1101

Hi there.
How long (in years) should a good servo last ??
Do they wear out ??

Ive a couple of Ko-Pro servos doing funny things
PDS-2133 & PDS-2113
One has a bit of an overshoot issue & slight centring issue, where it would overshoot slightly then correct itself, same with centering overshoot & correction. It sort as if its bouncing
The other has twitching at near full turn, one direction only.
Id hate to have to bin them, they are pretty good spec'd. Are they now just too old ??

Cheers

red7fifty

iTrader: (3)

Yes, servos wear out.
Due to:
Abuse, or normal wear or tear.
Your overshoot, could be, worn out gears, and/or, worn out potentiometer (pot)
The other, could be the motor, but, I wouldn't overlook the other parts either.
You might be able to get a little more service out of it, buy greasing the gears. It will help take up some slop, but might be a short lived aid, if the gears are due for replacement.
ALSO, some servos don't like high voltage....as high voltages will make them jittery and over shoot. Try a lower voltage, (hook up to 4.8v pack) to see if they still have same issues.

JamesL_71

iTrader: (13)

Of course they do. Anything with moving parts and friction will eventually wear out.

The more things you hit, the faster they wear out. If your servo saver is set incorrectly or damaged, the faster they wear out. Etc.

oreo

....before you "bin" them-If you swap places with the two servos maybe you'll find out it would the amount of voltage going to them(as in the previou reply) .If you're still using older radio equipment [as in pre 2.4 ghz], you may be eqperiencing a glich. Goodluck.

red7fifty

iTrader: (3)

That too.
I've had different brands of new servos (high end, and cheap) where, some would work fine with old 75mhz AM radios, and some would be jittery, and vice versa on 2.4 Faast. (Which is frustrating)
Some servo processing IC boards work better with certain radio systems, and poorly with other radios.

DesertRat

iTrader: (2)

Modern coreless servos have motors that really shouldn't wear out in normal use. Gears can wear out but that (for me) takes absolutely forever, I have a servo with reinforced plastic gears that's pushing five years old with probably a thousand runs on it and its still going strong. Its coreless, and I did replace a few of the inner gears once, but that was because of an encounter with a post along the side of the main straight.

1101

I guessing it may be just the internal pot has worn out?? That makes sense.
I dont think its gears. But KOPRO gears can be replaced.

These 2 servos are in separate cars with 2 separate new 2.4G radios
(Sanwa & FrSky) . I replaced the 1st faulty one with a newer(old) Kopro & that servo worked without issue .
Might be they dont like 2.4G, I'll try an AM radio.

I'll let you know how it turns out, thanks for the replies.

WheelNut

iTrader: (5)

If it won't centre anymore send it to KO for service. I'd bet they'll be able to get it fixed up, especially if it's just a pot.

In a 1/10th car a good servo should last a long time. I've got a Hitec 5925 that is 9 years old I still run in my M03 and it works great. My KO 1/8th buggy servo has 4 seasons of hard racing on it now and it should be good for years still- especially if I start running it in 1/10th chassis from now on.

alcyon

iTrader: (8)

KO servos and radios always let me down, they dont last. i have a sanwa VRG servo that i bought used 6 years ago, and it was probably new 10 years ago. until now it has not given me any problems at all. Stay away from KO, they KO very quickly. Not only that, their new EX5 radio 2.4G glitches too !

frozenpod

iTrader: (1)

ROFL, KO radio's and servo's are the best available. I still use my MarsR and 10 year plus old KO servos.

Cole Trickle

Agreed !

Cole Trickle

Good idea trying another radio.

Could also be worth cleaning the potentiometer. And check if gears are avaible, maybe they dont cost much.

alcyon

iTrader: (8)

well they gave me nothing but grief since 1991. my old EX-1, EX-5 all glitched. they live up to their name, Knock Out lol. i bet you didnt hear about the EX-5 2.4GHz radio problems?

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

Still have all of my KO stuff. Twenty five years worth of it. I never sell any of it. I just buy more.

frozenpod

iTrader: (1)

I have heard about all brands having problems with 2.4Ghz.

I still use 40Mhz as the 2.4Ghz wasn't good enough until recently IMO.

After 18 years of racing, flying planes and helis I can say with 100% certainty that KO top model gear is the best of the best. I wish they made radios for flight.

If I was to replace my Tx tomorrow I would only use Airtronics or KO pending on what was available price ect.