"Waterproof" Servo died from light water exposure...

[BashNSlash]

Originally Posted by Ditchrat

The other thing to remember about compressed air, and that depends on what you are using, is that air from a compressor as oil atomized in it. Of course that depends on your compressor.

Air compressor with a moisture filter. I pretty much do it exactly how Traxxas shows it in this video: https://youtu.be/dN88sUqa1GE?t=170

I keep my compressor at a pretty low PSI (like 80 - 90 PSI), which is way lower than canned air. I never "get right in" and keep a distance when blowing the air. I wonder if a reverse shop vac or some other blower might be a better option - one that doesn't have such a focused stream of air.

EDIT: Reading this OSHA document, I may get one of these "safety nozzles" to keep the PSI to under 30. https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHAPubs/factsheets/fs77.pdf

[mprudic0404]

Originally Posted by Ditchrat

You should take a little responsibility for this. Your actions of using compressed air to dry off a servo is the most likely reason for water entering the servo. Using compressed air, blows grease seals out, and will cause rubber o rings to expand as the air pushes water into the servo.


That is really a bad habit that you will want to avoid in the future, if you want to have more reliable electronics.


Hopefully a lesson learned.

i agree and also dis-agree in strangest fashion.

compressed air can cause problems as it will do exactly as you stated.

on the other hand, if your equip is rated for water, then this shouldnt cause any alarm. let me explain-

ive had many electronics and servos that are not waterproof, and yet they have survived with calibrated methods of protecrion. IE: coat and protect your ESC (for ones NOT RATED) or even the simple ballon wrap that works so well.

servos are bit more tricky. waterproof servos usualy have mutiple seals on each section, and then again a 2nd layer of seals for backup protection. most waterproof servos that ive taken apart rely on a single o-ring at the output shaft, thats smashed in place by a open bearing, smothered with grease. yes this works but high power air can push that o-ring around and allow water to pass. most of the time grease keeps water from getting further as the case is sealed-(water dosent enter past the output shaft) but as a means for the best protection, get rubber sealed bearings for your servo. does two things, 1-keeps all contaminates from passing the shaft
2-this bearing rubber seal also keeps the O-ring from being pushed or moved by air pressure.

i use my air compressors EVERY time the family is done playing with the cars/trucks and have never had issues. on the same idea, i also go a bit over board with it, by using a high powered air tip (VACULA AIR GUN), and getting in every nook and crack. i also hang the car/truck's in front of a homemade fan bank for an overnight dry. (made from large RF-AMP fan units)

if their is a concern for water in your servo, then take some little efforts prior to prevent failures. IE: change the servo bearings out for rubber sealed versions, add additional grease to servo gears (nose case) , without filling it completly. I go so far as to have the output shaft, seals, and upper top gear in full bath of grease. sure you may blow water into the case, but because its sealed, it wont get too far because the case quickly becomes pressurized, and prevents further intrusion.

sealing the back half is also just as critical, and this sounds like the fault/error you encountered. limited to just simple guesses but it seems as the servo wasnt sealed correctly from the factory. this is a double nightmare because it allows contaminets inside, but also created a vac-effect when the servo was warm(in use) and cold. sucking in water.

the motor being middle orentied, created the highest tempeture diff, and then used the servo case as a vacumm canister.

even water proof servos still need a little love if your going to use a air compressor, but in the end, its well worth it. seal the 3wire conductors and strain relief with some high grade silicone (cheap stuff dosent always stick to the material or case) and make sure the case seals are well greased when you put the servo back together. Dow-corning makes a dedicated o-ring grease that is cheap, and will last you a lifetime. see pics. (works so well on shocks too)

i dont remember the servo brearings size, so youll have to dig that up, as each servo MAY have a diffrent size. but rubber sealed bearings are cheap and critical for the life of a servo if you continue to use the air compressor. ive pulled apart 300dollar &10dollar servos and replaced the bearings with sealed versions. (try to get abec5-or-higher if possible)

Final protection for electronics or related (coating the entire outside of a servo) , is a coating that prevents water intrusion. the dupont stuff is a quick method, DRY COATING, but does leave a semi white look when dry. no dirt sticking to you rc ,makes it so amazing. t9 and MO work great, but take much longer to dry, great for tools though.

see pics of such below..

ps: the fans serve a mutli-duty role for other things, hang-dry only laundry, or cooling hot parts or equp, and so fourth.. i dumpster dove these from Very high power radio amps. (got some wonderful comments from my co-workers too. then i showed them they were over 100 bucks each online. hah)

making somthing better or Mod'n stuff is what makes rc's & life fun..

(the random pic below is a good example of mod'n : i put LED's in our stair banister so at nightime, we can go up or down without turning on aditional lights. these are tied to a photocell. its not super bright but does light every step.

sorry for way off topic rants...

