rcalbuquerque

My Feedback: (171)

I have the programmer whats the proper procedure?

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

I don't buy a turbine that has a "program" issue. I don't buy vehicles that have "program" issues. The only thing I'm willing to take on that has "program" issues, is my Fiance'. But I talked to the manufacturer's and they told me that she is sold as is.

I won't buy servos that have to be "programmed". Screw that. Apparetnly they aren't sending out recall notices, they're just allowing the airplanes to crash. Wonderful.

One of the people in this thread had a crash due to Hitec and when called Hitec was told "you should have bought a better servo". Not a better 'Hitec' servo. "a better servo".

Ya, that's cool, hitecs are the best, Yipee.

jetsetter

all you do to reprogram is "reset" the servo. that will install the latest version of the code. make sure your programmer has version 1.03 installed. when you power it up, it will show you "Hitec ver 1.03" on the LCD screen

jetsetter

forget your Prozac today, Sean???????

The ability to program Hitec servos is a positive thing. for one thing, you can do away with those JUNK matchboxes (that have been known to crash jets)

Alexdu

My Feedback: (3)

The only thing I'm willing to take on that has "program" issues, is my Fiance'. But I talked to the manufacturer's and they told me that she is sold as is.



JAJAJAJAJAJAJA

My fiance came with a 3 year guarantee, that is until she became my wife. "Manufacturer" immediately withdrew the guarantee.

Regards

Robert

rcalbuquerque

My Feedback: (171)

I agree Seanreit....and I believe you warned me before maybe a few months ago about these servos and now I have egg on my face.I hate it when I.m wrong and especially when it costs so much to learn a lesson.In the future I will pay more attention to advice given here.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Who needs a matchbox? JR makes reversed servo's.

I don't know of a jet out there that NEEDS a matchbox. Proper setup of the aircraft can bypass the use of a matchbox far more often than not.

Sean

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Listen, I've got hundreds of flights on Turbine Jets. When I walk out on the runway and light my jets up, and I'm feeling good, I'll burn upwards of 15 gallons of fuel a day and have flown up towards 20 flights in a day.

When I build a jet, the only thing I'm interested in is putting stuff in there that I can rest assured look at it and say to myself, IF THAT JET CRASHES, I WON'T BE SAYING TO MYSELF WHAT MORE COULD I HAVE DONE TO PREVENT IT.

I lost my first Isobar last Nov. Pipe failure. I didn't know a pipe could fail and I didn't know about replacing the pipe if it's purple. Ok, no problem, lesson learned. Now I inspect my pipes routinely.

If someone wants to get on here and claim that Hitec's are more reliable than JR, knock yourself out trying to prove that to me. I got 20 times more data that that's not true than you could ever prove.

I'm not saying there aren't HITEC jets out there performing flawlessly. Maybe there are. But you pull the sticks on my F-15 and let go. That sucker is rock solid holds the line. If I sneeze and pull full deflection and top speed on my jets. Nothing is going to happen. The airplanes I build are built to withstand full deflection on any control surface under any flight speed including top speed.

JR is the only servo I will trust for that kind of OOPS. You guys keep saving your precious $30.00. I used to be like that too. We'll be reading about your failures some more in the future. All the while shaking our heads. You can lead a horse to water.......

Sean

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

I have run a number of Hitec digitals going on 4 years now, and have not had any issues with them specifically. Like I have started times before, I have had JR, Futaba, Multiplex, Airtronics, Hitec and more brands of servos (some like the JR and Airtronics were their current top of the line at the time) fail on me.

I think many of the hitec digitals that do fail are not well used. I would not fly a new servo thats going into an expensive airframe, irregardless of the brand, untill Ihad a few hours of ground time on it, playing with the controls to make sure they are working well.

My faith in the Hitecs are as strong as with other brands. I dont believe they are a ticking time bomb, or they would be yanked out immediately. Far, far more guys using them successfully as I do, than the odd (relative to the number used total) failure.

Like I said before in another thread, I once had 2 of 5 brand new, contest grade heli AIrtronics servos fail within a few hours of use. I still use Airtronics servos, as it is silly to think any company will have a 0% failure rate IMO.

AJC

rcalbuquerque

My Feedback: (171)

Just off the phone with Hitec Service manager....asked if there were reported problems with 5945's .....he says no....I open the servo up while on the phone and remove gears one at a time with still no movement possible so he says must be the motor burned up and seized. servo motor smells burnt.This can be tough hobby to say the least!

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

Of course he is going to say that[:'(]

wojtek

My Feedback: (73)

I have had a total of 4 hitec digitals failing on me. 3 of these were on my MB339, on the flap ( i forget the model #, but its the mini high torque digitals.) everytime i had a failure, it was when the system was powered up, and i never have had a hitec servo lock up in flight ... I have checked all my hitec digitals, and dates all are after the issues were suposedly resolved, and all servos are running new code ... im going to keep flying Hitec where i have them already, but don't think i will be buying any new ones for a while .... Its a shame, because i think the hitecs have one of the tightest slop free gear trains out there ... Lately I have been using JR 8611, and 8411 servos, but thats at several $ more per servo over the hitecs ...., then a gain, in the long run is the plane that runs into the thousands where the real savings are if you can avoid a servo induced loss ...

