Great… Just remind me to upload the latest STLs to thingiverse first! Made some minor almost not noticable changes but still better to use the most update one.
With Italian Post, should be something like a padded maxi-letter for something about 7€ shipping worldwide.
Tarzan i’d prefer not to use Italian Post services if possible at all: They’re renowned to be as bad as it can humanly get 
BUT if they’re the cheapest of them all I think we can compromise.
Sure thing! let me know when it’s safe to download them. I’ll try a couple of materials as soon as possible to choose what’s best to print it with in terms of price/performance/“beauty”
Can you do carbon fibre reinforced ABS?
it’s not that I can’t but I don’t. Cf infused materials (and also fluorescent materials/metal infused…) are a pain in the ass to print because they chew trough nozzles like crazy. I can do pla, abs (if needed, but I prefer not to have nasty fumes around the office), colorfabb XT (Amphora HT5300 3D copolyester), petg, some nylon filaments (not as strong as you may think but very flexible)
Nylon will do the job, thanks 
Shielded NRF reached me.
Really tiny! But it’s just a hair wider blocking one of my bolts that hold down the PCB.
Still busy wiring it up but I got connected without the need for any copper tape…
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So I finished the new remote with the new shielded module, oddly the range is not as good as the original plain ceramic version…
Not sure what gives, will have to investigate a bit more…
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SUCCESS!!! (On the bench at least).
I used a Frsky PCB antenna (https://www.banggood.com/FrSky-PCB-Antenna-For-X8R-X6R-Receiver-p-991728.html?cur_warehouse=CN) and bench testing has shown to have much further range than before.
However, antenna placement is very finicky and the lack of space in the remote doesn’t help. Any pressure on the NRF module and there goes the signal.
Took me a while before I managed to get it to work reliably. Will test in the field tomorrow.
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good thing i stumbled on this; this is an excellent, high feature diy design, good shit. although it seems like there’s been a lot of progress since the first post, any chance of updating that assuming you haven’t already?
im surprised that antenna even fits inside the remote looks bulky. i got 2 types of antenna from this one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3DBI-Brass-2-4G-Receiver-Antenna-Omnidirectional-IPEX-Port-Compatible-Futaba-JR-WFLY/32791504529.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.snbcUf and from this one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PCS-150mm-2-4G-Receiver-Antenna-IPEX-Port-For-FRSKY-JR-FRSKY-IPEX-interfaces/32754319893.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.snbcUf see how it goes with them when they arrive. also still waiting on the modules 
anyway while waiting for them i did a minor modification to receiver side for a good 3.3v source. i used voltage regulator TS2940CZ-3.3 http://uk.farnell.com/taiwan-semiconductor/ts2940cz-3-3-c0/ic-v-reg-3-3v-2940-to-220-3/dp/7261373 basicly feeding with ground and 5v and gives you a stable 3.29 v according to my measurement. in order to make it easy for the soldering job i eliminated the 3v3 connection from arduino to pcb instead i soldered 3v3 output from regulator to the corresponding hole in pcb (the one with the red cable) also added nichicon 1000uF lowESR cap next to it. i hope all these improvements gonna have a positive effect because i have had enough of these crappy wifi connection issues 
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I plan to but so busy with work and family and building and rebuilding. I had a lot of problems with this particular build, stripped a pad, smoked a trace, had to jumper wires manually. Not sure why it would happen too!
Essentially some things I need to update once I am confident everything should work seamlessly.
- Some minor changes to the STLs
- Updates to the BOM to include the better modules and antennas
- Updates to the code to include the 250kbps transfer speed
- Updates to the PCB files to correct for the changes in the modules
- Updates to the build guide to reflect these updates.
As you can see, a fair amount of work with hardly any time to do them all…
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In my testing only 2 things made a significant difference.
- Changing connection speed down to 250kbps
- Using whip 2.4gHz antennas (either modding the ceramic one or using another module with uFL)
I suspect the better NRF modules are also better at modulating noise in the voltage lines but let me know if all that work to regulate the 3.3v helps.
The PCB antenna is long but it’s very flat, so it fits quite nicely actually.
Here’s a video of the range I am getting…
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hah, now you’re just showing off. Also i wouldn’t worry about packaging issues, once the BOM is more nailed down it’s easy to modify the casing STL to be a little wider to accommodate components.
also if your printer can do it, highly recommend printing with carbon fiber nylon. Just make sure you have a hardened nozzle and print from the filament inside a tub with moisture absorbing beads. also, nice tesseract deck
that is an impressive range. did you get any dropouts? also did you use the same antenna*nrf combo on both receiver and transmitter?
I rode for about 2km, no issues so far. I did have to re-do the bottom PCB as the stupid lipo charger died on me (2nd one that I had to replace).
At the maximum range in the video the signal icon started to drop in and out but any closer and it was solid throughout.
Transmitter is using the shielded module, receiver is using the normal ceramic version but modified with a whip antenna.
But word of caution, the antenna placement in the transmitter is VERY finicky… I don’t know what exactly is it that’s the problem but in some orientations it just refuses to work.
do you mean that tp4056 module as a lipo charger? oh i see ok i ll will try with the antennas i ordered if they dont work well going to try your antenna or get one of these for transmitter. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CDEBYTE-2PCS-Lot-SPI-SMD-Module-E01-ML01S-2-4GHz-0dBm-110m-nRF24L01-Wireless-RF-transceiver/32803028476.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.EnZr0i considering they are from the same company they should work better than those with ceramic ones but ofc tests are needed in order to confirm but for receiver definitely going to use that shielded nrf with the antenna as the space is not a big issue there. and maybe with this module https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC-5V-2-1A-USP-Mobile-Power-Diy-Board-4-2V-Charge-Discharger-boost-battery-protection/32824032545.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.EnZr0i it is possible to use the same layout as your receiver pcb design. this replacing the 5v boost and tp4056 and nrf module being smaller than the ceramic one could squeeze side by side under the arduino.
Hm… that all in one charger/booster might save some space but there’s still a need for the USB port.
Let me order a few pieces and see if everything can be squeezed more readily into one neat package. That’ll mean a need to redesign the PCB as well.
To be honest I think the non-antenna version should be good enough, we only need maybe 10-20m range (in the case of a run away board). I’ll order some as well to test.
Erv.
yea sadly usb port must be wired like the original build or can be replaced with a small barrel plug but i think its not really convenient so usb port is still a way to go imo. also that module has a charge,discharge and battery protection features according to the description which is nice to have. also theres a place for an on/off key on the module, similar to how evolve remote works. press once it turns on, double press and hold it turns off. that could be used with the momentary switches which is already in the build but probably the ones you use are a more solid approach and less prone to failure. module is 27mm long and the new nrf with antenna is 18mm long which gives you just enough room to fit them together under your receiver pcb giving you only nrf and 5v-gnd connections. all the rest must be soldered on the arduino or like you said a new pcb design.