melting servo

[woodworkermd]

I am new, haven't flown yet. I have a tiny trainer. radiomaster ER8 reciever, 25 amp ESC. Radiomaster pocket transmitter. 850 mAh 11.1v battery.
I hooked it all up and the rudder, tail and motor all respond but the aileron servos immediately got hot, started smoking and no longer work. I had the aileron hooked up to channel 1. I tried a second servo which was not attached to the plane and it also melted. Any idea why?

 

[Foamforce]

I am new, haven't flown yet. I have a tiny trainer. radiomaster ER8 reciever, 25 amp ESC. Radiomaster pocket transmitter. 850 mAh 11.1v battery.
I hooked it all up and the rudder, tail and motor all respond but the aileron servos immediately got hot, started smoking and no longer work. I had the aileron hooked up to channel 1. I tried a second servo which was not attached to the plane and it also melted. Any idea why?

I’m guessing you plugged your battery directly onto your receiver. That would serve 11.1v into the servo and fry it. The battery should only be connected to the ESC, and only use signal cable from the ESC should be connected to the receiver.

If you could take a photo of your connections, we could tell you for sure. Obviously don’t hook up the battery again, but show how it was plugged in but holding it next to the port in the picture.

 

[Mr Man]

I’m guessing you plugged your battery directly onto your receiver. That would serve 11.1v into the servo and fry it. The battery should only be connected to the ESC, and only use signal cable from the ESC should be connected to the receiver.

If you could take a photo of your connections, we could tell you for sure. Obviously don’t hook up the battery again, but show how it was plugged in but holding it next to the port in the picture.

Yup, do that.

 

[woodworkermd]

I am new, haven't flown yet. I have a tiny trainer. radiomaster ER8 reciever, 25 amp ESC. Radiomaster pocket transmitter. 850 mAh 11.1v battery.
I hooked it all up and the rudder, tail and motor all respond but the aileron servos immediately got hot, started smoking and no longer work. I had the aileron hooked up to channel 1. I tried a second servo which was not attached to the plane and it also melted. Any idea why?

thanks, see photos

 

[Mr NCT]

thanks, see photos

The wire circled in red does not get plugged in. It supplies full battery voltage for accessories like lights. The receiver and servos gets their 5vdc from the wire with the blue arrow. Easy mistake.

 

[Mr Man]

thanks, see photos

My first reaction,👀👁️👁️😟.

 

[Mr Man]

You nearly risked saying bye bye to your receiver.

 

[Mr Man]

View attachment 247337
The wire circled in red does not get plugged in. It supplies full battery voltage for accessories like lights. The receiver and servos gets their 5vdc from the wire with the blue arrow. Easy mistake.

Yep!👍

 

[woodworkermd]

Oh dear. I saw “batt” on the receiver and thought that is how it got power. My bad. Thanks!

 

[Mr NCT]

Oh dear. I saw “batt” on the receiver and thought that is how it got power. My bad. Thanks!

LOL, I did the same thing my first time. The only thing that saved me was the battery was only a two cell.

 

[Merv]

... I saw “batt” on the receiver and thought that is how it got power....

FYI. The bat port on the rx is used on a glow fuel setup. Where a separate battery supply's power to the rx & servos. In electric planes, we use ESC's with BEC's, battery elimination circuit, which converts the voltage of the flight battery to the 5v used by the rx & servos. The wire with the servo plug is all that is needed.

On a rx, all of the positive pins are connected to each other. And all of the negative pins are connected to each other. Only the signal pins are separate. Power can be supplied to any channel.

 

[woodworkermd]

Are there circuit diagrams somewhere for the electronics? I am amazed how complex the connections and programming the transmitter has been but not much to go on other than YouTube videos. It is nice to have a community to call on. I am appreciative of your expertise and willingness to share your knowledge.

 

[Mr Man]

Are there circuit diagrams somewhere for the electronics? I am amazed how complex the connections and programming the transmitter has been but not much to go on other than YouTube videos. It is nice to have a community to call on. I am appreciative of your expertise and willingness to share your knowledge.

Go to sticks mode on your transmitter (first go to settings, not the one with the wrench, the other one) and plug in servos accordingly.
forget about this unless you have a flysky 10ch

 

[LitterBug]

The ER8 is a HV radio, so Technically what you did is right, BUT, you still must stay within the voltage limitations of the radio and servos. There are HV (High Voltage) servos too, but most of these HV devices are limited to 2S batteries at 8.4V max. This is very common for gliders/gas that don't have a motor with an ESC/BEC. If you have an ESC, the BEC wire should not be plugged in if the battery is plugged in.

The ER8 also has a port labeled EXT-V on it for voltage monitoring/telemetry.

LB

 

[Mr Man]

Go to sticks mode on your transmitter (first go to settings, not the one with the wrench, the other one) and plug in servos accordingly.

Oh man, I didn't look at your receiver close enough. I was thinking about flysky.🤦‍♂️

 

[Piotrsko]

If your running more than a 2 cell lipo on a glider something is very wrong, or it isn't a glider.

 

[LitterBug]

If your running more than a 2 cell lipo on a glider something is very wrong, or it isn't a glider.

Or you are running old school NiCad / NiMh

 

[Mr Man]

Or you are running old school NiCad / NiMh

Or a crystal receiver.

 

[Piotrsko]

Ummm, you dissing my radio equipment which is probably older than your dad?

3 lipos would cook all the insides of even that stuff, but with much better stinky smoke making.
2lipos isn't enough voltage to make it work

 

[Mr Man]

Ummm, you dissing my radio equipment which is probably older than your dad?

3 lipos would cook all the insides of even that stuff, but with much better stinky smoke making.
2lipos isn't enough voltage to make it work

No I'm not! I've actually got some crystals, even an entire receiver. (granted I'm never gonna use em, don't even have a radio.)