Modifying Receivers

How to put your receiver on a diet

The mods described here can make your receiver lighter and / or smaller for better performing small planes such as HL gliders, slowfliers and similar.

Click HERE for Hitec HAS-3MB receiver mods. This is the receiver that comes with the 3SS (3-channel, single stick) radio set which retails for $60-70. The receiver's weight can be easily cut down to 13-14 gram (1/2 oz.) weight. Receivers in this weight range usually cost at least as much as the price of the complete 3SS set which includes the transmitter and 2 servos.

New super-duper connector block for Garrett receivers. I bought my Garrett together with some extremely lightweight servos. These servos used funny little grey connectors, and the Garrett had matching connectors on wire extensions. I found the servos to be less reliable than I like to deal with and so decided to modify the receiver to work with regular servos. Click HERE for a description of what to do.

Click HERE for modified Z-tron Infra-Red receiver. Its weight has been reduced to a half-gram from the original "heavy-duty" 1 gram version.

Some general steps you might consider to make your receiver lighter: Shorten the antenna: On some receivers it's possible to shorten the length of the antenna to save weight. Check with the manufacturer to see if it's ok and snip away -- the shorter the antenna the less the weight and the range, but for indoor blimps and planes this won't matter. Leave at least 1/4 or 1/2 of the original length. Remove the case: If your receiver has a hard plastic case this can weigh as much as half of the total weight. They generally have small tabs on the side. Press these and the case will open up. Set it aside if for later use just in case. Cover the receiver with heat-shrink, then trim this so the servos can be plugged in Lighter Antenna: Replace the existing antenna with a lighter gauge wire. Radio Shack sells wirestripping wire* that works very nicely. Measure the length of the stock antenna. Cut off the existing antenna 1" or so outside the case, strip the insulation and solder one end of the smaller wire. Cover the splice with heat-shrink. Cut the end to match the length of the old antenna. If your receiver allows it, make the new one shorter too. (*pt no 278-501/red | also in blue and white | $3) Flatten the Rx: To make a receiver flatter so that fits inside a wing, or inside a rubber duck, get a set of solder-type 9-pin DIN connectors from Radio Shack. Take these apart and using 2 male and 2 female pins make short extensions so that the crystal be made to lay flat against the circuit board. Make sure it doesn't touch any other components. If it does, insulate it with tape or heat-shrink. Remove the Crystal Socket: Pull off the crystal then undo the huge globs of solder holding the socket to the board and remove it. Be very careful of any small surface mount devices (SMD) attached nearby. Insert the crystal in the holes for the socket and solder in place. You may have to enlarge the holes to fit. Crystals are fairly fragile and expensive - don't bend the legs, don't overheat them. You may trim the legs after soldering them in place, but only if you have a very sharp cutter/plier, and be aware that you may damage the crystal anyway. I don't usually do this and you may want to think twice about it too. After all of the above, you can also remove the pins, cut off the ends of the servo connectors and solder them in place on the board. Be very careful about small SMD's lurking about. Never alter the circuit part of a receiver. There is nothing useful you can accomplish and the odds of damaging it are very great.