Wojtek

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

I have read through this whole post and have only been reading about how BAD hitecs are and the problems they have. What about the servo that JR turned out that was causing helicopter crashes because they could not be used with a gyro. How about the 3421's (?) that were originally recommended for the bobcat rudders, I called JR myself after having a problem with my gyro not centering and was told it was the gyro. Well sometime later come to find out, that servo had a problem with Gryros and 6 volts systems. I lost my last bobcat to a piece of crap JR servo that stripped the gear train in flight on the elevator. I had 8411's in that same bobcat and after about 15-20 flights they were showing slop already. I put the 5945's in my hotspot and have not had one problem with them yet in over 100 flights. When I pull a digital hitec out the box the first thing I do is reset it and the software in the servo to the 1.3 version if if the box says it is the latest version, just my own paranoia.


Hitecs are being used by more and more people everyday and not just for jets. For some unknown reason just because we fly jets, we think we are the top of the food chain when it comes to our setups. Well gents I hate to say it ain't so. Go to a giant scale rally sometime and take a look at their setups. some of these guys are flying 4 and 5 servos on their rudders and if you think that you can pull 4 JR servos out of their boxes and have them matched you are seriously kidding yourself. When it comes to setting up an airplane I will take advice from a giant scale guy well before a jet guy because when you have 4 servos on a rudder, 1 or 2 per elevator, and 3 or 4 per aileron you have to know your S%&T to make sure you have everything running smooth. The guys who really fly the hard 3d stuff put their servos through more in a few flights than most jet pilots do in a season and alot of them use hitec servos on their planes. Not because they are cheap but they are programmable and you can dial in the center, the left and righ throws and even adjust the deadband and speed. So can a matchbox do all of that? NO.

Sean, you said you never needed to program a servo, but alot of us do have that need and I prefer the total adjustability of the hitec over a matchbox any day of the week.

Also, it does not matter what manufacturer you call, he/she or a representative is not going to openly admit their is a problem with their product until the product becomes so wide spread that they have to issue a recall, a replacement, or a solution to the problem. JR, Futaba, or Hitec none of them will do it. To this day JR still says their is nothing wrong with their 460T gyro but look at how many guys ditched them and went with the futaba gyro.

Patrick.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Patrick, I wish you and whoever else continued success with Hitec!

Would never wish for something bad to happen to anyone's jet.

You've got your opinion and data, and I've got mine.

I can agree to disagree with anyone and still drink beer and eat mudbugs.

Sean

Doug Cronkhite

My Feedback: (34)

That's incorrect. They make a few components for the DS168 low-profile glider wing servo.

lov2flyrc

My Feedback: (24)

Well.....
DATA is what backs things up here so....Let me throw mine out there. In my 20+ years of RC

I own/ed approx 54 JR servos..... Failure rate ZERO
I own/ed approx 120 Futaba servos ..... Failure rate ONES148, bad pot...wouldn't center
I own/ed approx 20 Hitec Sevos ......Failure rate THREE one DOA, one full deflection failure, one fried motor
Never owned airtronics.....
Airplanes lost to any type of radio system failure = ONE... Hitec Servo

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

Well I have been flying now for 19 years and this is my data

I don't have numbers of servos that I have owned but
Lots of futaba.....no failures
Lots of JR..........two failures
Lots of Hitec......one failure (pilot induced)
Owned two airtronics.....no failures
Airplanes lost to servo failure....two! Both JR..one in a bobcat and the other in a 25% edge 540.

This proves nothing more than I lost two airplanes to two bad servos.

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

I have been, as of this year, into RC for 20 years as well (started in 1984 with a Kraft 3 channel).

Here is my data:

I have not been able to count servos, as I have bought way too many through the years but here is what I have lost:

-60 size heli due to Airtronics servo failure
-27% gas aerobatic plane due to Airtronics servo failure
-60 size heli due to JR servo failure
-smaller glow powered plane due to Hitec servo failure

Everything else was caught before it failed in flight, sometimes you can feel the servo not working properly (which is why I routinely try and hold back the arms on my large planes, and jets - usually the servo gets weak IME before it is going to die)

I have two large scale (22 pound and close to 30 pound) aerobatic planes flyign with Hitec digitals, one since they first came available here about 4 years ago. My two jets use them as well.

Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions, and thats fine. But some of us have been using them with good results and to me thats just as important to say as hearing about the guys who have had issues.

Of a batch of 4 JR super servos (4000's) I had two go on me within a year. I still use and trust JR servos. Maybe I am naive, but I still believe that a failure, even causing a large loss finacially, will not make me jump to another brand because they will have a failure too, its just a matter of time... I feel equally as safe with all major brands.

