AJF--2

My Feedback: (119)

I have walked a mile in my fellow RCer's shoes and find myself at a crossroads. You may remember the "heated" discussions on the Hitec digitial servos-- all of them were closed because they just got out of hand with emotions running strong. I was on of the defenders of Hitec. I am now not so sure.

One of the 5475s in my Lazer 3D went bad while on the bench. No big problem -- (these things happen) -- The events were just as decribed in the other threads-- taking a mind of it's own for a few seconds and finally locking up at an end point. The servo had about a hours use. There were 3 other 5475s and a JR 537 in the plane and they had no problem.

So I pull the dead servo and send it to Hitec a few weeks ago and it comes back yesterday. I read the report and it says
'NO PROBLEM FOUND". After a long test run they say nothing is wrong with it- so I hook it up and sure enough it works fine.

Now after watching this servo fail before my very eyes, am I suppose to put it back in a plane and take to the sky with a good heart? I have a bunch of 5945s and a few 5745s (I sold my 5645s after reading the other threads and upgraded to the coreless). I am at a big crossroads here- I normally don't own junk or beaters, so I got a very uneasy feeling.

What are your thoughts? AND PLEASE DON'T START ANOTHER HITEC BASHING AND GET THE THREAD CLOSED. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

JustAnotherGuy212

That's a hard decision to make... all electronic components can fail however you watched it act up but Hitec says nothing is wrong with it. I'd say go with your gut instinct, if you don't feel comfortable using them then don't. If you continue to do so everytime you fly your only concern will be worrying about that servo.

SMALLFLY-

My Feedback: (19)

I would send it back again and tell them it is an intermittent problem and DEMAND a new servo. In leau of that return it to where you purchased it for credit (assuming you saved the box)

bob_nj

My Feedback: (62)

I usually mark the equipment I send in for evaluation or repair. Are you positive it's the same one you sent in? Maybe they didn't want to acknowledge a failure so to speak_bob

JustAnotherGuy212

Not to stir the pot but you may be correct. I also had a 5600 act up on the bench but when it was sent it they said nothing was wrong with it yet they mailed me back a brand new servo. Was that just good customer satisfaction or was it a cover up? Who knows.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

I had a JR 4131 do the same thing fresh out of the box. Sent it in and received it back, no problem found. I hooked it up on the bench, wiggled the sticks, and watched the servo cycle it self first one way, then the other all by itself. This is what I sent it in for. I contacted one of the factory reps I knew to live in my area and he swapped it for me saying he would make sure it was dealt with properly. I don't know if you can find a Hitec rep near you, but this is the route I would take. I don't fly anything I'm not 100% confident it. Especially not a radio item.

just my .02,
John

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

I had a 5625 fail on the bench. Nothing I did would work, i.e., I reset it to factory specs with the programmer, but that didn't fix it. Just before boxing it up to send to Hitec I checked it again and she was fine.

I followed Mike's advise. I boxed it up and sent it back to Hitec and told them to replace it, reqardless of whether they thought there was a problem. This they did and I haven't had any problems with the replacement, nor have I had any problems with my other servos. I currently have (8) HS-5625s and (2) HS-5645s.

One thing I have gotten into the habit of -- I burn my Hitec digital servos in with my programmer (I connect the servo to the programmer and exercise the auto test for 15 minutes. That's 15 minutes of high-speed maximum deflections -- if the servo is going to fail it will during that.)

AJF--2

My Feedback: (119)

I am sure it is the same servo as I sanded the connector to fit the receiver-- It was for Futaba and I use JR-sometimes you buy what is available. I had about 6-8 flights on it when it failed with never a problem.

Wings-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

After working with digitals now for a couple of years I believe some of what we are seeing is not so much a Hitec issue but a digital servo problem. These problems seem to appear (I have been able to duplicate this) when there is a transient voltage or current drop. I'm not sure which. This happens when your 4.8 volt battery is a little low, you are using extra long extensions, or a small 4.8volt Nimh. I have also heard, although I don't use them, is that a voltage regulator can additionally limit voltage or current to the digital servo causing the same symptoms of "wigging out"

A charged 6 volt 1700 NiCad, with short extensions and I cannot seem to make the symptoms appear. However when I put a 720 4.8 volt Nihm with several digitals (7) and start wiggling the sticks, after a while one of the servos will pause or stop for a split second fully deflected.

Maybe someone with much better electrical knowledge then me can look into this further to see what going on.

It may be that we just need to run our digitals with 6v high capacity batteries and heavy gauge wiring.

Anyone want to take a stab at this...?
Can anyone else verify this...?

Lynx

If a servo wigs out under those kinds of conditions it really needs to be redesigned to prevent it. They may not be using enough signal/power buffering or what not causing part of the electronics to reset. The only way to be sure it won't happen is to do a full blown burn in with a variable power supply and see what happens when you start playing with the voltage. Especially with digitals the voltage/current transients can be quiet high/low.