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Author Topic: Wiring servos directly to power source  (Read 1893 times)

Offline J Anthony

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Wiring servos directly to power source
« on: July 22, 2016, 09:02:14 PM »
HI everyone. I'm just curious for the people who've done this, exactly how do you do it?
   I've done it to one of my machine's by running the signal wire in the servo plugs to the fbl unit and cutting the power and ground wires from the servos and soldered them to a Deans plug going to my fbl unit and rx and that plugs into my 2S lipo.
    Is this the way most people do it to avoid running through the power bus on the fbl unit? I assume I'd do it the same if using a BEC, just go straight to the BEC out? Thanks for any and all advice.

Offline cml001

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Re: Wiring servos directly to power source
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2016, 11:04:20 PM »
I personally have only heard of this when using a MiniVBar on Spektrum sats.. Maybe someone else can chime in on it.. Seems a waste of time & a lot of extra effort unnecessarily with today's electronics tho.
Clay
I can fly helicopters... Upside down!

Offline J Anthony

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Re: Wiring servos directly to power source
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2016, 12:25:55 AM »
What's up Clay? Always good to see you. I agree with you first off, but, now that I've switched everything over to Futaba 18SZ and I can see my RX voltage, when I was using Microbeast units and would do the pitch pump test I had very good results. When I swapped two of my machines to the ikon units both showed much more of a voltage drop than with the BeastX units.
     Now... it was nowhere near danger levels but it was much more of a drop with iKon than with BeastX. I figured even though it won't hurt anything, why not let the servos have all the power they want? Or at least all I can give them, so... on one of my machines I run a 2s RX pack so on that one I cut the pos and neg wires and soldered them to a plug to connect straight to the RX pack. Yes it was a pain. I'm not even suggesting it was worth it. I'm just wondering if others do it, do they do it the same way? I don't even know if I'll ever do it that way again. I just enjoyed seeing less of a voltage drop. It was really just wanting to try that method out more than anything.

Offline J Anthony

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Re: Wiring servos directly to power source
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2016, 12:54:12 AM »
Also, just to defend my actions... I talked with a certain Pro Pilot about this at Joe Nall Week this year who does it "most of the time" and I've read about tests that show modern servos pulling a pretty amazing amount of current. Up to 20 amps each in some cases. While that seems extreme and I'm sure it's not the norm, the Pilot I was speaking with said he's seen all 3 cyclic servos drawing over 30 amps together. Spiking at that, but still.
     Given that servo connectors haven't kept up with servo demands and can only supply 5 amps through one plug and you've generally only got 2 servo plugs from your power source going into your fbl unit and RX, that puts a 10 amp limit on the entire system. Why not supply the servos will all the amperage you can?
     I don't mean that sarcastically, I'm seriously asking. I'm neither an Electrician nor a Pro Pilot so all I can do is read, ask questions and try to learn.

Offline cml001

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Re: Wiring servos directly to power source
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2016, 06:46:32 PM »
I suppose.. Just personally never seen it..
Clay
I can fly helicopters... Upside down!