ProModeler Servo: 420oz, billet case, o-ringed, $79

[Sneetches]

Funny, I've experienced the same thing with my 1.9 Wraith using the Holmes SHV500(v2?) which uses the JST plug to power it. It's not all the time but only during maneuvers where the steering is already a bit loaded it just seems to stop steering until I left off the wheel and try to roll forward a bit.

[jbeech]

Not the right place but I'll mention it anyway . . . https://www.promodeler.com/DS105CLHV

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by jbeech

Not the right place but I'll mention it anyway . . . https://www.promodeler.com/DS105CLHV

very nice!

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by jbeech

Not the right place but I'll mention it anyway . . . https://www.promodeler.com/DS105CLHV

Does it bolt into TRX-4 diff and shift servo locations?

How about the Capra dig servo location?

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Does it bolt into TRX-4 diff and shift servo locations?

How about the Capra dig servo location?

I think it was designed for use in the new 1/24 crawlers. I forsee a lot of broken SCX24 knuckles in the near future.

Do the TRX-4 diffs and trans shift hard enough to require such an overbuilt servo?

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

I think it was designed for use in the new 1/24 crawlers. I forsee a lot of broken SCX24 knuckles in the near future.

Do the TRX-4 diffs and trans shift hard enough to require such an overbuilt servo?

Odd. The 1/24th market is tiny compared to the TRX-4 and Capra.

No, it doesn't need to be overbuilt at all. It's just that a lot of people have experienced failures with the Traxxas micro servos. Personally, mine have been very reliable.

[meatmonkey]

Time for random update.

I finally replaced my 420 that has been in my bomber for literally years now with a 630. It still functioned when removed, but was getting sloppy, and would jitter if you let the tires free hang. I pulled it apart and found one of the pins sheared where it went through a gear and the output bearing was sloppy. Not sure how it even functioned. So I pulled apart another 420 that had a bad board due to repeated extended dunkings, and used the top case, bearings, pins and gears, in the original to repair it. Its now its fast, quiet, precise self once again. Now it gets to live an easy life in a 1.55 Samurai.

Oh, and the 630 is pretty awesome in the Bomber. It was rare, but I could stall the 420 in the rocks. The 630 will twist the back of the truck around if you have the front bound up enough. It's a little noiser than the 420, but not loud enough to mind.

I just ordered another 630 for the submarine Jeep that drowned the 420, so we shall see how waterproof it is. And since shipping is the same on 1 or 2, I got a 470 for the Trail King.

The 470 has become my go to servo. There is 9 among my fleet now and they have proven to be reliable and worth the cost in the long run.

A couple orders ago I asked what a guy had to do to get a hat. Well that order arrived sans hat. But my last order included a schweet hat (it's nice enough that the Ms. says I can't wear it into the shop) even though I didn't ask for one that round.

[Jim85IROC]

thanks for the report on the 630. I've found that, oddly enough, I seem to stall the 470 in my Bomber in the most benign of circumstances, so I've been contemplating a 630 and moving the 470 to one of my 1.9 rigs.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

thanks for the report on the 630. I've found that, oddly enough, I seem to stall the 470 in my Bomber in the most benign of circumstances, so I've been contemplating a 630 and moving the 470 to one of my 1.9 rigs.

Oddly enough I'm having the same issue in my 1.9 TRX-4 Sport.

I ran my 470 for the second time on NYE. It's powered by the internal BEC on the Mamba X set to 6.0V. It's terrible! It struggles to turn the Hyrax tires on my TRX-4 Sport and even stops at times. I got shown up by a $25 servo on the trail. I have reached out to John for answers.

[mikemcE]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Oddly enough I'm having the same issue in my 1.9 TRX-4 Sport.

I ran my 470 for the second time on NYE. It's powered by the internal BEC on the Mamba X set to 6.0V. It's terrible! It struggles to turn the Hyrax tires on my TRX-4 Sport and even stops at times. I got shown up by a $25 servo on the trail. I have reached out to John for answers.

Don’t reach out, Volt up. Your only using half of that servo @6v. 7.4 or 8.4 is needed.
I know what the specs are, look at the draw at higher voltages. I can’t stall mine out on 1.9, but did with the 2.2 rigs.


