Super Trouble, DX6, (2) Hitec 5955TG

[Nova's Ark]

I need some help with my Pimp Cane Clod Super. I have already burned up one NEW Hitec 5955 TG servo:-(.

Here is the specs on the rig:

- DX6 transmitter
- AR6000 receiver (NEW)
- (2) Mamba Max ESC's (small red wire removed & shrink wrapped on both, both programmed for brushed, etc.) (NEW)
- (2) Integy 65 Turn motors (NEW)
- (2) Hitec 5955 TG servos (NEW)
- (1) CC BEC set to 6.4 volts (which has not been a problem in any of the other 5 crawlers I have) (NEW)
- 3S Max Amps 3000Mah Lipo

As for programming,
Throttle = Front ESC
Rudder = Front Servo
Aileron = Rear ESC
Elevator = Rear Servo

Mix A Throttle & Aileron
Mix B Rudder & Elevator

EPA's are set correctly. The BTA steering front and rear is smooth and bind free.

Thursday night I bench tested everything with no wheels and it worked great. I installed the wheels, set it down on the floor, the front servo turned left, turned right, then it glitched, locked up and in 10 seconds the front servo caught fire!

Today I received shipment from RCP for an order of parts for another crawler I am planning to build. In that order was a new Hitec 5955 TG servo. So I tried it again tonight and the same thing happened. It worked normal for 10 seconds or so, then glitched and the servo got hot. Only I unplugged the battery before anything could thermal.

I don't know what to do. Another member on TXRCRCA is having the same problem with his Super and it's the same set up. I am planning to call Spektrum and Hitec Monday. I was hoping someone could give me some input or suggestions before hand. The only thing I can figure is that maybe the receiver is losing bind and the fail safe is coming on causing the servo to bind and burn up(?).

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.

[Rckcrwlr]

First thing that comes to mind is the EPAs. Invest in the Hitec Programmer. You can set the EPAs and Deadband width to minimze the servo over working.

That is the only issue I have found with them.

Clear that up and you should not have an issue.

Ship those one's back and Hitec will take care of you...

John

[EvilTwin v2]

Rckcrwlr usually knows what he's talking about, so I'd take his advice on EPA's.

You should probably also figure out your glitching / bind problems. How close are your electronics to each other? What is powering your receiver? ESC or BEC?

My suggestion is to put the small red wire back in one of the ESC's so that it powers the receiver instead of the BEC. Next, pull the red wire from each servo plug (at the recevier end), and wire them directly to the BEC. With this setup, one of your ESC's is powering the receiver, which isn't a great current draw, and shouldn't affect performance at all. The BEC is only powering the 2 servos, and the load from the servos is no longer through the receiver. We were having trouble with a buddy's truck occasionally stopping for a second or two, then going again. From what I was told, when you overload the newer Spectrum receivers they act exactly as though they've lost bind.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by Rckcrwlr

First thing that comes to mind is the EPAs. Invest in the Hitec Programmer. You can set the EPAs and Deadband width to minimze the servo over working.

That is the only issue I have found with them.

Clear that up and you should not have an issue.

Ship those one's back and Hitec will take care of you...

John

The EPA's are set correctly for both the front and rear servo. There is no binding in the linkage as well. I have been considering the Hitec programmer and it sounds like I will have to buy one now.

- Is setting the EPA better to do with the programmer or with the DX6?

- As for increasing the dead band, why would that help? By increasing the dead band, it would theoretically find center easier making the servo work less - is that the correct thinking?

- Thank you for your help and input

Originally Posted by EvilTwin v2

Rckcrwlr usually knows what he's talking about, so I'd take his advice on EPA's.

You should probably also figure out your glitching / bind problems. How close are your electronics to each other? What is powering your receiver? ESC or BEC?

- I have the EPA's set correctly and I have talked with Rckcrwlr before and I agree with you, he knows his stuff.

- Currently the CC BEC is powering everything.

- I don't get the glitch either. I have never had an issue before with the DX6 and any of the other crawlers I own. I have not permanently set the wiring, but everything has plenty of room. I am using a 17 inch wheel base pimp cane. One servo in front, One servo in rear, one ESC in front and one ESC in rear. The AR6000 is the middle of the chassis away from everything. The wiring is routed cleanly and I am patient and meticulous in my builds. I am only experiencing this quick glitch with both Hitec 5955 TG servos installed.

When the first servo burned up, I plugged in a coreless digital KO Propo servo for more bench testing. I also swapped in a different AR6000 receiver. It worked fine on the bench. I even drove the Super for a few minutes with only the rear servo working and no glitch.

