Frequently Asked Questions:

 
1. What is the best way to charge your NiCd and NiMH Battery packs?
  • Individual Cells (AA, AAA and 9V)
    We offer a solution that can handle all these cells and either NiCd and NiMH. See  BCNCNM1 in the Battery Pack Section. The charge time is not the fastest, but by using individual cells, you can substitute regular Alkaline batteries instead of the rechargeable if you are in a jam. But you must be careful, Alkaline batteries put out 1.50V per cell, while NiCd and NiMH put out 1.2V0 per cell. So if you have an  (7 cell) 8.4V NiCd setup, putting in Alkaline cells will increase your voltage to 10.5V. You better make sure your motors and electronics can handle that voltage.
  • Battery Packs
    There are many hobby battery chargers out there that can handle a range of cells. Typically you find everything from  6-7 cell chargers to 2-40 cell chargers. Oftentimes they are designed to charge big 2200mAh packs.  Its important to find one that you can control the charge current down to at least 0.5 amps, if not 0.1 or 0.2 amps.
    A few recommendations:
    • Hitec CG-340 will charge 4-16 cell packs, NiCd or NiMH,  0.2A - 3.0A charge rate. MSRP is $57.95.
    • Astroflight 110D will charge 1-18 cell packs, NiCd or NiMH, 0.1A - 5.0A charge rate, $109.35
    • GWS MC2003DC will charge 4-12 cell packs, NiCd or NiMH, 0.25 - 6.0A charge rate, $40 on-line price.
2. I've never done anything RC before, which radio do I need to get for a SOZBOT?
3. I have an RC radio, but the receiver is too big and heavy. What should I use?
  • Check out our Radio FAQPage for help in selecting some super-lightweight receivers.
4. I have a bunch of RC servos that I want to use. How do I modify them so they turn continuously?
  • If you want your SOZBOT to go real slow, click here and follow the links. Be prepared to have circles run around you.
5. I don't want to go slow, what are my options?
  • SOZBOTS now offers a few different options.
    • We have a Dual Motor Gearbox Kit that is very popular. It works well with all the wheels we offer without any additional hardware. This is much faster than any antweight running servos. And its very inexpensive.
    • The Single 3-Speed Gearbox Kit is basically the same as one half of the Dual Motor Gearbox Kit, but it perfect if you want to spread your motors out for a wider base or if you need to run a weapon down the center of the robot.
    • We have a new 6V planetary gearhead motor with 30:1 reduction. Put our smallest tire on it and you will be going faster than anything out there. Be sure to run this motor at 8.4V minimum to really take advantage of its power. It is an efficient motor, thereby requiring a smaller battery pack. And the overall size and weight is less than our Gearbox Kits.

    All of these options require a speed controller to drive the motor from your radio receiver. The SOZDSCR2 is the first speed controller specifically designed for antweights.
6. Why do I need a speed controller and how does it work?
  • Your radio receiver is generating servo commands, but the commands must be decoded and then used to drive a motor. For more information on the receiver output signals, click here. A speed controller connects to your receiver, your battery and your motor. It decodes the receiver signal and then controls the power coming from your battery going to your motor. Without a speed controller, you could not drive your motors.
7. What is a mixer and why do I need it?
  • Typical RC cars use steering and throttle. Each input is separate and each channel is separate, so no mixing is required. The throttle channel is used to control the speed of the motor using a speed controller. The steering channel is used to control a position servo that drives the front wheels left and right.
  • Most robots employ what is called tank style drive. The left and right side of the robot are driven independently.
    • To move robot forward, left and right both go forward.
    • To move robot backward, left and right both go reverse.
    • To turn left, the left side goes reverse and the right side goes forward.
    • To turn right, the left side goes forward  and the right side goes reverse.
    This configuration requires 2 separate speed controllers (one right and one left), but no steering servo.

    Now that is the output, so what is happening on the input side of things?

    • For your standard RC car controller, you have a throttle and steering wheel. These are 2 separate channels and in order to connect them to the 2 speed controllers, you need to mix the signals so its driving your left and right wheels correctly.
    • For your standard Airplane type RC transmitter, you have sticks, the Aileron and Elevator on the right and throttle and rudder on the left. Each stick is 2 channels can move in 2 directions up/down and right/left.
      • For 2 stick operation, you can drive your robot like a tank without any mixing. Its harder to drive like this, but it works. The right stick up/down channel controls your right motor and your left stick up/down channel controls your left motor.
      • For single stick operation, you need to mix your up/down and left/right channels. This is commonly done when flying elevon and v-tail type planes and depending on your radio, the mixing is a built in feature.
8. How do I mix in the Radio?
  • You must have a computer radio that supports mixing. Follow your instructions for elevon mixing and v-tail mixing.
9. I have a cheap radio that won't do mixing, what can I do?
  • You will need to mix your radio signals at the receiver (in your robot). There are several mixers available that will do this.

    Note: We are currently testing a few of these mixers and will post the results here. We cannot yet recommend which mixer is better than others. If you have tested any of these, please let us know. Keep in mind that all these mixers with the exception of the first one are designed for airplane (v tail or evelon) use and the manufacturers may not be able to understand your application.