Syma X5 flying on an X8 TX

[TJ Wright]

All right guys...help me out here....I have a Syma X8C...
I have heard you can fly the X5 models with an X8 Tx.. better range and better response...
My X8C Tx will NOT bind to my X5C-1 updated version....
is this because it is C-1 and not plain ole' X5
I have heard this to be true....any one know the scoop????
Jackson?????anyone?????

 

[Jackson]

I think there have been 2 maybe 3 X5 PCB revisions. Even among the various X5s there are compatibility problems with various X5 TXs.

 

[TJ Wright]

Crapshoot, then...unless I hit on the right advice...
thought I would pick up an older X5 and try it...maybe I will wait...I heard the X5C-1 wont work
but if it does work I can get better range on the X5
even after Tx antt. mod....the range wont get better than 100 meters and falls out of the sky at that point
unacceptable, to me...I am over 300 meters with my X8, not that I want to take an X5 that far..
wont see it anyway...but anything over 100 would be better

 

[Jackson]

I am over 300 meters with my X8

Lucky you got the 'C' version, some of the later incarnations don't get that.

What did your antenna mod entail?

 

[TJ Wright]

WELL.........its like this...the factory Tx ant. was nothing more than a 3/4 inch piece of speaker wire soldered to the ant connection on the board....NO GOOD....
it requires 4.9 inches of ant to reach a full 2.4 ghz wave...and max range...
a Youtube video guided me to install a 2db gain 2.4ghz ant. from a router..
you remove the original ant.wire and solder the center lead of the coax to the place the wire was..
and solder the shielded strands twisted together...to the ground pad adjacent to the ant. pad
this , then gives you a grounded ant. which is supposed to work better....the X8 had the same arrangement, but has two wires 3/4 inch on two ant pads on Tx board....I lengthened the one, and soldered a 5db gain ant onto the other in the same fashion....300 meters on the X8 now...compared to 100+ stock.
but the x5 did double from 50 to 100....but wont go beyond that.

 

[Mike H.]

Yea, anywhere from 80 to 100mm is the common range for the TX mod on the X5C-1..Its pretty cheap to do and worth the efforts...i would go with minimum a 3db antenna and some use a 5db... use as low a db as you can get away with to get the increased range.....the higher up you go db wise, the more directional the signal becomes.

A simple kit like this would work just fine and, its cheap...http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007X...bi+antenna&dpPl=1&dpID=31ZXs9VKr6L&ref=plSrch

Good TX batteries also play a big part in signal "strength"...Some are going as far as doing custom lipo battery conversions to gain an improvement.

With a lipo battery, the voltage maintains a much higher voltage throughout the discharge rate...so basically after the alkalines or even nimh batteries are half way discharged you are already losing range as the voltage isnt near as strong....With a lipo you never really lose your signal strength until the time it needs a charge.

 

[TJ Wright]

I considered a batt. change for the Tx..need to know limits of Tx voltage first but I do have two 2.4 Tx's that use 6 batts instead of 4