OK, here goes. Most of the Futaba gear is designed for 4.8 volts. SOME of their equipment is designed for 6 volts. A fully charged 5 cell pack puts out a little more than 7.2 volts.......that's 50% more than the design voltage. The servos I was using were 9151s. They fried consistently on the 7.2 volts.....and they were $109 a pop. These were the top of the line Futaba digitals 4 years ago.

Now, every electronic device is rated for a nominal , or average, design voltage. When you exceed this, some components will take it, and some identical ones will not. That is exactly what I saw in my planes. I had some 9151's that lasted a thousand flights.......while others fried in one.......yes, I said ONE flight.

I talked to Hobby Services for hours about this very topic......you know.......the guys in charge of warranty work on Futaba. 217-398-8970. In very simple terms, they said not to run even 6volts on these servos. In fact, they have a list of components they do not recommend putting on 6 volts.

I know for a fact that all JR servos will take unregulated 5 cells, but they will twitch and glitch for a flight or two until the voltage reduces below 7 volts. I spend a lot of money for very precise digitals, and the idea of twitching and glitching just doesn't quite do it for me - I think the servo is trying to tell me something. A regulator is 20$. The servos on my last plane were 105$ apiece for 18. For me it's a no brainer. My last plane has a set of JR8411's with 1000 flights, and not one of the 18 servos have ever been back to the shop, not even for gears. You take care of your equipment and it will take care of you.

Also, a regulator actually adds another flight per charge by reducing the power consumption.

Bullard asked for a simple answer. It kills me when guys are proud of the abuse they put on their equipment and give the same advice to the new guys. I can tighten my prop nut with vice grips, but it is nothing I would be proud of, and I sure wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

Bring it on......

CJ