Servos
 

Does it matter what brand of servo you use and can you mix them? Also what about receiver batteries? I have a Futaba 6ex2.4 transmitter.

RE: Servos
 

you can mix and match servo's, about the only thing different with futaba from other servos is a little tang that sticks out on the side of the connector, but you can cut this off or shave it off to fit with other servo extensions or recievers. And reciever battery brand doesnt matter either, just as long as its a 4.8v or 6v and the proper Mah needed.

RE: Servos
 

Yes, you can mix different servos to some extent. Meaning that if you have dual aileron or elevator servos they should be matched for those control surfaces. If your throttle or rudder servos are different its not too much a big deal.

Why? Because the speed and torque strength of all servos isn't the same, so its not advisable to use different servos on matched control surfaces.

Larger aircraft with larger control surfaces require higher torque servos to get the job done. The throttle servo is the generally the least important.

As far as receiver batteries if the servo is rated for either 4.8 or 6.0 volts you will get higher torque out of using a 6 volt system. Be sure to see if your servos are rated for 6 volts if you thinking of going that direction.

RE: Servos
 

Futaba servos have an ear on them that lines up the slot on the receiver. You can use Hitech with Futaba, but they do not have the ears so you need to make sure they are plugged into the receiver correctly. As for batteries, you can use most any brand for the receiver, just make sure that the polarity lines up correctly. If you switch over to 6 volt you need to make sure that whatever servo's you select can handle 6 volt and some of the higher torque servo's need need a certain type of battery. Good Luck, Dave

RE: Servos
 

In addition to what the fellows have aready mentioned, the simple question of can I mix different brand servos is not so easy to answer especially if the mix is to include older servos since you may well run into non compatiable plugs and even non compatable wiring polarity.

So eactly which servos do you want to mix?

RE: Servos
 

Hi!
But if we see beyond the plug! Yes ! You can use what ever servos you have as long as they have 3 wires (+ - and puls).
That means using servos that are older than 30 years.

RE: Servos
 

No sir this is incorrect it was only around 1995 or 96 That Airtronics made the shift from #3 pin positive to centerpin positive and folks not understanding that of some of these combinations will indeed not only not function but will if the wrong pieces of the puzzle are attempted can start destroying recievers and or servos.

There are many thousands of these out there and in use to this day and it is destructive to carelessly suggest that its no big deal. It is a big deal, just last week I had a gentleman come to me and could not figure out why his Rx does not work anymore and the smoke came out. Yes, he plugged in the wrong combination of stuff. Its a Big deal and you do a disservice to all the newbys when you try to discredit my or anyones caution about the many pit falls that are out there that folks fall into with regularity especially with the advent of EBay!

This does not even address the old Futaba 'G' plug which is perhaps out there in even greater quantities still even though indeed they are around thirty years old. Yes folks are constantly selling and working with these also. Informing folks of the facts is always a better form of education Jaka.


John

RE: Servos
 

The old Proline servos required a negative going pulse (all current servos use a positive going pulse). The old Airtonics servos are the only ones that I know of that had the positive wire in other than the center connector pin. If you swapped out the leads to put them with the center pin positive, they also work on all current receivers. Also, now the standard is a 1.5 millisecond neutral position with a .5 millisecond excursion either way for full control. Some of the early servos used a different pulse width for neutral.

RE: Servos
 

Fwiw, some of the first Parkzone models used servos with more than 3 wires. They've gone away from that stuff, but if you pick up an older model it may have some very non-standard gear in there.

RE: Servos
 

Thanks for the answers. No longer worried.