Servo Suggestions

[stangflyer]

Ok, so here's the deal. I have been helping a friend set up his first 3D airplane. It is a Pilot 30% 87" Edge 540. He is on a pretty tight, (really tight) budget so getting parts to get this bird in the air has been a bit of a challenge. Nevertheless, we did and it flew great with one exception. The servos he selected due to the cost are the Hitec HS 5685 HV. Not a bad choice however upon doing the maiden, we noticed the servos really don't "center" for crap. Needless to say, it made for a bit of an interesting maiden and subsequent follow up flight. I have never noticed this before with any of the Hitecs I have purchased, (I have nothing but Hitecs on all my big birds) and have nothing but good to say about them. However I have been running at least the 7000 series and above. Centering is amazing and never had any issues at all. After a conversation with a Hitec rep, I was informed that the 5000 series servos had centering issues. "Nature of the Beast" I believe is how it was put to me. It would have been nice if Hitec had included this little tid bit of information regarding this series of servos.

With that in mind, I would like some input and suggestions for servos that will be sufficient for this plane. Mind you, He is a "great" beginner. But will not be doing anything extreme for quite sometime. If he could afford the HS 7954's, that is what I would have him get. However, money is just too tight for him to swing it. It would be preferable to have HV servos, as this is the setup now on the plane. If a regulator has to be used, we can deal with that.

Anyone have some solid suggestions that he can consider? Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[49dimes]

HK has a servo that will get it done and affordable. Turnigy, Blue Bird, HK brand have a host of possibilities.

 

[Flyingjon]

Wish I woulda seen this 24 hr ago... I have a set of 5 excellent used 7954's with SWB arms that I let go for pretty cheap. The guy hasn't sent the money, so it's not a done deal, but I fully expect him to.

 

[AKNick]

Hitec HS-5685 7.4V 179oz/0.17 $40
Solar D771 7.4V 214oz/ 0.08 $22
http://www.hobbypartz.com/33p-solarservo-d771.html

A lot of the profile guys use the D770's because they are cheap. Buy an extra one just in case QC missed it. Read the reviews and check the profile forums and you'll see these are not bad servos. I personally wouldn't go that cheap on a plane that big. I have used the 5x series hitec and I can confirm the centering issues on large control surfaces, I think they are meant for sport planes, not precision or 3D. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[BalsaDust]

I run the solar 770's in my 40 size planes. Great servo. I have some 771's and have the 772's in my Carden cap. Decent speed, center good, plenty strong, down side though is they have a ton of slop in them around center. I have the power HD LF-20 from value hobbies. 277 oz on 6v. They say they aren't a 3D servo but I assume due to speed. I'm running them on a 20cc profile and they do great and will soon be trying one on my 30% sukhoi.

 

[AKNick]

Yeah I've heard of the slop at center, but most 3D planes don't fly at center or high speed. I have also heard that most of the slop goes away after they warm up (gear lash). No such thing as a free lunch with cheap servos... unless you are @49dimes . I cant speak too much since I have a set that are not in a plane right now, or haven't tried the larger power HD servos either. Like I was saying, kinda throwing the dice no matter how you look at it.

What about an XQ Servo??
http://www.redwingrc.com/XQ-4116-HV-up-to-8.5V/
XQ-4116-HV 7.2V 205oz/.13 for $50

 

[ChickenBalls]

Stay away from those xq's watched a bud try these, well sorta, they never actually made it into plane. He ordered 5 sent bk 3, 3 new ones came sent 2 of those sent bk,asked for refund,an all was offered was to keep sending him xq's, doesn't say much for xq or the vendor.

 

[AKNick]

Stay away from those xq's watched a bud try these, well sorta, they never actually made it into plane. He ordered 5 sent bk 3, 3 new ones came sent 2 of those sent bk,asked for refund,an all was offered was to keep sending him xq's, doesn't say much for xq or the vendor.

Good to know! I've thought about it a time or two. I'm sticking with my Savox & 7xxx Hitecs!

 

[Flyingjon]

Looks like the conclusion is, there's no decent hv servo for giants available for less than $80... Gotta pay to play I guess.

 

[ChickenBalls]

Good to know! I've thought about it a time or two. I'm sticking with my Savox & 7xxx Hitecs!

Sad part he was out $225 and then had turn around an sink bout $400 on set of 7955's. He won't happy. If it were me I'd save a couple extra months or more, an get good uns. If not solars or BB's will get em flying