Hang up and Drive

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by mikemcE

Don’t reach out, Volt up. Your only using half of that servo @6v. 7.4 or 8.4 is needed.
I know what the specs are, look at the draw at higher voltages. I can’t stall mine out on 1.9, but did with the 2.2 rigs.


Hang up and Drive

Their specs claim it should be putting out 415oz-in at 6.0V. That's more than plenty for 4.75" tires. That's why I'm guessing there's something else going on. But if it can't swing these tires at 6.0V it's not the servo for me.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Their specs claim it should be putting out 415oz-in at 6.0V. That's more than plenty for 4.75" tires. That's why I'm guessing there's something else going on. But if it can't swing these tires at 6.0V it's not the servo for me.

Just bump the voltage up already. Higher voltages are far more efficient.

[Jim85IROC]

Mine stalls at 8.0V, powered by a Mamba X ESC.

[JatoTheRipper]

Just be very wary if you ever buy a piece of shit ProModeler servo. This is the type of response you'll receive from John. He hid behind his customer to call me a dumb ass rather than trying to troubleshoot with me. My response isn't going to be so nice.

My email:

"Hi John,

I just ran my ProModeler 470 for the second time on Tuesday, December 31st. I am powering this servo with my Castle Mamba X ESC and the BEC is set to 6.0V. I wasn't impressed during the first run, but after the second run I would say that this servo is terrible. It struggles to turn the 4.75" tires on my TRX-4 Sport. It also stops at times. Can you tell me what is going on with it?

Thank you,
Tim"

-----------------------

John's response:

"Tim,
As it happens I'm on the phone as this email came in with a really experienced crawler guy (Recon G6 competitor) and he said, "Tell him not to be a dumb ass and run it on 7.4V and that it's still not going to be as good using a BEC as running it on a separate 2S LiPo." and he continued; "How many of these idiots do you have to deal with? Tell him to buy a 7.4V receiver and not be cheap."

. . . and me? I only thought this but he actually said it and because I really couldn't phrase it any better, I started typing what he was saying (I'm lighting fast). Seriously, the whole problem is not that you're an idiot but that you're not giving the servo enough current and voltage. This is 100% of what's going on. Just feed it more current - and honestly, no matter what they claim, the problem is that Mamba isn't cutting it - no offense.

Note; he predicts you're going to respond with; "But the Traxxas sub-micro servos will burn up on 7.4V so then you can tell him about your DS0105CLHV sub-micros servos that drop right in and can operate his lockers and shifter!" and he's right, we do have the right sub-micro servos for that application and they won't burn up on high voltage.
https://www.promodeler.com/DS105CLHV

In summary; your problem isn't the servo but the rest of the stuff you're using. Once you get off the porch and start playing with the big dogs, e.g. upgrading, you have to get all the way off and that includes using a 'real' source of power for that servo. Anyway, while I offer this message somewhat tongue in cheek, the facts are I get a lot of folks who ask a variation of this exact same question. The answer never changes. Feed it enough juice and you won't be disappointed in the DS470BLHV. And if you look on the forums you'll see lots of satisfied folks and if you read more in depth you'll see they upgrade the power source for feeding their electronics as well.

Last thing; there's an article on our website that deals with this;
Bypassing the BEC
--
John"

[Topher Builds]

Yikes! That’s not a great way to treat a customer.

If he’s tired of getting the same questions and retyping the same answers he should type it out once, professionally and helpful, and just copy and paste it when he’s sure to get this question again. Sometimes these RC companies can act like hot sh!t and talk down to their customers for asking simple questions that the company should be able to help with. I can’t remember who it was, but on Facebook one company flat out blasted that if you asked about the status of a pre-order that they would move you to the bottom of the order. Umm, f that, if you can’t answer a simple question without acting like I’m wasting your time then I’m not going to waste my money on you.

Anyway, rant over. Dude is a Richard for sure.

But, with that being said I do think you should juice it up (if you even decide to keep it) as 6.0v is robbing the servo of what it should be able to do. Part of the reason I’ve not purchased a promodeler servo before is how adamant they are about needing separate 2S power and not running off a BEC. I get plenty of performance out of other servos running off a mamba x that I don’t see the need to take that step.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Starting off by telling a vendor that their product is terrible is a sure fire way to get what you were looking for. You might not have consciously thought you'd get that type of response but that's what you wanted subconsciously by wording that email as you did.

