Question? What's good in cheap servos these days?

[Bartman]

My favorite servos are Savox and MKS are pretty damn good too but the airplane is an old Hangar 9 1/3 scale Cap 232 that I paid $100 for so I'm wondering if the cheap servos have come far enough to try them again. Last time I checked, Hobbyking was selling PowerHD and they were garbage but that was like ten years ago!

Thanks!

About the plane, it's a little banged up but when I got to the guy's house I saw it had a ZDZ 80 in it. I tried to tell him to pull the engine and sell it separately but he just wanted the whole thing gone since it was in a storage locker that he bought at an auction and he had already made his money back plus profits. He was originally asking $250 and when I went to leave he asked if I'd take it for $100!

How could I say anything but

 

[stangflyer]

Way to go Bart. Nice deals don't come along every day. Not much of a ZDZ fan, but I have seen them run very well. Certainly the 80 is worth one dead franklin, right? As for servos? If I were going to put that thing in the air in the condition you mention, I would probably first consider what power source you want to use. If low voltage? I would probably use a Hitec 5645. Metal gear and plenty of grunt. 40 bucks for a 168oz @ 6.0 volt servo. I've used a boat load of them. Never had one single issue. If I were going to use HV, (7.4 volts) I would no doubt try the new Hitec D645mw. Basically the same servo as the 5645, however upgraded in many ways. Can run up to 8.4 volts and delivers a whopping 180oz of torque. I have to find a reason to not find a plane to put them in just to try them.

https://www.servocity.com/d645mw-servo

I am not sure I would attempt flying any plane with any less of a servo. A cheap servo is like using a cheap Hobby King receiver. Asking for trouble. One guy at the field used a 13 dollar HK rec. on six different planes. Each one found mother earth rather rapidly. Hmmm, I wonder why. A guy would think after the first two, I would be looking for the cause. Consider not only the planes worth, but also property and onlookers. Not to suggest you don't, but so many guys I see don't even think about these things ya know?

 

[Bartman]

Thanks for the quick reply Rob!

$40 for a 168oz servo sounds about right and I don't mind running 6 volts. Is that one of the Hitec servos that don't center though? I think I might have used them before.

 

[stangflyer]

Thanks for the quick reply Rob!

$40 for a 168oz servo sounds about right and I don't mind running 6 volts. Is that one of the Hitec servos that don't center though? I think I might have used them before.

No problem.... Surprisingly enough, I had never found a centering issue with the 5645. In fact, I had them in a VVRC Slick with a DLE 55. I loved flying that plane so much. On Sunday evenings my favorite thing to do was go to the field at just about dusk. And fly Knife edge (high alpha) passes over and over and over just inches from the ground. The 5645's never failed me. Also had them in many other planes. But I will say honestly, There have been so many servos and so many planes the last 8 years, I can't hardly keep them straight. LOL. The 5665 is also a great servo. But I am not really liking the "wandering" I have found they have a tendency to do. There was one other my friend and I tried on his 50cc Pilot Edge. Wow! Talk about very poor centering. So bad, I would not even let him fly the plane until we put something better in it. I don't remember which one, but can find out.

 

[Pistolera]

Bart....not sure how much power you need, but I've been running the Savox 1230Sg in my Raven and now Carden for about 4 seasons. 500oz/in and 0.16 speed at 6V. They're around $65-70. Been very happy with them.

 

[Bartman]

No problem.... Surprisingly enough, I had never found a centering issue with the 5645. In fact, I had them in a VVRC Slick with a DLE 55. I loved flying that plane so much. On Sunday evenings my favorite thing to do was go to the field at just about dusk. And fly Knife edge (high alpha) passes over and over and over just inches from the ground. The 5645's never failed me. Also had them in many other planes. But I will say honestly, There have been so many servos and so many planes the last 8 years, I can't hardly keep them straight. LOL. The 5665 is also a great servo. But I am not really liking the "wandering" I have found they have a tendency to do. There was one other my friend and I tried on his 50cc Pilot Edge. Wow! Talk about very poor centering. So bad, I would not even let him fly the plane until we put something better in it. I don't remember which one, but can find out.

OK, thanks for the follow up. $40 per servo is pretty good for a name brand servo

 

[Bartman]

Bart....not sure how much power you need, but I've been running the Savox 1230Sg in my Raven and now Carden for about 4 seasons. 500oz/in and 0.16 speed at 6V. They're around $65-70. Been very happy with them.

500??? wowsa

I was thinking more like 150 to 200? I'm going to split the big ailerons so I can play around with different flap/aileron mixes so, other than the oversized rudder I shouldn't need more than 200, no?

I was thinking something like this
https://www.hobbyrecreationproducts.com/products/savsc1258tg-be-black-edition-standard-size

Similar MKS would be
http://www.mksservosusa.com/product.php?productid=27&cat=4&page=1

The MKS HV777 would be nice for the rudder but that's HV so it would be back to 2 cell Lipo's if I went that route instead of the 6.6V Life packs. The HV servos are all monster torque, holy smokes, i haven't looked at this stuff in a while

 

[Bartman]

I hope you guys laugh long and hard at me if I end up putting $500 worth of servos in a $100 plane!

It needs six for the ailerons and elevators, one big one for the rudder, and one mini for the throttle. I had a stash of pretty high quality servos but they went away as I sold off my planes before our last move.

 

[stangflyer]

I hope you guys laugh long and hard at me if I end up putting $500 worth of servos in a $100 plane!

It needs six for the ailerons and elevators, one big one for the rudder, and one mini for the throttle. I had a stash of pretty high quality servos but they went away as I sold off my planes before our last move.

You may value the plane at 100.00 because that is what you gave for it. But honestly, what would it cost you to purchase every component a piece at a time. At one time, that plane brought $800.00 bucks at the local dealer. The ZDZ 80? $900.00 bucks. So there you have $1700.00 just in airframe and engine. $500.00 dollars in servos for a plane like this? YUP. I'd do it. Something to think long and hard about. A stereo guru installer once told me, "you can achieve better sound with $100.00 speakers and a $10.00 dollar radio, than you can with a $100.00 radio and $10.00 dollar speakers." How many times I have found this to be true!

 

[tailskid]

I would take a look at ProModeler servos if I was you.