Dirt crusher 8396 (yellow)

[Liron]

Hi.I got a dirt crusher RC car.
I don’t have a controller. From what I understand it’s frequency is 27.145 (North America)- I think. Difficult to find the original controller. Is there a generic controller that I could instead. Or go further, maybe changing the receiver itself in the car.
Thank you

 

[biggman100]

Hi.I got a dirt crusher RC car.
I don’t have a controller. From what I understand it’s frequency is 27.145 (North America)- I think. Difficult to find the original controller. Is there a generic controller that I could instead. Or go further, maybe changing the receiver itself in the car.
Thank you

It all depends on what kind of electronics are in it, and how they are set up. If it is like most toy grade cars, all the electronics are on circuit boards, including the receiver, which means you would have to somehow fab up connections, if it would even work, to connect the cars "ESC" and steering servo to a new receiver somehow. Toy grade cars dont typically have a real ESC, just a circuit board that does the same function, and i have no clue how you would connect a typical hobby grade receiver to it, but, someone else here might have some ideas on it. The only way i have ever been able to do that on a toy grade car is by swapping out pretty much all the electronics (receiver, ESC, steering servo) for hobby grade stuff, but i am also not that good at soldering and building my own electronics. If it does have a separate "receiver" that is circuit board based, you may be able to swap in a similar "receiver" from another toy grade car, and use that cars remote with yours, but then you would have to do a bunch of soldering work.

 

[Liron]

Ok thanks.
I’ll open the car. I could post an image of it and get some ideas that way...

 

[Liron]

I got the board out. I see the connection of the antenna. Does it look like it’s attached to the board. What could I do next?

 

[biggman100]

I got the board out. I see the connection of the antenna. Does it look like it’s attached to the board. What could I do next?

Is your antenna the black wire in the upper left corner of the board? If so, and there isnt a separate board with the antenna on it, then that means all of the car (servos, motor, receiver) is running off that one board, and i have no clue how you would go about swapping another receiver board into it. Someone else may have some ideas, but, the only way i know to do it with that style board is to swap out that board for a hobby grade ESC, which means you could then use a regular radio/receiver combo, but it also means you would have to wire the motor in the car to run off the new ESC, which i am assuming is brushed, and either run the original steering servo, which would have to be wired to work off the new receiver, or replace it with another one. In the pics, i see a bundle of 3 small wires together, and 6 small wires together. One of those groups of wires is the steering servo, and I'm not sure what the other bundle is for. Another way you might be able to do it, but, that would take some research, is to find another toy grade car that uses a single board for all its functions, and then swap that board into your car, but that would mean knowing exactly which connection does what, and then desoldering the connections from the original board, and resoldering them to the new board. Either way, its a lot of work, and, if you go the hobby grade route, could be costly. Another issue with going the hobby grade route is knowing how everything is put together, especially the steering servo, because if the steering linkage isnt screwed to the servo, and is attached by other means, that would mean possibly fabricating something to work. The only potential upside i see is that, if the steering servo is the 3 small wires, that could easily be wired to connect to a normal receiver, since most hobby grade steering servos are 3 wire, but, then you would have to know which of the 3 wires is positive, ground, and signal for the servo.

 

[Liron]

Wow. Thanks so much for that. U right the 3-wire bundle is the steering front wheels). I’ll see if I can get another toy grade car and swap the boards then. Like you said probably that is the only option with that car.