cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

Sealed inside the wing of my used biplane I recently purchased are two Airtronics standard torque servos connected with a Y cable that exits the wing with a single connector.

I have a Futaba FASST R617FS seven channel receiver that I want to connect this to.

1) Is there a single cable I can purchase that will connect to this Y cable on the wing on one end and to the Futaba receiver on the other?

2) Will mixing all these different type servos be a problem - two Airtronics standard servos via a Y as one channel, along with two Futaba digital hi-torque servos and one Futaba standard servo?

Thanks.

bruce88123

Buy an Airtronics extension and it should plug into the RX easily. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LX0951&P=7 They make other lengths too. Also OK to mix servos although I wouldn't mix on the same function. This means make both ailerons the same but different elevator OK.

Note: extension is for servos with Z-connectors.

jetmech05

all you need is a servo extension as bruce stated.....then unplug your wing at the extension/y harness.....

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

As they have stated above. You can use the Airtronics servos and extensions with your Futaba receiver with no problems. They only thing you have to pay attention to is that you plug them in properly. There is no alignment tab on the Airtonics "Z" ends like Futaba, but as long you pay attention and plug them in properly there are no issues.

Ken

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

All the above is correct if and only if the the servo plugs of the original servos are the current Airtronics 'Z' plug which is blue in color. If these are old style Airtronics servos with the black connectors which is highly likely in an older airplane. then you will either destroy the servo or the Rx if you try to plug them to a Z ported Airtronics or Futaba Rx.

These servos cannot be connected to any of the current Rxs unless you find adapters or reverse the power polarity yourself. The old style Airtronics have reversed polarity with the old style using #3 pin positive and the the current Airtronics Z, JR, Hitec S and Futaba J all use centerpin positive.

Be careful I,ve seen lots of folks destroy their Rx's in this way so which is it what is the color of the plugs on these servo?


John

cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

The connector is black, photo below. Now what do I do? I hate to have to tear the wing apart.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah.. that says SANWA on the side. It's the old style servo.

Take a look to see if this will adapt for you.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXLX67&P=ML

cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

Thank you, Guys. Good catch, John. Very cool solution, just what I was hoping for, CG! I was picturing a big mess but no longer.

bruce88123

The adaptor CG mentioned should do the job but is only 2 inches long. You'll probably still want an extension as mentioned in my earlier post.

cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

Yep, I saw that and will order the 12" extension at Tower for it. Thanks.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...4&I=LX0952&P=K

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Indeed you have the old style connector and will drain all the smoke in your Rx if the adapter is not used.

The linked adapter will work fine. Now I hate to be a spoil sport but I have gone through this many times and doing one right now with the exact same problem.

In many cases these old servos quite possibly may have dirty feedback pots, or worse corroded connectors buried in the wing. These connectors can cause all sorts of weird problems even if the airplane has never flown, perhaps even more likely if it has never flown.
The corosion can happen just hanging on the wall.

I never use buried connectors because of this but solder up a perfect custom extensions with no connectors and shrink wrap.

My reccomendation to you would be to burn each servo in with a servo driver on automatic cycling through the existing harness and a adapter of course for at least fifteen minutes. If the servos are Y'd internally then test together on a driver. This will usually catch dirty pots, bad installation and harness extensions.

I seem to average about six times out of ten in stripping out the old crap and starting over.

John

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

You can still use those servos. You will need to carve off the three plastic splines from the top of the plug (trust me, this is easy), and reverse the positive and negative wire. But these are both easy to do and take less than a couple of minutes to do. Refer to the attached document to see what I am talking about

Ken

cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

What's a servo driver - this? http://www.york-electronics.com/
And how do you burn a servo with it?

Incidentally, the fella I purchased the bipe from said the plane flew fine with those servos.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

As far as beleving everything someone tells you about how an airplanes flys, well you will just have make your own decisons.

Yes that driver will work fine. Mine happens to be an antique Ace but that appears to be nice. Specifics of its operation you will have to read the instructions but just set up on auto or whatever they call it so the servo(s) constantly cycle back and forth. I also burn in all my new servos and especially crashed ones. This has saved me a lot of airplanes in the past.

John

cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

Okay, well, here's what I plan on doing. I'm going to take a pin and remove the center red wire and outside black negative wire and switch them around in the connector.

Then, I'm going to call the LHS and see if they have a servo driver they wouldn't mind checking the servos with via the Y connector, now rewired correctly. I hope everything goes as planned.