gphil

My plane has a 66.1 " wing and the servos are placed towards the end of the wing, ailerons, of course. Servos I bought have reqular wires on them so the question is how long of a extension do I need and are their locks of some kind to insure the wires stay together? 9 inches just makes it to the fuz, give a hint of you past ugly stick builders. Thanks gphil

dignlivn

18 inch extensions, use a string or small zip tie to hold
the connections together.

Bob

j.duncker

My Feedback: (2)

Nothing wrong with tieing them together using button cotton IMHO.

Simple and light.

I use this on everything I build. Use a HD needle to seperate the wires if they are joined into the plug/socket.

DGrant

My Feedback: (4)

I just use a little vinyl tape(read electricians tape) on the connections. I wrap about 2 times and forget about it. Never had one come apart until I remove the tape. At a cost of .0003cents its well worth it... also makes a very smooth joint/connection that passes into and through wings easy.

As for the extension wire itself.. measure the length you need.. add about half-a-foot or more(give or take).. and order the closest size(error to the large size).

If you need to string the extension through the wing or fuselage... I use lamp-chain.. simply found at Homey Depot in the(you guessed it) lamp dept. Its a smallish beaded chain.. usually in 3' or 4' lengths.. maybe more.. more can't hurt.. I think mine is 4' and I've done 80" wings with it.. with that said .. you obviously only need it to go through one half wing at a time. Just hold the wing on end.. snake the chain in... shake it gently.. and the chain will easily fall right down.. provided there is already a clear path that is... alot of planes are built/designed with that intention though.. so give that a shot... Good luck.

jester_s1

There's a real neat tool that some of the finer shops have that is used for determining the exact length of extensions needed. It's called a ruler.

[/sarcasm]

That said, it's really not crucial how long they are. I bought a roll of servo wire several years ago and solder up extensions because I like knowing there isn't a plug that can come loose and because I like not needing to bundle extra wire up with zip ties. It takes longer and costs a little less, but I like to do it that way.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Only use two six inch extensions for the receiver to allow one plug for the wing to be easily removeable. Use no additional extensions.

Instead order a skein of this:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXN661&P=RF

Now take the servo and cut the lead in half right in the middle. Next separate all the leads a short distance, strip each conductor less than one eightth inch, slip over a short length of shrink wrap then tin all the stripped leads with solder, solder together and shrink the wrap. Do this for all three conductors of the servo end.

Next step is pull the wire through the wing and mount the servo. Cut the lead the perfect length allowing for the short plug lead you solder back just like the servo end.

This will give you perfect leads without humongous high resistance extra lengths and a totally needless extra set of plugs to corrode from disuse or pull apart.

Other than just the short extensions to allow easy wing separation this is a far better and more reliable way to do things and although it sounds complicated, it is not and with practice it goes quickly and easily to say nothing on the money you will save by just about eliminating your extension purchases (this really gets major on some giant types). Eliminating redundant plugs is just about one of best things you can possibly do to increase the reliability of your aircraft.

If you do not solder then consider this, the perfect place to get started is wiring as it is one of easiest forms of soldering and in this case ailerons are the perfect place since the loss of one aileron is not normally aircraft threatening since most now are two servo setups.

This unlike soldering batterys which on a current thread I do not advocate making up packs at least untill soldering skills are acquired since there a mistake will cost an airplane.

Soldering custom harness on more complex aircraft can be a joy to do and to look at as well as improving the airplanes long life. Certainly a skill worth working on

John

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

And yes they do make connector locks. They are plastic and they will lock the connections together. They make them for all the different kinds of servos. Good Luck, Dave

carrellh

Security clips that cost a lot
http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-3.html#Clip
http://www.servocity.com/html/extens...cessories.html
http://www.slimlineproducts.com/pk4/...ew_product=227

Or get a spool of thread or dental floss and tie the connectors together.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

I use fishing monofilament. I have a lot of it.

SeamusG

Or a piece of heat shrink tubing that extends over both the male and female connectors so that when heated the ends wrap around the ends of the connectors a bit.