Not one company has 100% failure free components, not one! In my opinion, having one or even two bad Hitec servos does not make them ALL junk. It just makes you the unlucky recipient of the small percentage of defective servos that got out.

Does every JR digital servo come with a guarantee that it is 100% without fault, and if you do happen to get a dud they will replace your airframe/engine because of it? I didnt think so... They will have failures in a small percentage of them too, but I doubt severly that many here will stop using JR servos even if you got one and it caused a crash/loss of a model.

SJN

Only lost one plane the 9 years I have been flying due to servo failure with a JR servo.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

All that being said, we had a pilot induced loss of a jet here in Austin a few weeks ago. Just pure dumb thumbs. Sent the radio system back to Horizon. I can't divulge exatly what was said over the phone, cause I wasn't part of the conversation. But the term "still under warranty was used.

How in the world a company can say that in this situation can only be a testament to how good their products really are.

I've never seen anything less than 100% customer satisfaction out of these people. As I understand it last summer 8411's an entire batch had been refused by Horizon as not being "Up to Snuff". Does anyone else remember this shortage?

Hitec appears to just "ship it out" and then let some people know that their is a "software update"? WHAT???

I just lost my $$$ investment in an RC Turbine Jet toy over a "software update", a "programming issue"?? What, no replacement servo's? What?? I should have used a "better" servo??? What's a better servo than a 5945???

My response is an 8611, then again, I don't play around with big complicated aerobatic multiservo elevator flipidee doodah's. Nor do I post anything about them in the jets forum as I don't really care for those type aircraft. If they are having success with them, yippee. If you are, yippee. This dude lost his airplane due to one for whatever reason.

Egg on your face? I don't consider it that at all. I flew 5645's in my Isobar and made a big schpeel about how good these servos were rated to people who told me to fly 8411's. So I'm flying my isobar about 16 flights or so on them. Then one day they let me fly the other isobar with 8411's in the ailerons. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

I went home and changed the servos out to 8411's right then and there. I had egg on my face. Lesson learned.

I wish I had copied everything that the guys were doing that had 500 turbine flights when I started.

Could have saved me lots of $$ and frustration. Instead, I learned things the hard way.

Now with one exception I copy all of the guys that have hundreds and hundreds of flights on their turbine jets.

The exception is that I don't fly BVM's stuff. But that's for another thread Some other time.............

jetpilot

My Feedback: (48)

One thing that came to mind is if you have multiple servos on one surface, would one of them going bad cause a crash? Probably not. Having multiple servos on one flying surface lightens the load of each servo so that they arent working as hard correct? I dont think this would be a good analogy to compare to.
Scott

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

Sean,
If you believe that horizon believes in 100% customer satisfaction then you must have gottent he guy who was having a good day. I brought a set of their servos that could not be used with a gyro, within a month of buying them they say they can't be used. I call them and ask if they will replace them as they have only been mounted and not flown. Their response in so many words, sorry about your luck or the time they lose a g450 gyro and replace it with a piece of crap 460T. Now that is great customer service.

I also listen to the guys who have hundreds of flights. On everything from trainers to jets. When you can judge the overall perfomance of a product in all applications is when you will really see how good it is. You you don't like the big gassers but you know those guys routinely abuse their servos and that is what tells me what lasts. Those guys are constantly rebuilding servos or sending them back to the factory to have them rebuilt the question is which servos seem to last longer than others. You just go buy a small percentage of what is out there and that is what alot of people are basing their decisions off of. I am pretty sure if we had every guy chime into this particular forum who has ever had a servo failure other than hitec you would see the number of posts grow exponentially.

This guy lost an airplane due to a hitec servo, I feel bad for his loss. Todd, lost an airplane due to a hitec servo, I feel bad for his loss. I have lost 2 airplanes to JR failures, I feel really bad for my loss. Does that mean all JR stuff is crap, nope. Does it mean I will never fly a JR servo again, nope. Does it mean I will be a little more cautious when checking my airplanes, yep.



Patrick.

Nick Yuhasz

My Feedback: (11)

I've used HS-5945's on my Giant Scale aerobatic planes and on my EuroSport with no problems. With both types of planes, those servos go through some intense strain (especially if you've seen me fly!)

I did witness Gary Szetlak's HS-5945 problems as I was spotting for him both times.

Not sure what the answer is here ...

Nick

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Then I guess we should all just keep on doing what we're doing Patrick. If I ever lose a jet to a JR servo, I would quit the hobby.

Too much money to lose over something that should be absolutely bulletproof.

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

I think many of these servos (all brands) could use some more stress screening (or burn in as it is sometimes called)

In aerospace, proper burn in procedures are the key. Most failures of this type of component happen pretty early in their lives. If you could figure out the right kind of load, temperature and vibration to burn in a servo, I think someone could sell rescreened servos at a decent markup (hitec especially due to their lower initial cost)