New HD Power Servos from TBM Review

[~SnApRoLl]

Troy Built Models is offering high speed/torque digital servos at a very affordable price. So I decided to be the first on the block to try them out and give a full report on them. If they test well I will be using them in a 2.3m Composite-Arf Extra 330L. BUT they will be thoroughly flight tested in some cheap coroplast 3D planes before they go into my Compy!!!!!
So here it goes!
The servo's are made by a new company called Huida RC International in China http://www.chd.hk/ and are sold through TBM. http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/ServosHD.htm The servo's I purchased are the HD-9150 Digital servo and they are rated at 220oz. torque and .15 transit speed at 6v.
and sell for $49.95 and when the guys at TBM matched hobbycity.com's price of $33.80 ea. I figured they would be worth a try.
I rec'd my Power HD servos from TBM today and case wise they are almost identical to the Futaba S3001. I removed the top of one of the servos and found that the servo uses ball bearings and the gears are metal through out and seem to be pretty stout. (no plastic gears like some of the other metal gear servos out there) The mounting hardware and plastic servos arms are almost exact copies as Futaba. The only difference is they used what looks to be a HD universal JR type gold servo lead and connector, a pretty nice touch. The one odd thing I found is that the servo arm screw didn't come with a lock washer like Hi-Tec,JR and Futaba. But this is ok as I will be using double locking aluminum servo arms and Loctite on the servo arm screw.
I took a couple pictures but the quality isn't the greatest as my good digital camera needs to be charged. I will post better pictures soon. I will be using the standard servo arms for initial testing as my 1.5" aluminum arms didn't make in with my order as TBM's inventory was wrong at the time I placed the order but TBM e-mailed me and told me they shipped the arms out today and that I should have them by Monday. I will be using a 6v 1700 Mah NiCd for testing and I will be switching over to A123's here in the near future. I plugged them into my rx just to make sure they all worked and I gotta tell ya, they are nice and smooth and seem to return to center with no indication of searching for center, no sign of heat, and no sign of locking up at max travel in both directions. So far so good. I will post some video of the servos in action tomorrow. I know some of you that will read this may get skeptical, but if these servos do well in my test flights in coming weeks, we may have a great affordable powerful digital servo on our hands. After all whats wrong with a good product at a cheap price????
Stay Tuned for more test results!!!!!!!!!!!!


Shawn

[Edge 540]

Hummm interesting. On cheap chinese micro servos my biggest complaints have been centering consistently and range of throw. Havent gambled with anything larger. It sounds like they are centering well, did you specifically measure the throw?
Keep us posted.

[adrian]

keep us posted - interesting!!

[Bruce]

[quote=~SnApRoLl;After all whats wrong with a good product at a cheap price????
Stay Tuned for more test results!!!!!!!!!!!!


Shawn[/quote]

What's wrong is that they probably stole the design and hence have no engineering expense and less manufacturing startup cost to absorb......

[adrian]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Bruce
	What's wrong is that they probably stole the design and hence have no engineering expense and less manufacturing startup cost to absorb......

OR!!!!!! maybe the brand boys have been making the current servos in the same factory and have just been ripping us off - no???

[~SnApRoLl]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Bruce
	What's wrong is that they probably stole the design and hence have no engineering expense and less manufacturing startup cost to absorb......

Bruce,
I started this thread to test a new product on the market, And DO NOT want to start any kind of brand war or to imply anything about one manufacturer stealing a design from another. I'm sure the company that made these servos did not steal the design they merely based their design on a proven design and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!!! Look at all the plane manufacturers that build Extra's, are you going to say that they stole the design from someone else because it resembles another Extra?
All I am trying to say here is that there is nothing wrong a good quality product based on something proven that is half the price especially with todays economy!!!!!!! It's good healthy industry competition.
I hope I have made my point.
Shawn

[Bruce]

Your have made your point - price is at the top of
your priority list and that is fine. But really, your Extra analogy
isn't even close.

Enjoy

[adrian]

well to conclude - I am a TBM man and if they bring something to the hobby its has always been good!! fact

i will give some a try!!

[bryan01601]

	Quote: Originally Posted by adrian
	well to conclude - I am a TBM man and if they bring something to the hobby its has always been good!! fact i will give some a try!!

And all this time I thought Adrian was a Breast man ?

[~SnApRoLl]

I will be posting some video of the servos in a static test on Sunday night.

Shawn

[~SnApRoLl]

	Quote: Originally Posted by adrian
	well to conclude - I am a TBM man and if they bring something to the hobby its has always been good!! fact i will give some a try!!

So far they seem like decent quality servos. I will be putting them in a test plane with insanely huge control surfaces and put them through their paces in the next couple weeks.
Shawn

[adrian]

	Quote: Originally Posted by bryan01601
	And all this time I thought Adrian was a Breast man ?

really???

bro I am an all woman man!!! but we are talking servos here - -lol

[~SnApRoLl]

Okay, I grabbed my trusty caliper and took some comparison measurements from both the new HD-servos and a Futaba S3152 digital as it is the only Futaba servo I have available at the moment.

HD-Power 9150

Height from the bottom of the case to the top of the servo gear is 1.841" or 46.78mm
Height from the bottom to the top of the case is 1.653" or 42.06mm
Width from mounting tab to mounting tab is 2.189" or 55.57mm
Width of the case itself is 1.596" or 40.46mm

Futaba S3152

Height from the bottom of the case to the top of the servo gear is 1.727" or 46.48mm
Height from the bottom to the top of the case is 1.495" or 37.92mm
Width from mounting tab to mounting tab is 2.183" or 55.34mm
Width of the case itself is 1.568" or 39.71mm

As you can see the HD Servos are a little big for a standard servo and would not be a drop in replacement without slight modification. So far 1 negative.


Shawn

[~SnApRoLl]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Edge 540
	Hummm interesting. On cheap chinese micro servos my biggest complaints have been centering consistently and range of throw. Havent gambled with anything larger. It sounds like they are centering well, did you specifically measure the throw? Keep us posted.

I will measure the throw and post tomorrow night.

Shawn

[zoomer260]

Getter done ! I need cheap that works to restart myself in the hobby. I remember when Hitec was the cheap servo nobody trusted.