Servo Types

Mon Mar 22 04:53:18 AKST 2004

Ryan, you just answered your own question! If you took it out and it flew fine and you can't imagine how it could fly any better, why in the name of all things holy would you change it? No matter how much truth there is to the notion that better servos make the plane fly better, it is almost never a good idea to fix something that ain't broke! Fly your Summit III and fly it a lot. If the servo issue is something burning inside you that you must explore, try it with your next plane. Here is why I say that, the new servos will likely change the feel of the plane, they may be faster, stronger, or just different. If you don't immediately like the new feel, or trim changes, or whatever, you may lose confidence in a plane that you previously thought flew great. Couple that with the knowledge that you paid nearly $200 bucks to make it fly different and it is easy to imagine your dissatisfaction. From the tone of your email it didn't seem like you were too keen on spending up to $100 bucks a
 pop on top of the line servos. Given that, it has been my experience that unless you are a significantly better than average pilot, or extremely sensitive to the feel of your airplane, you will not notice a huge difference between a premium servo or a sport servo. Last but not least, if memory serves me correctly the Summit III is a 60 size plane in the 7 to 8 pound range. I don't really think that will benefit from a top end servo. Personally I use a mixture fo JR and Airtronics coreless and digital servos. When I moved up from sport servos the main difference I found was speed which was huge for me and took some time to get used to, and an ability to lock on hold trim position. I like my good servos, and they helped a plane that I thought just flew OK to fly a lot better.

Good luck with your selection and I hope you find what you are looking for.
Anthony  

Ryan Wiesehan <ryan_wiesehan at hotmail.com> wrote:

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Hello,

I tried to research this on my own without rehashing servo talk on the list, but I couldn’t find an answer that satisfied my curiosity.  I will outline my research first so that you may better help me out.  I want to put new servos in my Used Summit III, it has 148’s in it now and I think it flies great, no problem with torque, and there isn’t a centering problem between days and flights.  But, I am always hearing that better servos will make you fly better.  And I want to be a better flier.  So, I have spent the last three weeks researching servos.  This research must be one of those instances when you are confused because you are paying attention.  I want is spend less than $180, $25 - $40 per servo and 40oz ok ailerons, 60oz rudder and elevator.  Here is how it breaks down in my mind from the research.  

1.         The four basic qualifying specs for servos:  speed, torque, weight and price.

2.         Then you have motor type and non-digital vs. digital.

3.         Lastly, you have brand, and I’ve tried JR, Futaba, Hitec, TowerHobbies and Expert.  

I am most interested in hearing your opinions about #’s 1 and 2; I don’t really care to debate brand in this thread

3-pole non-digitals; can have problems centering due to the splits in the armature.

5-pole non-digitals; don’t know there isn’t really much information.  Would someone help?) I assume they have better centering and maybe more power than a 3-pole, I am thinking these might work for me so please try and sell me on the coreless. 

Coreless non-digital; has a different armature system without poles that allows for better centering and a lighter core.  Most of the low end coreless seem like they are slower than a 3-pole.  I am starting to thing that the standard specs for speed are misleading. If the coreless motor is lighter and accelerates more quickly than a 3-pole why does a $30 coreless post the same specs as $9 el cheapo?

Now, here is where I really get confused, change all of the above to digitals.  If the circuit board is always sending centering and position location at 3 times the rate previously to a 3-pole motor, why wouldn’t I want to buy it?  It should center fine because with a digital servo centering is powered. 

Wow, sorry, that was a long email.  I guess all that I am asking is for someone to explain why money spent on servos is valid.  Because, I just took out my plane last weekend after all this research and I couldn’t figure out how it could be better. 

Thanks,

Ryan Wiesehan

FreightQuote.com

New Business Sales 

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