But last night, when I installed the second new Hitec 5955 TG servo, it worked fine for 10 seconds, then one single glitch and the servo plugged into the Elevator started getting hot and was uncontrollable (which is what happened before). It's always the servo plugged into the Elevator port on the RX. The servo can by lying on the bench or installed in the crawler, it makes no difference but it only happens when two Hitec 5955 TG's are installed.

Originally Posted by EvilTwin v2

My suggestion is to put the small red wire back in one of the ESC's so that it powers the receiver instead of the BEC. Next, pull the red wire from each servo plug (at the recevier end), and wire them directly to the BEC. With this setup, one of your ESC's is powering the receiver, which isn't a great current draw, and shouldn't affect performance at all. The BEC is only powering the 2 servos, and the load from the servos is no longer through the receiver. We were having trouble with a buddy's truck occasionally stopping for a second or two, then going again. From what I was told, when you overload the newer Spectrum receivers they act exactly as though they've lost bind.

- Currently the CC BEC is powering everything.

- As for the wiring you suggested, I had been considering that. I was hoping to change to that later after I had some time crawling the rig. I had wired up a friends Super the way mine is now and it worked fine. So I figured I would start with the simple wiring first and then change to the modified wiring later.

- What you say about an overloaded Spektrum receiver makes sense though. The funny thing is, I have 5 other crawlers using AR6000 receivers with Mamba Max's, CC BEC's set to either 6.2 or 6.4 and have no issues. However none of them have dual ESC's or dual Hitec 5955TG's. Most have one Hitec 5955 TG (steering servo), Hitec 645MG (dig servo)and one Mamba Max & CC BEC.

- Maybe the dual Hitec 5955 TG servos are too much draw causing the Spektrum receiver to overload and sends out a signal that binds the Elevator servo causing it to heat up?

Thank you for your help and suggestion as well.

[666]

I run the same setup, only I have the BECs from the MM powering the reciever. And I have the red wires from the servos pulled out and hooked directly to the CC BEC power wire.

I know Stick King had similar problems to yours, I watched his 5955 smoke for no reason at ECC on flat ground. As far as I know he changed the wiring and has not had issues.

Can you hook a voltmeter to the BEC and confirm it's output?

[EvilTwin v2]

Originally Posted by 666

I run the same setup, only I have the BECs from the MM powering the reciever. And I have the red wires from the servos pulled out and hooked directly to the CC BEC power wire.

I know Stick King had similar problems to yours, I watched his 5955 smoke for no reason at ECC on flat ground. As far as I know he changed the wiring and has not had issues.

Can you hook a voltmeter to the BEC and confirm it's output?

Stick King was the one who suggestd the wiring arrangement to me. We weren't having problems with our super w/ 2 5955's, but instead with a 2.2 with the DX3R (whatever rx comes with it) and a 5645. With a 3s Lipo, under load, the whole thing would shut down, as if it lost bind, then a second or two later, everything would be fine.

[666]

Yes, Spektrums shut down using digital Hitec servos with high power batteries and do wierd things, I found this out long ago, and that is my fix-get the servo power drain away from the reciever.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by 666

I run the same setup, only I have the BECs from the MM powering the receiver. And I have the red wires from the servos pulled out and hooked directly to the CC BEC power wire.

I know Stick King had similar problems to yours, I watched his 5955 smoke for no reason at ECC on flat ground. As far as I know he changed the wiring and has not had issues.

Can you hook a voltmeter to the BEC and confirm it's output?

You da man Patrick

I will change out the wiring for sure You can't imagine how frustrated and upset I was to watch the new Hitec 5955 TG go up in smoke on flat ground with no load. Especially after days of staying up until 2AM trying to get it finished:-(.

I just checked the CC BEC with my voltmeter and it is 6.27 (it was set to 6.4 on the computer). I never had an issue before with CC BEC, so I always just programmed it on my computer assuming what I programmed it to was actually what it was putting out. I guess I will be double checking that from now on.

Thank you for your help, info and suggestions Patrick

[Nova's Ark]

666, do both the positive and negative wires need to go to the CC BEC or just the positive?

I am going to use a y harness for the positive power wire from the servos to the CC BEC. That way everything is plug and play with no cutting, splicing or soldering. I can then leave the signal wire in the factory harness and the negative wire (assuming it doesn't need to be connected to the CC BEC).

[666]

Ok, not sure if I follow your question.... But mine is hooked to the battery, then from the output I have a female plug that only the red wire is connected to the red wires of my servos. The signal and ground do nothing.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by 666

Ok, not sure if I follow your question.... But mine is hooked to the battery, then from the output I have a female plug that only the red wire is connected to the red wires of my servos. The signal and ground do nothing.