[kincer]

I use a leaf blower on my Trx instead of compressed air, dries pretty quickly but it's not a concentrated air source, more of a wind than a blast, works for me.

[BashNSlash]

Originally Posted by kincer

I use a leaf blower on my Trx instead of compressed air, dries pretty quickly but it's not a concentrated air source, more of a wind than a blast, works for me.

Does the air warm up through the blower (heat from the motor) or is it always cold air? Not sure the wife would want me using a leaf blower in the house, but I do have a heat gun that can blast cold air.

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

[BashNSlash]

Lots of great tips, mprudic0404! Thanks for sharing that.

[kincer]

Originally Posted by BashNSlash

Does the air warm up through the blower (heat from the motor) or is it always cold air? Not sure the wife would want me using a leaf blower in the house, but I do have a heat gun that can blast cold air.

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

Leaf blower is just cold air, that heat gun with cold air may do the trick. I use leaf blower in my garage with the door open right by the door.

[mprudic0404]

good stuff to keep for cleaning fluxs and electronics. Also for saving expensive electronics, may have helped save your servo, if you catch it in time. you would have to reoil the motor, but thats not hard. (ive put a whole servo in a small jar overnight)

ive also used a jar of this to save a iphone that someone dropped in a toliet. alcohol can help stop the damage from water. (it displaces watter/mixes and also pulls water from every micron)

5 gallons may be a bit much, but this pic is just a empty container. ebay has smaller cans avaible. If you try to get this from a local store, you may run into difficulty, as drug users also buy this stuff for making drugs.
you can build a achool engine or make a alchool stove for camping.. so many uses.. this stuff works well for cleaning electrical boards before applying a conformal coating too.

(never leave a open container of this, as it will pull moisture from the air and degrade)

[BashNSlash]

A little update - I received the 25kg version of this servo and have given a quick once-over. The rubber o-rings that are supposed to keep things nice and sealed are absolutely not "sealed" and I believe this new one would most certain die a similar fate to my old one.

I will be waterproofing it myself to spare any short and long-term inconveniences.

[mprudic0404]

Originally Posted by kincer

I use a leaf blower on my Trx instead of compressed air, dries pretty quickly but it's not a concentrated air source, more of a wind than a blast, works for me.

Thats awesome!!! never tried, but now i want to.
ive used a leaf blower to dry my bike, after washing. works great and keeps ignition coils from shorting.

leaf blowers work great at cleaning the gutters too.

Homedep... was blowing out the old stock one day, and i got the m18 blowers dirt cheap.. (got a bunch of them)

[kincer]

Originally Posted by mprudic0404

Thats awesome!!! never tried, but now i want to.
ive used a leaf blower to dry my bike, after washing. works great and keeps ignition coils from shorting.

leaf blowers work great at cleaning the gutters too.

Homedep... was blowing out the old stock one day, and i got the m18 blowers dirt cheap.. (got a bunch of them)

That's how I got the idea, I used to detail cars and that's how I would dry them before waxing. Gets all the water out of recesses and doesn't hurt a thing. I think with the blower it's more of a velocity of air than a concentration, you get what I'm saying lol

[mprudic0404]

you are welcome, i have so much usless info in my head, i will try to help any way i can.
combanation of work experiences and personal ones, I can only speak from my personal rc endevors, but ive tried many off the wall things. when i was 16 years old, my old grumpy next door neighbor dared me to jump our house with my RC truck. (rc10)
i built ramps and did it. the truck survived, and he actualy changed a little, he was still the grumpy old guy on the street, but he waived at me and would always say hi. not sure what ever happened to him, but he always had good war stories. lifes too short to be negitive or mean.

ive tried to patent a few things, but gave up after costs skyrocketed. fyi: have an idea??? a propper patent WILL cost over 10,000 dollars when complete. yikes!!!

Originally Posted by BashNSlash

Lots of great tips, mprudic0404! Thanks for sharing that.

[mprudic0404]

To a fellow brother, thats a tough job. ive done that in the past. detailing a car is quite a labor intensive job. granted most people only want it clean and good looking. every once and awhile that crazy lambo or porsche guy wanted the best they can get. 400 bucks seems like a lot and it is. but a correct buff and polish job with a coating is not easy. still have a few bottles of 3M perfect-it compound, that i use for stuff.

the smaller blower (which are quite cheap at this time) works very well at jobs needing air-compressor like pressure. (works more like a turbo than blower) i got that smaller m18 blower on ebay for 30 bucks. bought like 20 extensions from a tool-parts company (they were 2 bucks each at the time) and then made a bunch of angled attachments. its the ultimate gutter tool that can be broken down to fit in gym bag.

the bigger jet-type ones seem to work the best for me on our cars.

