Opening an AR6100

[gregor]

I need to get inside my AR6100 to solder on some new antenna wires. I've been trying to figure out how to get into the case. It looks they used the black labelling to cover the seams of the plastic. I could peel label back but I'm concern that it'd never re-stick to the plastic. Any ideas of the label can be successfully re-applied? Any other tips for opening and re-closing the case?

[r40734]

I need to get inside my AR6100 to solder on some new antenna wires. I've been trying to figure out how to get into the case. It looks they used the black labelling to cover the seams of the plastic. I could peel label back but I'm concern that it'd never re-stick to the plastic. Any ideas of the label can be successfully re-applied? Any other tips for opening and re-closing the case?

I did the same thing with an AR6100, but less gracefully. I started to peel it, but it was deforming the entire case. So, I cut it along the seems with an Exacto knife. At first, I simply taped it back together, but I didn't like it that way. Then, I just ran it without the case at all. No problems doing it that way, but I didn't really like the look of it (this was on a plank), and I was always concerned about the lack of protection... not that the flimsy little case protects much. Then, I decided to just heat shrink it. It's performed flawlessly like this for several months now.

[Mike_117]

My antenna wires just fell off!! the stupid design .. the plastic case cuts the antennas..

going to solder them back on with a thicker heat shrink.. hopefully they don't get cut again.

oh.. and I have only had this rx for 2 months. swapped out my old 6000 dsm1 and it still has the original antenna's after a year and a half!

[r40734]

Whoa! :shock: That sucks. Maybe I should look at the rest of mine and see if this is an issue with any of them.

[gregor]

Yep, the AR6100 antena design includes no strain relief. Mine were almost fully broken off in a couple months of use. My Rx is currently at Horizon for the 1.6 update and hopefully the antenae will be fixed. I've noticed alot of guys add thier own strain relief by putting some silcone caulk or equivelant at the antenna's base. I'll be doing that when I get mine back.

[Gino CP]

My antenna dropped off too due to too much handling while troubleshooting my heli. The pcb is stuck to the case with double sided sticky tape. I sliced through that with a knife and pull the pcb out. I soldered a similarly sized wire for the antenna. I then slid the pcb, antennae first, threaded them through the exits hole then applied hot glue on the edge of the pcb and the case. This held it in place. I applied hot glue on the antenna exit hole to act as strain relief.

[BenHeli]

My broke off just now. Damn stupid design.

[gregor]

Just a little update on my issue. I sent the AR6100 into Horizon for the 1.6 firmware update and antenna repair. Horizon sent a new, sealed in the box, AR6100! Nice. After binding it and making sure it was working, I put a couple large blobs of silicone caulk at the base of each antenna.