Originally Posted by SkidMan

Yes. But here's the interesting point, the servos aren't doing a whole lot of moving when you power up the plane for the first flight of the day. Other than the weight of the control surfaces and any spring on the throttle, very little power is required. Here is what I am thinking about: you assemble the plane, turn on the power switch, wiggle the control surfaces to make sure they are operating properly, start the engine and run it up and down a few times, and only then do you take it to the taxi way where you use the throttle and rudder (at least), and pull out onto the active runway where you double check all the control surfaces. All these operations require very little power (not over driving the servos) but go a long ways to burning off the initial surface charge - this would almost certain be true with digital servos that draw a small but greater amount of power than analog servos even when they are just standing still. Personally, I'm also not likely to accelerate to full speed and throw all the control surfaces to full defection performing a snap roll at the very beginning of my first flight of the day. I'm assuming that either my battery pack is down to 6.6 volts before I get to the runway or perhaps the first lap or two while I make sure everything is functioning properly before do something demanding. So far my servos have put up with the abuse I dish out to them.

Here is a key premise to my thinking: The danger of higher voltages is greatest when the servo requires greater power to move to or hold its commanded position. Also, the danger of damage is lower when less power is required.

But hey, the most important thing is that you only do what you are comfortable doing.

BTW - have you ever noticed servos listing their min-max operating voltages? It seems to me that they just list rotational rates and torque at different voltages rather than saying that 6.0 volts (or whatever) is the maximum the servo is capable of safely operating at.


Paul