TC Steering Servo Question...
 

Hey guys, I'm hoping someone can lend a couple of suggestions my way on this odd request. I am getting back into R/C racing after a long 10-year layoff. As you would probably have guessed, everything that is still in the shop from racing days gone by is pretty much useless, inlcuding all of my electronics.

To get my new FT TC3 on the track in a reasonable amount of time, for now I will be using my very old, but insanely stoudt Kraft 3KPW 3-channel 27-band AM radio from the early 80s. It has been one of the few items that has been with me since my early days of competition. I will combine that with a Novak XXX AM receiver and a simple Atom ESC that I picked up in a trade for some old dirt oval gear.

While my plans are to upgrade everything to the new era of FM/computerized/programmable/synthesized radio hardware, it isn't in the checking account just yet, and I need to make the old stuff work for club racing for a little while longer. What I am in need of is a steering servo.

I need a good, solid, non-digital, non-FET, non-new-fangled servo that will get me through the first few races, and not make me irritated that I can't get the car to center because I'm using a 15-year old Futaba servo.

Keep in mind, this servo solution could be short term to be removed with the new radio gear, or long-term, if there is a servo that will work well with all of the new school radios. I don't mind if the latter solution is more costly, if it will work with both systems.

Requirements: AM non-digital steering servo for TC; not too costly; Futaba 2nd generation plugs (J plugs, if I recall correctly) and fits in a TC3 without much modification.

Any ideas out there?


Thanks guys,


doug

Well, to start with any servo will work with an AM or FM radio, so it wouldn't be a bad investment to go for a nice digital servo now, and save money in the long run.

Either way, some good brands to look at are JR, Airtronics, Futaba, and KO. I'd stay away from Hitec, as a lot of people including myself have found their servo offerings to be off and on as far as reliability goes.

Other than that, just look for something in your price range. If you decide to go with a good digital servo, I'd go with KO myself simply because I've heard so many people who are pleased with theirs, but all the above mentioned companies make good products as well, along with one or two others probably.

For a TC, you're going to want speed at .10 sec or lower at 6V, and over 100 oz/in of torque. Many companies make a torque orriented servo and a speed oriented servo, and for a TC you want to go with the speed oriented servo - as long as it has over 100 oz/in of torque, it will be more than you need.

Good luck,
Josh

get another standard servo and be done.
Futaba S3003
Sanwa/Airtronics something-soemthing102
shouldn't cost more than $15 bucks each.

Speedo said what i wanted so say though.

get another standard servo and be done.
Futaba S3003
Sanwa/Airtronics something-soemthing102
shouldn't cost more than $15 bucks each.

Speedo said what i wanted so say though.Just to add:
for TC3/shafted tourers,have a look at FutabaS9550-low profile-saves a lot of space.

Despite what they have said in the last couple of post. I have been running the Hitec digital servo's for the last 4 years. I haven't had a problem out of any of them.
I run the 5645 digital. Its only about 69 bucks.

Thanks guys, absolutely invaluable information and support. Very much appreciated!

doug

apex - there's nothing wrong with staying with analog if that is your reservation. however, it is true that you can use a digital servo regardless of your system.

assuming your goals are to eventually be competitive, you will no doubt arrive at the decison that a quick servo is essential to consistent and fast laps.

and speedo said it. the cutoff for performance, albeit subjective, is usually .10 sec/100 oz.in. for a good servo, whether analog or digital. like lee mentioned, i also run a futaba 9550, which has a little less torque, but it works very well.

staying with analog, the futaba 9402 is about $65 new right now, and is a top of the line analog servo with full metal gearing. infact, i'll sell my 9402 for $40 if you would like. the futabas are bullet proof, but i prefer digital.

if that is too expensive, i think hitec has one that claims good specs for like $40.

additionally, you can run any servo off of 7.2 volts by simply running the +ive lead straight to the battery lead. that will improve the performance (both speed and torque) another 15% or so (just like going from 4.8v to 6.0v). i am not aware of any drawbacks to doing this, besides the excellerated wear and tear on the servo motor. but who burns out a servo?

good luck.

ps - i've rarely regretted buying the good stuff versus trying to save a buck.:p

If you go the Hitec route you could get away with the 605BB to get buy with for a resonable price. I think right at 40 bucks. Has plenty of torque and speed around .13. You can then move up to the 925 which is non digital as well but has .08 speed and over 100 oz of torque. Should be priced under 70 bucks.

Now for digital Hitec servos you could get the 5625 High speed servo. It is .13 speed and well over 100 qz. of torque. I do use these as my spare steering servo and throttle on my GT gas truck. My normal choice for steering form Hitec is the new 5925 High speed digital servo. It has .08 speed and over 135oz of torque and works as good as any of the other highend servos I have used and still can be had for 75 to 85 bucks or less if you look around.

Never had any problems what so ever with the Hitec high end stuff. All those servos I listed would work but the last two are nice because you would not have to upgrade after you have them.

The Futaba 9550 digital is nice as well at .11 speed and about 100 oz of torque. It is as wide as a standard servo but 1/2 as long as most of the racing servos. Surikan also used this servo when he won the Worlds last year.