What servo brand?

[KrisW]

Truth be told, the JR centering is superior right out of the box usually. .till the gears get sloppy, then the tighter geartrains on the HiTecs show their superiority, and the JR's will start to overshoot on return to center

Hitec Digitals hold a consistent 2-3ms center, which is less than 1/5 degree at 45 degrees of sweep each direction. JR's are tighter, at 1-2ms, but IMO this is one of the factors that leads to faster geartrain wear in the JR's.

When you can move an elevator TE up and down 1/4-3/8", what does it matter how tight the center was when the servos were first installed? HiTecs hold a pretty consistent 1/16" center position at the Trailing edge till the geartrain starts to get some wear on it, which usually takes 125-150 normal 15 minute flights. JR's are proven to get this much play after as little as 20-25 flights on them, and if they start to overshoot center you can actualy see the control surfaces flapping sometimes. This effect is more prevalent with heavier control surfaces, but I've had it happn on very light surfaces that were properly counterbalanced as well.

Which is why I swear by both the 5945 and 5955 HiTec digitals.

[JPrc]

Most people don't realise that hitec's come out of the box with the deadband programmed pretty loose at center. All it takes is a few seconds to reset the deadband to it's lowest value on the programmer and the centering is very tight.

Jonas

[adrian]

ah ha - programmability!!!!

[KrisW]

	Quote: Originally Posted by JPrc
	Most people don't realise that hitec's come out of the box with the deadband programmed pretty loose at center. All it takes is a few seconds to reset the deadband to it's lowest value on the programmer and the centering is very tight. Jonas

This is true . .usually they are set to 4-5 ms of deadband. Setting them at 1ms does make things tighten up a little bit, but even programmed for 1ms they are still a little less precise on Center when compared tot he JR offerings. Just the nature of the beast. I find the centering to be perfectly acceptable, and my planes don;t suddenly start wandering all over the sky because of a slightly less precise centering. Airflow self-centers most control surfaces anyway. .the servo fine tunes that condition under flight loads.

[Shawn Berkheimer]

[
Do metal gear servos develop slop over time?? Sure do!! Is it a fault of the manufacture?? NOPE!! Is it a user fault?? NOPE!!! What is it then?? It is a natural course.

I have to disagree with you on this one. When I took a look inside an 8611a I was amazed to find that the final output gear is aluminum and is being driven by a steel gear. IMO thats just poor engineering. Personally I think that 99% of the 8611's shortcomings is the poor selection of gear material. Once the gears start to go then the electronics get overworked and fail. I have installed 5955s into the stabs of my new CA 260 and can assure you that they have no centering issues. I flew the airplane in a contest over the weekend with only 6 flights on it. Second place in Advanced.

Shawn

[Freddy Warbird]

	Quote:
	I have installed 5955s into the stabs of my new CA 260 and can assure you that they have no centering issues.

This is good to hear. I agree. There is a spawn of metallurgy going on in the 8611's. I have also experienced the 8411's and the 8611A's tighten up after just a few deflections of a control surface after the power is removed. It is really noticable when using a longer arm like an air wild 1.5 . Scary! Can't wait to try out my new 55'S when they arrive. Oh, and by the way, nice Extra 260 Shawn!

[adrian]

guys i am a Hi TEC guy but i have lots of older 8411/8611 that gave me pretty good service and as i know so well the wheel always turns - but for now 5955 rules

[main_gears_bent]

Had a few JR's, no high end models, but JR's just the same, they are weaker than pretty much every other brand in the same price range. Had two JR digitals out of 5 that wouldnt center when new. Had some hitec 625's and 645's, older yes, but worked fine until i stripped the output shaft of the 645 with a dubro heavy duty long arm on the rudder of a 55" edge 540. Now I have 5955's throughout my 85" AW Yak (except throttle and choke - they are JR 811 sport digitals {to save a little nose weight}), IMO .40 through .60 size - airtronics, anything and everything bigger should be Hitec, you just get more quality for the money, but hey everyone has an opinion. (flying with a JR 9303 by the way, Just dont care for most of their servos)

[plane]

Guess you guys haven't seen this then:

http://www.servotestsite.com/page10.html

Just might make you rethink your thoughts on JR. Though the author is heavily biased toward Hitec he can't explain their rated capacity being so much higher than his tests could generate. He also did everything he could to destroy the JR 8611a's by seeing how long they could hold rated torque. I found the part about trying to pick up 18 3/4 lbs with the 8611 amusing in that the gear train failed. That test isn't even realistic.

[KrisW]

	Quote: Originally Posted by plane
	Guess you guys haven't seen this then: http://www.servotestsite.com/page10.html Just might make you rethink your thoughts on JR. Though the author is heavily biased toward Hitec he can't explain their rated capacity being so much higher than his tests could generate. He also did everything he could to destroy the JR 8611a's by seeing how long they could hold rated torque. I found the part about trying to pick up 18 3/4 lbs with the 8611 amusing in that the gear train failed. That test isn't even realistic.

Heh . .funny that you mention "bias". . .

No one has ever stated that the JR 8611 or 8611a's did not perform. They perform well. . for about 20-25 flights. Then it's time for new gears.

But, let's look at this LOGICALLY.

For all intents and purposes the JR 8611a and HiTec 5955 are pretty evenly matched when it comes to speed and torque. No one has really ever disputed this.

Where the HiTec offerings excel is. . programmability. . AND geartrain wear characteristics.

Then there is the cost factor, where you can pick up HiTec 5955's for $90-95 with ease from several different sources. I've never seen the 8611a's for less than $105.

So. .comparable performance, with the addition of programability, longer geartrain life, and less cost.

Look at it logically.

Ask yourself, and answer truthfuly. If you had two servos with no nameplates on them, that performed the same, but one was programmable and had titanium gears that lasted 300 flights versus 25-30 for the other servo. . Which one would you buy?? forget nameplates. Look at the servo's capabilities. That's all that matters.

[aviti]

I've had good luck with 8611's but I do feel the gear slop. I asked the JR rep if they planned on bringing out a titamium geared servo to improve this aspect and he said no. I just bought 5955's for my next 35% bird. It really seems the 5955's are converting a lot of loyal JR servo users.

[Freddy Warbird]

Stripped two more 8611A's today! This makes no sence. I got maybe 12 flights out of them. The Hitecs are back orederd. I am Super turned off by these 8611A's.

[Gus155]

Got some Hitecs recently, 5925s and 5625s, like them sofar.

[Prime_Time]

Im all Hitec from now on, I fly Futaba Transmitters tho.


Prime_Time

[PLANKBONE]

Blue-Bird Servos are the best, hands down! end of thread.