Perfect, I understand. The small red wire from the BEC that would go into the receiver will now connect to the small red wire from the two Hitec 5955 TG servos. The Hitec signal wire (yellow) and negative wire (black) will plug into the Spektrum receiver like normal.

The (small) negative wire from the CC BEC is not used as well as the signal wire (and can be left in the harness since nothing will connect to them). So the servos complete the power circuit and get their ground through the receiver. Simple. Thank you yet again

[666]

Glad it makes sense. Eviltwin said the same thing I think.

[Nova's Ark]

OK, I set out to hook this up cleanly. I was unable able to find male to male ended Y Harness. So I made my own.

On the left is the Hitec 5955 TG wiring harness with red wire separated. On the right is a Spektrum bind plug. I used the female bind plug end to attach to the Hitec wire.


On the left is charging harness I never used and the right is a Losi LST2 y harness for the dual steering servos.


Here they are combined / soldered together so you have a single male end to plug into the CC BEC and the dual male ends for the dual Hitec 5955 TG servos.



So even though I did this, I hooked everything up and instantly smoked the Hitec servo. I don't know what it is up. I thought I had it wired correctly. The ESC's work fine, but with two NEW servos burned up, my super will be on hold until I get a definite answer. What a waste.

[jfraymond]

I'm the one he mentioned was having troubles with this set up also.

I just pulled the red wire from the CCbec, and each servo and twisted them together.

evertything else is exactly as it was with all the other plugs in their proper places in the RX.

I manage to get about 7minutes of good run before the front gets too hot and loses power now, it was more like a few minutes. while this should be enough to get me through the next comp I still need a long term fix. My buddy said he just has a bec hardwired (red and black with signal wire pulled)to each of his servos and has had no problem for over 2 years. Seems over kill that each 5955 would require its own CCbec.

It is also weird in that once i turn the rig on i have to pull the bec plug and reinstall it to get the servos to turn on though.

any thoughts?

[EvilTwin v2]

Originally Posted by jfraymond

I'm the one he mentioned was having troubles with this set up also.

I just pulled the red wire from the CCbec, and each servo and twisted them together.

evertything else is exactly as it was with all the other plugs in their proper places in the RX.

I manage to get about 7minutes of good run before the front gets too hot and loses power now, it was more like a few minutes. while this should be enough to get me through the next comp I still need a long term fix. My buddy said he just has a bec hardwired (red and black with signal wire pulled)to each of his servos and has had no problem for over 2 years. Seems over kill that each 5955 would require its own CCbec.

It is also weird in that once i turn the rig on i have to pull the bec plug and reinstall it to get the servos to turn on though.

any thoughts?

I have read that some people suggest seperate BEC's for each servo. I honestly don't know.

I have been putting a switch on each of my BEC's. I turn on the receiver first, and once it's aquire it's bind to the tx, I then turn on the BEC's power switch.

[Nova's Ark]

I wanted to update this thread and hopefully clearly explain the cause to the problem. I was looking over Sparky J's Super last night and I finally figured out what I did wrong that nuked my Hitec servos.

Here's what I did wrong. I ran the servo ground wire and the servo signal wire to the receiver while running the servo red wire to the CC BEC. Then I kept the small red wire from Mamba Max ESC #1 to the receiver in order to power the receiver. I had removed the small red wire from the Mamba Max #2. What I didn't realize, was that the Mamba Max voltage was adding to the CC BEC voltage to the servo through the servo ground wire. That is why within 10 seconds of the Super being plugged into the battery, both the servos caught fire. It must have been 10 volts easily to the servos.

In looking over Sparky J's Super last night, I noticed he ran both servo red and black wires to the CC BEC and only the signal wire from the servos to the receiver. Sparky J is only running one Mamba Max ESC and he left the small wire in to power the receiver.

I duplicated his wiring into my Super today and everything work perfectly. I now have one complete battery pack through the Super.

[jevyguy]

That is strange that your servos went up in smoke with 10 volts, and mine didn't with 11.5.
I recently had my CC BEC go up in smoke because I hooked it up backwards, ya my bad!! I hooked it back up normal after it fried just to see if it worked, and everything seemed to work, but my 2 hitec servos (5995 and 5955) acted like they were on some suger high. I didn't run them for very long, but it was for more than 10 seconds. I checked the output on my BEC and it was like 11.5volts. The bec was not regulating the power but I never fried my servos.. I guess I am lucky

[Ripperfi]

Came accross this thread because I have a similiar problem. Dude, thank you nova for updating the thread. I was originally going to do both red and black wires to servo/bec then read this thread and the comment on just the red wire. I was about to do the same thing you did when I read further down and saw your update. You saved me a costly repair.