Originally Posted by kincer

That's how I got the idea, I used to detail cars and that's how I would dry them before waxing. Gets all the water out of recesses and doesn't hurt a thing. I think with the blower it's more of a velocity of air than a concentration, you get what I'm saying lol

[niggemannb]

I always use my Shop-Vac with the hose plugged in the blower port on the back to dry my RCs. I bought a $5 inflator tip made by Stanley to focus the air. Available on Amazon.

It's a lot more gentle on the electronics, but still gets the vehicle dry relatively quickly.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by BashNSlash

A little update - I received the 25kg version of this servo and have given a quick once-over. The rubber o-rings that are supposed to keep things nice and sealed are absolutely not "sealed" and I believe this new one would most certain die a similar fate to my old one.

I will be waterproofing it myself to spare any short and long-term inconveniences.

Just goes to show you if you want something done right, do it yourself.


I have a child I can lend you as a product tester, if it survives him you can rest assured you did it correctly.

[Hydrocarbon92]

Sounds like the IC or part of the circuit that senses the pot is messed up. It thinks the pot is maxed one direction, but any input flips the logic gate inside for a moment.

Originally Posted by whitrzac

This is why you COVER ALL ELECTRONICS WITH CONFORMAL COATING

I helped fix it for you.

To be serious though, there is no such thing as waterproof. That's why you see IP-ratings, which is not too different from depth ratings on watches. With enough pressure, water will push past any seal.

I have everything I own covered in urethane conformal coating and I can dunk anything in water w/o worry. Some people like the silicone version, but it's flexible nature can work against it. I also spray all my servo motors with CRC 2-26, but I'd still air-out any servo that I dunk just to be on the safe side.

[jbeech]

My heart breaks when I read threads like this. The fellow buys a $25 servo of Amazon, has some problems due to water intrusion, and the whole thing somehow devolves into a discussion regarding compressed air, using a vacuum cleaner with the blowing attachment, or better still he should have used a garden blower, plus various chemicals, etc. Thing is, the OP really just wants to know what to do for next time, so here goes . . .

As background, I manufacture a servo. And the words waterproof do not cross my lips despite using 13 o-rings in the construction (more than anyone else on the planet). Moreover, I use compressed air to clean off my nitro-powered helicopters and trucks. the helis especially get nasty because after a few flights they're just covered in exhaust oil and dirt (when you land the rotors blown fine dirt and it sticks to the frames, electronics, and everything else. And the trucks come in covered in mud.

Here's what I do. I have a spray bottle of diluted Simple Green, which I spray liberally all over the model. Do I avoid the receiver (especially where the servos plug in) as well as the rubber pigtail where the wires exit the servos? Well heck yes, do I look dumb?

Anyway, next, using an air compressor (and I don't mean a toy but a 3-phase unit with three cylinders, 10hp, that goes to 160lbs), I use the blow nozzle to blow the crap out of the model to clear the yuk off. On a really bad day, I may have to do it more than once! And because the truck is often covered in mud and dirt, I might hose it off first (I don't have a crawler but I do have several nitro powered T-Maxx and they get plenty dirty, believe me).

Is it possible to blow water and stuff up the wires through the rubber pigtail and into the servos? Sure, but it's not really likely, especially because I'm not exactly trying by pointing the nozzle right at the pigtail where the wires exit! E.g. I'm just blowing the crap off in a general fashion.

The point is, I really don't think his (the OP) hurt anything by using his compressor. Put another way, I doubt that really played a role in this. More likely water entered some other way (he mentioned using water, I believe). or entered during a previous time he used the rig.

The discussion (2 pages now) subsequently has wandered into waterproofing. Here's a brief article I wrote expressly for those who by intent or by accident play submarine using our servos.
https://www.promodeler.com/askJohn/W...ater-resistant

These exact same steps will help with that $25 servo from Amazon (and the instructions surely don't care that they're used for a cheapo servo instead of our ProModeler servo). And I don't care either because I know I can't earn the business of folks on budget with only $25 to spend for a servo when mine is $100.

Oh, and no, I won't apologize for mine costing that much because if you look at why, you'll understand it's worth every penny. But my point isn't to promote my servo because my customers do that plenty good enough for me. I really just want the OP to be aware I believe it's unlikely he did anything wrong.

Finally, whether it's my servo, or a competitors, if you get it wet, open it up to dry! Don't just leave it. And spray the electronics liberally with WD-40 and set it our to drip dry and evaporate. Over night is probably good enough. Ditto the gear train.

Speaking of the gears, if you leave them without lube you'll trash them quickly. Regarding lube, we use some special stuff you can't buy at the auto parts store. I believe Traxxas sells tiny tubes of a white grease that's very similar to, if not exactly the same, as the stuff we use. Anyway, whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances use any grease containing lithium (you'll know because it's white/cream color). Instead, if you have no choice, stick to reddish/bluish/greenish wheel bearing grease and apply it very sparingly - use a toothpick and put a tiny bit at the gear junctions.

My 2¢