Getting more and more into this hobby. So here comes another beat up question I bet. Will any servos work with andy recievers????? or do they have to match, ie, Futaba and futaba servos and etc. Or can one just get servos for the appointed job , work related, and go with their own radios. Now I hae confused myself. gphil

If you are confused - join the club. Check the link and see if some of your questions are answered.

All things servos

A specific page dealing with connector types ->Here

The vast majority of servos work with any system. There's a few special use exceptions but in the mainstream you can pick a servo that meets your speed and torque requirements and plug it in to any system.

I fly futaba...I have used HiTech, JR, and Futaba servos....you may have to cut a little tab off of Futaba servo lead to fit JR

Thanks , that pretty much explains it. Transmitted signal goes to the reciever and changed to a common servo input signal not needing a set crystal and drives the servo. Always wondered about that I knew the two crystals had to match. Now if I could just keep the idle trim set on my beat up trainner. Still quits upon throttle closeing. Even the pros at the field have set it but still no good. One thing, getting profecient with dead stick landings. gphil

They are pretty much interchangeable among brands, however, not among themselves.

For instance, don't put a Futaba and an Airtronics on the ailerons (one on each side). If you are doing something like a servo per side on ailerons, elevators, flaps, or any other control surface that has a servo on each side, keep the servos the same manufacturer and type.

For instance, if you use an Airtronics 94102Z (for example) on one side, use the 94102Z on the other side. That will keep speed, torque, resolution, and so on, the same on both sides. This is not peculiar with Aitronics, by the way, it applies to any of them - Futaba, Hitec, JR, Spektrum, and so on.

However, since the basic standard servos from most manufacturers run about $10.00 each, you can easily buy them in pairs.

Also, keep in mind that, unless you really need a high end servo, most of the standard, basic servos will work just fine.

Oh, you can do this too: (again, example only) two Airtronics on the Ailerons, two Futabas on the Elevator, and two JR/Spektrums on the flaps. Just keep them the same on each of the control surfaces, but you can mix them on the airframe. I often use a low torque micro servo on the throttle. It saves space, and when set up properly, without end point binding, they don't need much torque to open and close the throttle.

CGr.

Very new to the hobbie but i just came in the house from setting up the throttle on a new O.S. .46LA and it idles nice first try this is what i did.
With the throtle trim all the way up & the throtle stick all the way down

Losen the screw on the on the control arm on the servo horn and hand adjust the rod until you have enough of an opening in the carb about 1/16 open (you might have to play with this your opening might differ)

once thats set re tighten the screw with thredlock

GL

Just make sure that you don't have end point binds. That's the kiss of death for a lot of the 2.4GHz systems as this will definitely put a heck of a load on the servo and thus the battery pack, and could - read COULD - drag it down below the receiver threshold voltage.

The throttle linkage should move freely from idle-stop to full wide open without any binds at all.

CGr.

One thing you do have to watch is that servos have three leads - positive, negative and modulated signel input. Some drive the signal inputwith a positive modulation shift and some drive the signal input with a negative shift. The two don't play nice together and the receiver has to be designed to work one or the other. Futaba and HiTec, for instance, are compatable negative servos. JR and Airtronics both use positive shift; though JR makes servos in both modulations. Not sure about Spektrum but Ibelieve Iheard they are negative shift.

Sorry to be blunt, and I know it was made with the intention to help, but for education purposes: that entire post is incorrect.

Pos/Neg shift has to do with coding the signal between the transmitter and reciever. It only effects 72mhz PPM (fm) systems and only deals with reciever choice.

Once that signal is decoded the signal that gets sent to the servos is the same, something between 1ms and 2ms, the length of that pulse determines where in the sweep the servo goes. 1.5ms is center, 1 is full left, 2ms is full right.

Charlie, I think you are confusing FM receivers positive/negative shift with servos. The servo signal is a pulse width and is compatible amoung all modern servos. Any modern servo can be use with any modern receiver, AM, FM, or 2.4 ghz. The older Airtronics servos had the three wires in a different order but that was changed in the '90s so that it is now compatible with the other brands.

Bruce

The only servo that I ever seen that required negative pulses were the old ProLine, The receiver put out a negative pulse to the servos where all current brands use a positive pulse to the servos.

Sorry.  I recall my assertations and claim: "the sun got in my eyes, I was glitched and it was a birdstrike."  I was passing it as I was presented it - and that is a poor practice at best.  

I've only ever played with Futaba and HiTec (and just recently a Tactic module)  and they play well together.

if servo connectors can be standardized for the most part, why can't they do that with Lipos?

While I KNOW you posted this rhetorically....

No one wants "their" design for connectors to be used by someone else.... so Deans for instance sued anyone copying their design... and we end up with somewhat proprietary and varying connectors... ugh this drives me nuts too.

I've taken to merely making adapters for each battery type and standardizing on what I use for my own connectors.

Screw Deans. While i've become proficient at soldering them, they are still a PITA. The industry should just go with generic bullets. That said, i'm slowing standardizing everything to Anderson Power Poles.

Agreed. I don't know why anyone ever liked Deans...

Re: Bullets.

I sorta like the ease of soldering the HK enclosed bullet connectors... the medium/large size red ones.

I've been using them for most of my own stuff. Much easier to deal with than EC3, XT60, Deans, etc.

No shrink wrap, etc.... and even though they are polarized, you don't have to purchase a separate male or female "kit", as they can be set up either way. I see a lot of the Asian LiPos coming with these pre-installed too.

I like the Power Poles as well. Easy to install, hard to screw up.

I consider myself fairly proficient with a soldering iron.. with over 20 years in the electronics industry, well, I presume I know how to handle one. And, I am very cautious when using one.

However, I was putting Deans on a LiPo pack one day and I accidentally crossed the terminals with a small solder bridge. There was a small spark, and then nothing. I was very lucky that I didn't cause a fire with that little incident, but what happened was that the pack was no longer functional.

I sent it back to Radical RC, who looked it over and told me that the damage was not the fault of the battery or the battery pack construction, however, they replaced it anyway.

Nice of them, but I am also not a big fan of Deans.

CGr.

I don't use Dean's anymoreI have changed to all Power pole connectors.

My first time soldering a Lipo I was shaking like I was working with a grenade with the pin pulled. Put it on charge on a metal workbench in the garage, watched it for a bit and went inside.

I came out 20 minutes later to the entire garage full of smoke.

I thought I burned the damn garage down, talk about your heart leaping into your throat.

Turns out the neighbor lit off a pile of wet leaves and filled up my garage with smoke. FD training took over after a short panic and I realized it didnt smell electrical but for a minute I was thinking of how I was going to explain to my finacee at the time why/how I burnt her house down.

Jeeeez... panic city!!!!!

Power pole connectors?? Hey Irish... how bout some more info? Sounds interesting.

CGr

See: [link=http://www.andersonpower.com/products/singlepole-connectors.html]Click me for info on Power Pole Connectors[/link]

the wire colors are pretty much an industry standard. red positive, black negative and either white or yellow as command, go together. when making extension, I cut the servo wire and instal the extensions between the servo and it's plug soldering the joints and heat shrinking the splices. I usually just use the same color wire for the extensions because the wire colors are at the plug that was cut off. that's where you need the colors. you just have to make sure you get the colors matched at each end of the cut extension......which isn't hard with individual wire extensions. I believe that the soldered splices are a lot better than plugged extensions, as well......at least I trust them more than plugged connections. something about pushing a plug together and then covering it somewhere in a wing or fuselage tail,with no access to the plug(s), makes me nervous.

The last post before you was in 2012 . Red