His response isn't professional either so don't think I'm defending him. Everyone should know by now that more voltage flows more current and that's what electronics need.

No matter what PM thinks I'd run a receiver bypass and shove 8.4 volts down that servos throat through a 14A castle bec and never look back.

[Panther6834]

I'm in agreement. Several vehicles ago, I considered a ProModeler servo, as someone what recommended them as an "inexpensive alternative to Tekin & Futaba servos". He claimed they were "just as good" as Tekin & Futaba, but for a lot less money. I did more than a reasonable amount of research, and, in the end, I decided it might be best to about ProModeler, and I went back to Hitec. Funny thing is, I recently started considering getting a Reef's servo, but have read all sorts of problems about them. Guess the old standbys (Hitec, Savox, Tekin, Futaba, etc) are still the best to go with.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Yikes! That’s not a great way to treat a customer.

If he’s tired of getting the same questions and retyping the same answers he should type it out once, professionally and helpful, and just copy and paste it when he’s sure to get this question again. Sometimes these RC companies can act like hot sh!t and talk down to their customers for asking simple questions that the company should be able to help with. I can’t remember who it was, but on Facebook one company flat out blasted that if you asked about the status of a pre-order that they would move you to the bottom of the order. Umm, f that, if you can’t answer a simple question without acting like I’m wasting your time then I’m not going to waste my money on you.

Anyway, rant over. Dude is a Richard for sure.

But, with that being said I do think you should juice it up (if you even decide to keep it) as 6.0v is robbing the servo of what it should be able to do. Part of the reason I’ve not purchased a promodeler servo before is how adamant they are about needing separate 2S power and not running off a BEC. I get plenty of performance out of other servos running off a mamba x that I don’t see the need to take that step.

Definitely a Richard and no way to treat a customer.

If he claims it makes 415 oz-in at 6.0V then it should do that. He shouldn't come back and say boost the voltage. If it can only run at 7.4V then he should clearly state that and remove all the claimed specs below that.

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

Starting off by telling a vendor that their product is terrible is a sure fire way to get what you were looking for. You might not have consciously thought you'd get that type of response but that's what you wanted subconsciously by wording that email as you did.

His response isn't professional either so don't think I'm defending him. Everyone should know by now that more voltage flows more current and that's what electronics need.

No matter what PM thinks I'd run a receiver bypass and shove 8.4 volts down that servos throat through a 14A castle bec and never look back.

But it is terrible. You should see it. It's so bad that I think there's an issue with it which is why I asked him what is going on with it. You probably would have thrown the POS off of a cliff.

Yes, I can bump up the voltage, but as I stated above, if he claims it can pull 415 oz-in at 6.0V then that's exactly what it should do.

If anybody on this site would have told me to "suck it up" in regards to his email it would have been you. Even you said he's out of line so I realize I'm not out of line being pissed about his response.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

But it is terrible. You should see it. It's so bad that I think there's an issue with it which is why I asked him what is going on with it. You probably would have thrown the POS off of a cliff.

Yes, I can bump up the voltage, but as I stated above, if he claims it can pull 415 oz-in at 6.0V then that's exactly what it should do.

If anybody on this site would have told me to "suck it up" in regards to his email it would have been you. Even you said he's out of line so I realize I'm not out of line being pissed about his response.

If you want to get a more appropriate response you email him saying you think there may be an issue with the servo because it is obviously lacking power compared to its stated numbers. Not that his product is garbage.

It may be a craptastic servo or it may just be an internal flaw with that piece you have now but at this point you'll likely never know unless the teenage angst is de-escalated and a real discussion is had.

[OSRC]

I backup Jato's claims. It was struggling to turn the tires, and blacking out. If it says 415 ounces at 6 volts it should deliver that. It was nowhere close, looked to me like something was wrong with it, didnt look like a brownout situation per-se. Even so, there's quite a gap between delivering 400+ ounces of power and struggling to turn the tires. Either it runs on 6v or it doesn't.

In any case, I agree the initial wording of your question was a little on the grating side, but if you're a salesperson or business owner you have to suck that up. You simply cannot fly off the handle at your customers. That is utterly unacceptable.