Common RC Servo Issues and What to Do
Common RC Servo Issues and What to Do
Inevitably, your RC device will have a servos issue. Servos issues may sound complicated for your remote control (RC) car, but there are some very common servo issues. Your RC device needs to have a reciprocal and beneficial relationship with the servomechanism (servo).
Your RC device can’t have a reciprocal and beneficial relationship with the servo if the remote control car can’t convert radio signals into movement. What good does it do to have an excellent and innovative scale-model RC device if you don’t have a responsive servo like Futaba servos, RC servos? When you read on, you’ll find a quick troubleshooting guide for your RC device as well as some of the best servos on the market.
These servos help prevent RC issues that take the life and excitement out of your hobby.
The Most Common RC Issues
Almost everyone can give you advice on how to fix your RC device issues, but when things go wrong, you don’t want to wait and try everyone’s advice. You need a quick troubleshooting guide to help steer you in the right direction. There are some very common RC car issues with some very common ways you can fix them too.
Many RC car issues are a lot more straightforward than they appear and easy enough to fix with quality products and parts used in RC racing.
#1 – Servos Diagnosis
Before you start buying replacements for what you think may be wrong with your RC car, go over some quick determination questions which need to be answered. That way you can better determine what you need to do next. If your servo stopped working, there might be direct damage.
Some of the time, direct damage includes, but is not limited to, gear damage or a burned up servo motor. To make a quick diagnosis, plug in a second servo and confirm your receiver battery pack still has power going to the servo. Sometimes its something that’s malfunctioning in the power system connected to the receiver.
When you have a high power servo, your BEC or receiver battery can overload which causes the servo to quit working. But that doesn’t mean the servo is bad. It just means it’s overloaded and kicking off.
When you have an overloaded servo kicking off, its the result of voltage depletion in the ESC’s internal BEC.
#2 – The Motor or the ESC
If your RC motor quits, the first thing you want to find out is if it is really the motor that quit or maybe it was the ESC. You can test this broken device issue quite easily by installing a second motor and doing a bench test. The bench test consists of setting aside a designated block of time and running some basic loads to confirm it has fixed the problem.
You can do the same bench test during a designated block of time with a second ESC to confirm if it has fixed the problem.
#3 – Futaba Servos, RC Servos
The hero of every RC car hobbyist is the hobby shops. You can find testing devices, spare motors, ESC’s, servos, and any other RC part you need to help you do your troubleshooting at a hobby shop. Once you complete your troubleshooting, the hobby shop will assist you in finding the correct replacement you need for your RC car to be able to race again.
There are hobby shops that offer high-quality race cars, any accessory you need for it as well as Futaba Servos, RC servos car parts. When you can find a hobby shop that offers you servos variety as well as torque gears, kits, and more, you want to start there first. Begin building a relationship with a hobby shop that will have you covered if you ever need help with your RC car.
#4 – Is the Radio System Broke and What Do I Do to Find Out?
There are times it may seem like your RC car went through an atomic blast because all the electronics systems are dead. Having everything dead in your RC car means it may be difficult to find out what’s wrong. A lot of the time, the non-responsive RC device is due to the radio system wiring.
You need to really examine your wires as they run to the ESC or RX system. How important the wires are cannot be overstated. The wires are where your RX and servo get their power. When it goes bad, nothing works on your RC device.
#5 – Bad Receiver
The receiver contains parts that have the most sophisticated connections in the entire RC car. One channel of the receiver can die, and that can affect the steering, throttle or other parts that refuse to operate. You’ll have to get a second receiver and, if possible, get another radio system to test the receiver.
You can plug your throttle and steering into another car’s RX and do your bench testing at that time.
#6 – Is it Broken and Have I Checked the On/Off Switch?
If you’ve gone through everything or if you haven’t started testing anything yet, you always want still want to check your on/off switch. You want to make double-sure your RC car is switched on, the controller is on, you have fresh batteries, and if your antenna is extended, etc. Sometimes it’s the on/off switch itself that’s gone bad.
You can easily test your switch by hot wiring your RC car to see if it starts up. You can easily connect the switch leads to an always-on format. It may seem like a no-brainer to you, but many people get so caught up in the details they forget to look at the obvious.
When You Need the Best Servos – Get the Best
The troubleshooting guide above is to give you a taste of the most common RC servos issues. What’s more, you need to use replacement servos that are some of the best ones on the market. The Futaba servos, RC servos can service your RC cars well.
Every RC car deals with unknowns when it’s in action, but by having quality parts from a reliable hobby store, you’ve taken the first step in establishing a relationship that will enhance your RC car hobby. Who doesn’t want to dictate the speed, quality, and endurance in their RC car? Reach out to us and let’s find out how we can best meet all three of those objectives for your RC car.