RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

Hey all,
After a conversation at work after one guy bought a Tamiya Frog, I remembered my old Nikko Black Fox I have up in the loft.
Brought it down and loaded it with batteries, but it seems dead as a door nail. Light comes on the remote, and there appears to be volts at various places on the board.

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of a similar issue, and if there's an easy fix. It's been stored without batteries and as far as I know nothing bad has happened to it, it's just been unused for 20 years.
I can only presume either the remote isn't transmitting, or the motor has gone phut, but why that should be who knows.

Any help gratefully received, would love to get it running again.

Cheers
Neil

If it has any electrolytic capacitors, they could have gone bad from age and lack of use. That's one of the first things people change on old electronics as they dry out, leak, bulge, etc... I've experienced it myself on computer motherboards and arcade machine stuff.

I don't have any experience fixing the original electronics in "toy grade" RC cars, but I have done a few electronics upgrades which consist of ripping out all the old circuitry and replacing it with modern stuff. If you already have a modern transmitter(ideally one that has a memory for multiple receivers) then you can usually upgrade the electronics for as little as $30. If you don't have a controller yet, then it depends how badly you want to revive your car as decent transmitters are usually a little pricey. Going this route would also require a tiny amount of soldering skill, but not much. I can barely solder to save my life, and I manage just fine. By upgrading the electronics, you would also get proportional steering and throttle, as well as brakes.

Thanks for the replies - the dead capacitors theory certainly sounds logical.