My Takuma efoil loses the bluetooth connection every time water washes over the board. I’ve tried a new “ESC” with an antenna. I tried adding an external antenna to the ESC antenna. I tried a new remote. Nothing keeps the connection reliable. When it gets wet you have to hold the remote on the surface of the board in the vicinity of the ESC to get it to connect.
Here’s the antenna I tried: Amazon.com
Does anybody have any advice on how to make the bluetooth connection more reliable?
Cruiser one or two ?
Can you deploy the antenna wire along the hatch edge ?
What does the Takuma support say as you mustn’t be the only one ?
I think it must be the One. I’ve had it for several years and never really managed to get good use from it due the disconnect issue. I bought two others from other brands, and they are great, but I haven’t given up on trying to get the Takuma to work. They cooperated for a while and sent a replacement ESC with an antenna and a replacement remote, but it sure felt like I was the only one. In fact, that is why I’ve posted here, to see if anybody else has had the problem.
Have you got photos of the remote and the antenna connection?
What is the range in the open air? How far can you walk away while still making the prop go?
On your remote display, is your board “thunder” blinking like it’s connecting and disconnecting all the time or it goes totally black after water goes over your board?
I have similar problem with my old takuma and managed to find problem in physical connectors between esc and battery and esc and motor. Give those connectors good clean, especially small pins in battery. Those small female pins in battery could get lose over time, so try to use some thin tweezers and push those metal sides together so they would make better contact with male pins. Hope this will help
Interesting. Why would the bluetooth connection drop if the ESC loses the connection to the motor? I guess I could understand why the bluetooth connection would drop if the ESC loses connection to the battery. I will investigate this. Thank you.
However, the problem is that the range seems to go from 10 feet to 1 inch when the board gets wet. You can get the bluetooth to reconnect if you hold the remote on the surface of the board in this condition, but you can’t really stand-up.
Any further thoughts? Many thanks!
The range when the board is dry is about 10 feet. After you crash, or if a beginner is on the board and getting it wet, the range drops to 1 inch. You literally need to press the remote on the surface of the board above the ESC.
Hm that’s strange. I either have connection, or don’t (thunder on remote display blinking)
I managed to fix it with good connector cleanup, but it would come back sometimes. Never had problem with distance in connection with remote.
You ask why connection from esc to motor? Well I don’t get it either, but sometimes board wouldn’t want to turn on (it would turn on and then quickly off) when motor connectors didn’t have good connections (or they were shorted somewhere so esc decided to protect itself)
Tbh those Takuma v1 boards are really not good.
Is you enclosure always full of water too?
Could be that water is shorting the antenna (if you use it in salt water. Maybe that black cap (antenna case?) is leaking.
Yes, my enclosure fills with water. There are two (factory) holes in the bottom. I assume that is so that it can drain. It does seem incongruous with the fact that there is a seal around the hatch.
Maybe I should plug the holes?
Yes, “water shorting the antenna” would seem to be supported by the symptoms. The problem is the same in fresh and salt water.
If you do so, make sure the lid is waterproof, otherwise water will stay inside the hatch.
