Symptoms of an overheating servo?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ducky

Ducky

Well-Known Member
Messages
644
Reaction score
0
Location
Kent, UK
I wondered if anyone had ideas of what symptoms an overheating servo would show; would it start to slow down or become erratic etc?
 
well ducky hows the going.

this is my experience.

the only thing i can say is when i got my fg beetle i never ever had servo trouble just maybe small nitro type servos with my nitro cars, i did make a mistake one day though,what i done was pluged the battery conector the opposite way on,and it is the very same thing a servo just does when the motor decides to die in it,it is real quick and fast and you wont even notice it just slows down rapidly and just eventually stops solid after say a minute and they just heat up then and smoke(burn)

heavy load would even cause this.
all parts are fully repairable anyhow on servos,/motor/gears etc. but for the price i rekon you would be better off buying new.
 
Ducky said:
I wondered if anyone had ideas of what symptoms an overheating servo would show; would it start to slow down or become erratic etc?
Click to expand...
I have never had a issue with a servo overheating, I had one that got wet, but deffinetly not a overheat thing, so long as your endpoints are set properly overheating should never be a issue. If they do, I would immagine they would just fry out. Like any electronics that "overheat".
 
Cheers for the info peeps, I'm just doing some testing with micro servos and trying to narrow down the possible causes for the problems I'm seeing. Really need something to test the Kg-loading I'm putting on them to see what forces they're experiencing.
 
Bigger the Better said:
Is that for the throttle only or are you using it for something else?
Click to expand...

Is it for the throttle as I've recently switched from the Futaba S3154 (1.7kg/pull) to a Hitec HS65MG (2.2kg/pull), after experiencing problems with the Futaba at 6v (a known issue it seems).

However when I add a small (v.weak) spring to shut the throttle off the hitec gets hot after a while, slows down and becomes erratic, so I've removed the spring for now and will try rewiring the car so all the servos take a direct feed from the battery, rather than take power via the receiver. This is all tested without the engine running.
 
I see ya, the spring may be putting too much load on it? With such a small servo you think you could go with a small spring? I take it its for a failsafe?
 
Bigger the Better said:
I see ya, the spring may be putting too much load on it? With such a small servo you think you could go with a small spring? I take it its for a failsafe?
Click to expand...

Yeah I got a selecting of small springs and they hardly feel that strong, yet it seems to cause the servo issues....will try direct 6v feed to see if that makes a difference. It is for a fail safe yes (already have an electronic one on the throttle) as I want a mechanical fail safe also.
 
Bigger the Better said:
Do you have an extra open channel to install a failsafe? That way you could eliminate the spring.
Click to expand...

No unfortunately I only have 3 channels on my 3GR and they're all used up (throttle/brakes/steering) otherwise I would have got something like P2b kill switch. Currently have a basic fail safe in-line with the throttle, but it's not a kill switch, just a position reset sadly.
 
Trip said:
...Just a thought, instead of closing the throttle, could you set it up to hit the kill switch on the motor instead?

Trip..
Click to expand...

Nah the kill switch I have just plugs in the servo line and just lets you preset the servo position in the event it loses signal from your transmitter. The P2b version that is able to kill the engine requires a 3rd channel to function sadly.
 
I have 1 inline "Fail safe", 1 built into my receiver and my Hitec throttle servo is programed for full brake, but I wasn't happy with "Just" that. So I ran a Y harness from the inline fail safe to another servo I mounted on the roll bar, in the event of a signal loss the failsafe sends the throttle and the "Rollbar" servos to full brake. The rollbar servo in turn pushes the kill switch on the motor. I didn't know if you knew what I was talking about in my last post, so I thought I would clarify myself.

If nothing else maybe someone else could use the info. ;)

I wish I had pictures of it, but I tore down my truck after I smoked the motor.

Oh well,
Trip..
 
Trip said:
I have 1 inline "Fail safe", 1 built into my receiver and my Hitec throttle servo is programed for full brake, but I wasn't happy with "Just" that. So I ran a Y harness from the inline fail safe to another servo I mounted on the roll bar, in the event of a signal loss the failsafe sends the throttle and the "Rollbar" servos to full brake. The rollbar servo in turn pushes the kill switch on the motor. I didn't know if you knew what I was talking about in my last post, so I thought I would clarify myself.

If nothing else maybe someone else could use the info. ;)

I wish I had pictures of it, but I tore down my truck after I smoked the motor.

Oh well,
Trip..
Click to expand...

Now that's an interesting way to do it, pictures would have been good although I have vision of it looking a little messy? I know the fail safes work if the transmitter loses signal, but if you cut the power to the car they won't respond...one reason I wanted a mechanical method on the throttle.
 
True pics would have been nice, but I should have my motor tomorrow and I'll set it back up. It is actually a pretty clean setup. and as far as a power loss, I thought of that too... I have my main 5 cell sub c pack, but I also have a small hump pack made for an 1/8 scale buggy wired (parallel of course) in a y harness. That way I could double my chances for success.

Originally I had that small battery just sitting there so if the main pack dumped, I could swap out the plugs and get back to my 1/1 car (These things are heavy as hell and I don't like to carry it!) Swap the plugs and fire it back up and charge the main back up..

Tell me what you think..

Trip..
 
Last edited:
Interesting, would love to see how you have it all configured once you get it back together. Have you managed to get all the wires into the small electrics box on the FG?
 
Back
Top