ORIGINAL: jimmyjames213
what you are asking for is a battery isolation, their is no way to power the esc and servos but not have them do anything, you could have your reciever off but i dont recommend that at all.
now if you want your servos active, just not the motor, put the switch on one of the motor wires and that will keep your servos free to move, just not the motor
It is possible to power the servos with a seperate battery system - removed from the receiver battery. But it is impractical for most situations. You have to isolate the servopower leads and route them to a seperate circuit. They get the signal input from the receiver but the power from a seperate battery source. Usually it's the giant scalebruisers using 175oz-in servos &up.