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Steering servo burned out on powerup.....

Petrolheadz100

Well-Known Member
Messages
237
Just purchased a futaba 3pv and when i binded the new receiver to my chimera the steering servo emitted smoke and no longer works. Really weird this has never happened to me and i been binding rc's since 1991...any suggestions what could have caused this? The throttle servo is fine just the steering servo went to smoke and burned out, also the switch wires got really hot...
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
wow. thats bad to hear. sorry for your misfortune. There had to be a direct positive + red wire to Black wire - short somewhere to cause that to happen. Best pull the entire unit out out of the r-c and test each part with electrical tester.- You no doubt allready know this, others may not-- The servos have 3 wires. positive, negative, and a control wire.- Sometimes not often, where these wires are soldered to the p-c board in the bottom of the servo case, there could have been a mistake- too much solder - shorting out the hot & cold wires.- this is just a guess--. there is a dead short somewhere.
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
wow. thats bad to hear. sorry for your misfortune. There had to be a direct positive + red wire to Black wire - short somewhere to cause that to happen. Best pull the entire unit out out of the r-c and test each part with electrical tester.- You no doubt allready know this, others may not-- The servos have 3 wires. positive, negative, and a control wire.- Sometimes not often, where these wires are soldered to the p-c board in the bottom of the servo case, there could have been a mistake- too much solder - shorting out the hot & cold wires.- this is just a guess--. there is a dead short somewhere.
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
If the servos cooked- might as well pull it apart and look closely at the p-c board - there could be tell tale signs of what caused this to happen- same with the on-off switch- if it became hot- its not worth the risk to reuse it.--
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
If the servos cooked- might as well pull it apart and look closely at the p-c board - there could be tell tale signs of what caused this to happen- same with the on-off switch- if it became hot- its not worth the risk to reuse it.--
hello. Just go to harbor freight - if there is one local, you can buy a decent enough electrical tester for about $10.00. Part #- 90899. Cen-Tech 7 Function Digital Multimeter.-- Wal-mart has cheap Multitesters also.-- Its a must have really - You can also buy a cheap small screwdriver set at either one of these places also-- dave in ephrata, wa.
 

DEA

Member
Messages
8
Location
Louisville, KY
from a Newbie... so what do I know...
I had about 15 minutes on my new XT, when the steering servo failed. Rob was great to deal with and had a new one in my hands in about a week. well that one literally lasted a second. I contacted Rob and we messaged about my process and he felt I had done nothing wrong. he sent another and this one has about 8 hours on it. keeping fingers crossed.
Think I'll try to pull the old ones apart to see what I can see.
point is, could have been a new bad part.
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
from a Newbie... so what do I know...
I had about 15 minutes on my new XT, when the steering servo failed. Rob was great to deal with and had a new one in my hands in about a week. well that one literally lasted a second. I contacted Rob and we messaged about my process and he felt I had done nothing wrong. he sent another and this one has about 8 hours on it. keeping fingers crossed.
Think I'll try to pull the old ones apart to see what I can see.
point is, could have been a new bad part.
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
might as well carefully pull it apart- if you have a camera that can take closeup photos, photo the transmission to help reassemble. actually, these servos are pretty darned good- all metal gears. look closely at the solder joints everywhere. its important to keep the timing of the pot- this is the part with 3 wires - it tells the servo what to do- keep the timing of the pot as it was. - actually, a light shot of crc electronic cleaner can put this part back in working order, this cleaner can be bought at the automotive area at walmart- about 5 dollars. this is another great thing about this hobby- or any hobby- learning- trial & error.
 

sunoco

Well-Known Member
Messages
169
on the 2nd photo, there is printing that says- R-ADJ. Enlarging the photo here, It looks like what is called a cold solder joint. The solder around the red wire is bright and shiney- but the solder does not flow smoothly around the wire. The red wire is the + hot wire. If you have a smaller soldering iron- 25-35 watts- you could try reflowing the solder joint. As for the resistance reading- the ohms will vary depending on where the pot is set at-- thats the round part with 3 black wires.- its normal.-- Also- carefully peel back the white glue on the 3 wires that are different colors and look for loose- cold solder joints-- You should see some of the things i mod here- the lazer diodes on home audio c-d players-- wires 1/2 the size of a human hair-- i am a morning person- couple cups of black coffee- and i am ready to flow solder !!! lol.
 

Kevin's xb

Well-Known Member
Messages
65
Hi my name is Kevin, I own a 30cc XB and replaced throttle servo yesterday and the very next fire up it burnt the steering servo 24 hours later. What is a good upgraded steering servo because I don't want to put a factory replacement back on it. Sorry not good at wording things. Any way why would they burn out within 24 hours of each other. I am still running RTR transmitter I have a digital 4 channel ordered but didn't think that would make servos burn out. ANY IDEAS !!??
 

Kevin's xb

Well-Known Member
Messages
65
Maybe I should have said a little more detail about how throttle servo fried first. I started it up like normal one pull w/choke on it fires Everytime, Never had any problems with the cy 30cc engine but anyways I was running for about 3 min when throttle servo went straight to Full throttle and then to Full brake,(Thank God) it's at full speed in about 4 seconds anyways. 24 hours later the steering servo gears I think cause it very easy to turn wheels by hand and hear mad grinding. So I wonder what is a good upgraded steering servo that's at least 30kg and I found one that's 33.33kg high torque sevo that's made for 1/5 scale. Any oppinions on what's a budget friendly servo, I have 3 boys and 1 girl so tight budget. Thanks love the Rampage Forum.
 

Dusty

Well-Known Member
Messages
84
Maybe I should have said a little more detail about how throttle servo fried first. I started it up like normal one pull w/choke on it fires Everytime, Never had any problems with the cy 30cc engine but anyways I was running for about 3 min when throttle servo went straight to Full throttle and then to Full brake,(Thank God) it's at full speed in about 4 seconds anyways. 24 hours later the steering servo gears I think cause it very easy to turn wheels by hand and hear mad grinding. So I wonder what is a good upgraded steering servo that's at least 30kg and I found one that's 33.33kg high torque sevo that's made for 1/5 scale. Any oppinions on what's a budget friendly servo, I have 3 boys and 1 girl so tight budget. Thanks love the Rampage Forum.

Did you ever find a good replacement? I’m looking to upgrade all my MT servo to waterproof savox servo with the help of guys on the rampage owners Facebook group . I get a good budget servo number I’ll let you know man . I think I’ve found the right ones and they was around $35 each
 

Kevin's xb

Well-Known Member
Messages
65
I got some servo replacements. They are goolsky 33.33 kg for 26 dollars and that's the steering servo and im actually recieving them tomorrow by mail. The throttle servo is a standard Savox 15kgs for 20 dollars let y'all know how they do in my has Xb.
 

Dusty

Well-Known Member
Messages
84
Good good luck man , I’m sure you’ll be good ! Get out there bashing . I just got running again myself . I had my coil fail last week and just got a new one installed yesterday
 

Kevin's xb

Well-Known Member
Messages
65
Works great but steering still sluggish. Getting a RC4GS Transmitter Monday so should fix most of my issues, I hope. Anyone know if I can use a 2s spektrum receiver battery 7.4 volts. I think my factory receiver battery is shot. If anyone can think of my best options let me know.
 

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