ghz TX and you are ready to race.  :flex:

here are some pictures of the final product,   it's a nice clean install with.   I didn't have to change the geometry of the rear spring by racing the mount.   As you can see from the pics everything went in nicely.

click on the first image to go to the gallery for full size pictures.
(http://www.saltlakemini-z.com/forum/gallery/2/thumb_1_02_01_09_11_16_13_4.JPG) (http://www.saltlakemini-z.com/forum/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=145;u=1)(http://www.saltlakemini-z.com/forum/gallery/2/thumb_1_02_01_09_11_16_12_3.JPG)

(http://www.saltlakemini-z.com/forum/gallery/2/thumb_1_02_01_09_11_16_11_2.JPG)(http://www.saltlakemini-z.com/forum/gallery/2/thumb_1_02_01_09_11_16_10_1.JPG)


Title: Re: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: Russ on December 11, 2008, 02:07:17 PM
Good write up!!


Title: Re: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: briankstan on January 02, 2009, 11:23:18 AM
pics added to the gallery.   I posted some small thumbnails in the first post as well.


Title: Re: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: briankstan on October 26, 2009, 10:48:47 AM
so this was brought up in a thread on MZR and I wanted to share the info here as well.   I have added the antenna back on my F1 and so far is seems to fit my throttle from cutting out.

Below are the posts from MZR.  It seem that by adding an an antenna to it that is will solve some of the issues.

Quote from: ruf
It's not optimal, but for some reason I ALWAYS have to run an antenna on my 2.4 F1... This may be the case for your particular MR-03 in that environment. Try soldering a little tab on there and mounting an antenna?

Quote from: briankstan
Sorry off topic: :o

Joe,  can you elaborate on what your F1 is doing?  Mine act funny sometimes. Sometimes mine has a weird throttle issued, it feels like it's cutting out.   I haven't been able to figure out why it does it.  I've replace all the wires the the problem is still there.

Quote from: EMU
I have some glitching with my F1 as well, going to try an antenna as well to see if it helps.

Quote from: Cherub1m
Hmm glitching with the F1 2.4? interesting I don't have any gitching.  I converted my AM F1 to 2.4 using an MR02 2.4 board, so far no glitching.

Quote from: ruf
WAAAY off-topic... I've tried 3 difference 2.4 ASF boards in my F1. All glitched. The motor starts cutting out, etc. Put an antenna on it, and it's ROCK SOLID.


Title: Re: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: Russ on October 27, 2009, 08:16:33 AM
I dont seem to have any problems with mine. Maybe I'm lucky or maybe I suck  :P at driving it so much that I dont notice. Can you post a link to the thread on MZR maybe it would be good to read the whole thing.


Title: Re: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: briankstan on October 27, 2009, 09:16:25 AM
it seems to be hit and miss,  Ruf (Joe Chen) tried 3 or 4 different boards in his and it did the same thing.   I seem to be getting the same throttle cutting out issue that a few of the guys have had.  if you remember I completely rewired my car to try and fix it.  it helped but never fuller got rid of it.

here is the thread I started on Mini-zracer.com.   the original discussion started in the MR-03 thread.

 Glitching with the F1 2.4 conversion - Mini-ZRacer.com Forums (http://mini-zracer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32918)


Title: Re: 2.4ghz Formula 1 conversion
Post by: briankstan on December 10, 2009, 12:06:56 PM
I put a new board in my F1 and that solved all the little problems I was having with it.   Mush have been a bad board. >:(