Hey, folks. Has anybody seen these? Traxxas has come out with a supposedly waterproof servo. My initial experiments have been quite promising. It's got o-rings around every opening of the case, from the screws and bottom plate to the gearbox and output shaft. It functioned perfectly for a minute or so several inches underwater, and it also functioned perfectly for a minute or so several feet underwater. My final test, 8-9 feet (the deepest part of my local pond) was inconclusive, as my receiver's waterproofing failed and I flushed the entire system out with isopryl alcohol. Has anybody else seen these and tried them? Is anybody interested in them?
The trick is that they are only waterproof to 1 atmosphere. That means on top of the water, which of course means splash proof versus waterproof. HOWEVER, I'm impressed by all the gaskets they've got on it, and it would be an excellent base for a proper waterproof servo using conventional methods. We've been discussing this for a week or so on the Big Gun Yahoo forum. http://www.traxxas.com/scripimap:ts/trxnews/news.php?newsid=146 http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTKL4&P=FR http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTKL0&P=M Cheers Jeff
I use these Visit this site granted I still coat the electronics in skotchkote or epoxy, but I havent had a water related issue with one. A gear in one popped out of alignment once but that was a simple fix. Ive let them sit one the bottom in roughly 3-4 feet of water for 5-10 min at more than one battle and they work as solid as ever with no jitters after I get the boat back.
Sorry, I forgot to include the link but Jeff got it. The reason I asked on here is to find out if any of the Fast Gunners have already used it. Snipe, djranier, I am curious what sorts of waterproofing protection the Tower Hobbies low-profile aileron servo has. Is it just tight-tolerance manufacturing, or is there also some gaskets and o-ring?
When I took it apart to waterproof it, it had the same gaskets and o-rings that the Traxxas is showing. It is a Hitec servo, relabeled by tower hobbies. Rick at BC has the Hitec version of it, but spend about $5 more per servo.
That's very interesting. It mentions a combo metal/resin gearset. Which gears are metal, and which ones are resin? I can't wait to get back to the pond and give the traxxas servo a deep depth test. I'd chuck it in a pool, but the dissolved chlorine, sunscreen, and sweat in my local pool are REALLY bad for electronics.
Yep, that's the same type of gaskets and o-ring that the traxxas servo has. I wonder why they chose to make only one gear out of metal, and why THAT gear in particular? Anyway, apparently Traxxas doesn't just have a standard size servo. They also have: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHFN5&P=7 a sub-micro servo! It's probably not strong enough to use for cannon depression, but it is perfect for the rudder or firing servo of a destroyer or cruiser. I also noticed, while looking around, that both the hitec sail winch servo and the hitec sail arm servo are labeled as "water and dust tight" and have o-rings and gaskets. Has anyone given these a dunk test?
When they say that it is water proof to one atmosphere. it is good to 33 feet. every 33 feet the pressure from the water goes up one atmosphere.
"When they say that it is water proof to one atmosphere. it is good to 33 feet. every 33 feet the pressure from the water goes up one atmosphere." Sorry to disappoint, but not exactly. 33feet is 2 atmosphere. 1 atmosphere is *approx* on the water's surface depending on where you live. Traxxas only meant splashproof at 1 atmosphere, which is either at the water's surface, or above. They confirmed that in a message that was relayed on the Big Gun forum. The servo is a good base for further waterproofing though. Carl, For your question, typically in a mixed set of gears, you strategically put the strong gear where it's needed, and the weak gears in a strategic position to fail in a controlled and predictable manner. Not sure if this is what Traxxas did here, but it matches what occurs in other situations similar. Used to work on big mailing machines, and it'd tick me off that some !#@$ plastic gear was somewhere until I figured out what would happen to the machine if that plastic gear didn't shear during a bad event.
