Nikko Sea Wolf—Range Too Short

[bob blaylock]

Some time back in 2003 or 2004, I bought a Nikko Sea Wolf submarine. Now, I am trying to get it working properly again.

The biggest issue that I am having is with range. I can get it to work correctly, if the transmitter is within a few feet of the submarine, but not at any better range than that.

I've put fresh batteries in it.

Any ideas?

[bob blaylock]

Fixed!

I found the problem.

Apparently, on some previous instance of disassembling and reassembling it, I had damaged the insulation on the antenna.



I must have not thought much of it at the time, but as this was not in the watertight part of the submarine, water was able to get into the wire, at this point. It hadn't occurred to me that copper would be that subject to corrosion in this case, but it apparently was. On testing for continuity, I found that I had it from the damaged spot back to the connect where it connects to the receiver, but not to the tip of the antenna. Apparently, some section above the damaged insulation corroded badly enough to break the connection.

I made a new antenna, and that seems to have solved the problem.

On reassembling it with the new antenna, I managed to discover how I had damaged the original, by unfortunately making the same mistake again. It seems that the antenna is easy to get caught in one of the screw posts that hold the topmost piece on the submarine. Hopefully, the generous dab of silicone rubber that I applied over the damage on the new antenna will prevent it from failing as the original did.

Too late to take it to the pool tonight, but I tested it in the bathtub, and had my wife watch it and verify that it was working while I took the transmitter a considerable distance away.

I ended up taking it much farther apart today than I ever have before. I never before got into the main guts of it, shown here…