gixxer01

All,
I am interested in hearing personal experiences good and bad(really looking for bad ones) with either brand of servo, giant scale folks in particular. I am not trying to troll for trolls here, just looking for personal experiences, not personal opinions. Thanks for the input.

Tim

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

I performance tested about 20 servos last fall including some Hitec and some JR servos.
Generally the JR's are set up with an extremely tight dead band. If you are a great pilot with calibrated finger tips you will appreciate the precise control. Otherwise the wasted battery power and gear & potentiometer wear might be of concern for you.
For instance the 8417 tested with a 0 us deadband. This means it was continuously hunting and drawing about 1/4 amp. A set of four in an airplane would draw 1 amp and exhaust a 500 ma battery in about 15-20 minutes. One flight. Practically speaking you should use at least a 2000 mah battery and watch your battery closely.
The Hitek servos are pretty much equal to the JR's in thrust rating and have the extra advantage of adjustable dead band although I din't know if the can be set to 0 like the JR's. Adjusting the dead band must be done with an extra cost item. (Programmer at $150).
JR's have a better linearity on the units I tested but not by much.
The thrust ratings on both units are about what the manufacturer claims.
My choice would be Hteks because they are cheaper and likely to last longer. If you have to have the very best in resolution and dead band you should go with the JR's and pay the consequences.
If you are interested I have available a set of test results for about 20 servos for $10. Just PM me.
Richard H. Kelly

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

I will agree with dirtybird on all points made above.

I have both brand servos - 8611s and HItec 5945s
I use 8611s on all my rudders and 5945s on just about everything else
I have also used 8411s and 5925s with good results.


8611s:
Pros - Very tight(almost too tight!) , very precise, strong, reliable
Cons - no EPA / Dead band adjust built in, a lot more gear wear, splines are not all the same size (difficult to fit horns)

5945s:
Pros - fully programmable, less costly, strong and reliable, gears last longer (due to the looser lash)
Cons - a lot more gear slop than JR, not as precise (but still excellent), dead band is wider (adding to the slop), more reports of catastrophic failures (hardovers, etc.. but not a lot of data to confirm cause).

Overall, they both are excellent and reasonably trouble free. My honest opinion - there is definitely a tighter feel to the JRs both on the ground and in flight, but as was mentioned above, unless you can fly like QQ, Lesburg, etc.. I doubt you will really be able to take advantage of it.

I mostly use Hitecs, but do use the 8611s on single surfaces that need a lot of torque (ailerons, rudder) where 2 servos used to be installed to save weight.

DP

gixxer01

Thanks for the responses guys. For a day or so, I thought my thread was gonna go unanswered before it disappeared to the woes of the second page... Anyhow, beings that the Hitec 5955 is back in the shop with the hood up so to speak, the 8611 seems like the economical choice. Was looking into a Wild Hare Extra 330, and I believe this plane balances with a DA100 with 2 Rudder servos in the tail.

Doesn't the JR matchbox keep the servos from fighting? Or even using a smart fly equalizer or, I could go the overkill option that goes by the name SEIKO...



Tim

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

If you have perfect mechanical geometry you probably won't need to match the hitecs, but since the JRs are so tight, any surface with more than one servo really needs a matchbox or equalizer. Both of these items work really well. One advantage of a matchbox / EQ is that they can be adjusted at the field in the plane.. very handy as the servos wear in.

So to answer your question - yes.. use a matchbox to keep the servos from fighting at end points and dead band (center) ...
I wouldn't use the Seiko servo on anything but a large bipe or 40%+ they are really heavy and need their own battery (adding more weight)...

DP

gixxer01

DP thanks for the advice. I just found out that the wife(god bless her little heart) is buying me a DA100 for my Bday in June. That means no 40% Ultimate this year, and no Seiko. The 8611's are gonna go in for the rudder unless Hitec gets those 5955's out before then. As for the rest of the surfaces, only time will tell. When the time comes, I will go to Sarasota to pay Gene a visit @ Troybuilt for assistance.

Tim

3D Joy

Lucky guy ! My girlfriend gave me a servo for my birthday... I still love her !

EDIT: Its a 5955

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

My ex-wife gave me the boot five years ago. The best gift I ever got from her.

johnnypilot

hello, its me...mr troll....I heard you were looking for me? ahahha

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

That's funny!

If I ever even think about marriage again, I am just going save myself the suffering and just go buy a house for a woman I can't stand.

DP

Looks like we hijacked another one....

michpittsman

My Feedback: (11)

JR told me the tight deadband might might be aggravated with 6v power rather than 4.8v. Now that I talked about servos...

I almost married a terrific girl but there was a religious conflict. I was a Protestant and her mother was a Klingon. Jim