R-Duhb

Can you damage a receiver by plugging in the battery reversed? I have aHitechreceiver, but the battery I bought is not keyed for any particular receiver. It has a universal plug,so you have to KNOW with way to plug it in. Thanks in advance!!

A.T.

Which model RX?
A hard cased Hitec has polarised sockets. User will observe that two edges of the socket are bevelled to match the bevelled edges of a S-01 universal plug which fits easily, also the slot to accomodate keyway on a "J"plug is next to Signal lead (Yellow,White, Orange or Blue).
Soft cased Feather and HF_05MSmicro with softcases and exposed pins have pin details printed on side of case.
Pictures of plugs - Servo - Wiring Diagrams = use with other brand RX.
Notwithstanding this, some users have been able to force a universal plug in reverse....
Three wire plugs have (+) center thus if lead is in plugged in reverse, only (-)&(S) swap = no issue, RX simply does not respond until plug is reversed.
Problems do ocur when users modify a 2 pin JST plug which can be inserted in reverse and cause failure of many RX irrespective of brand.

Regards
Alan T.
Alan's Hobby, Model & RC FAQ Web Links

Dr1Driver

It won''t hurt any modern RX. They'll have inline diodes that prevent reversed voltage damage. You might want to mark the + pole of the plug with some nail polish or something like that.

pilotpete2

If the Hitec receiver is a model with a full case, then there should be the slots for the Futaba "J" connectors fin next to one row of the pins. If so, that's the signal pin, just orient the battery connector (usually no third wire on a battery) so the side with the missing signal wire is to the slotted side.
You can't hurt anything by plugging a universal plug in backwards, it just won't work[8D]
Pete

R-Duhb

Thanks for the response. Essentially what I did was connect the negative "-" of the battery to the signal pin. Sounds like no harm, no foul.
I just didn't want to find out the hard way. Thanks again!!

Rodney

There is one receiver that you can hurt by plugging the battery in with the plug reversed, it is the Futaba. On the battery slot only, there is a copper land connecting the center pin (positive terminal) to the signal pin, a dead short between the two. This is only on the battery slot, all others are normal. If you plug the battery into the battery slot reversed, you will burn up the wiring between the receiver and battery but usually not harm the receiver although that is also possible. Usually the wire between the battery and receiver burns through before the copper trace does.

DougV

Rodney,

Do you know the model of that Futaba receiver that you can hurt by connecting the battery reversed?

Doug.

crossman

I had a Futaba R127DF 72mhz receiver that I hooked up backwards. As Rodney said, the wires melted into a short and burned up the battery pack quite quickly. The only damage to the RX was that the pins that the battery was connected to were un-soldered from the board. I just had to hook the battery to an un-used channel and everything worked fine.

DougV

Ok cool, I've tried some of my 2.4 FASST receivers and I haven't been able to dublicate that, I also try the R138's and the R148's with no problems at all.

Good to know about the R127's.

Doug.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

R-duhb you may want to note that with all top plugging Hitec Rx's (this applys to some other brands also) the plugs are oriented with the negative lead to the the outside edge of the RX.

It takes only a glance at the plug to note the negative lead and plug it to the outside edge. Servos and switch harness leads.

John