The Defenestrator, aka "durok does a Defender"

[durok]

--- Sequence of Events ---

I had gone for an all-day crawl session on Saturday because...

...Austin had 37deg for a high Feb.8, and then one week later we hit 90!

But I only got 5 minutes of runtime and the stock servo said goodbye.

(and it was frankly WAY too warm for February - I was actually sweating as I trudged back to the car)

After work yesterday I got home and hooked the JX BLS-12V7146 servo directly to the power take-off and tested it, centered it and bolted the SSD servo horn to it.

Added a 6" servo extension and then hooked it up again for a final test before closing up the radio box and attaching the steering link...

...and MUSHROOM CLOUD!

Good thing I already have a HobbyWing 1080 / Holmes TrailMaster Sport 550 21t waiting to install in there.

Still, it's frankly amazing to me how much smoke came out - it was at face level up on my computer desk - managed to yank the LiPo out pretty damn quick - SO glad I didn't damage my 27" 144Hz gaming monitor or high-end speakers that were inches away!

I don't recommend anyone buy any of the "12V" JX servos, that's the 3rd I'm aware of that fried upon connection to a 3S power source, and they claim 11.1v or 14v is safe.

IIRC, I was the first to actually order one of those servos - a few months before it became known that they were basically rip-offs of JRH's original Holmes SHV500 v1 servo design (but done somewhat poorly).

I thankfully only paid $55 shipped for it, but didn't get around to trying it out for ages because the servo I bought it as a backup for never quit on me (yep, you guessed it - the HH SHV500 v1 in my Revolver-powered Bomber).

Had I known it was going to take out my other electronics when plugged in I certainly wouldn't have bought the damn thing.

So now I get to clean the melt residue off the TRX-4 and worry about if the micro-servos are ruined as well...

Heck -I may set it up without any of the other channels - install lockers and/or keep it single speed - not sure yet.

[mewalsh100]

That’s a bummer durok. I wouldn’t blame you for locking the diffs up and running 1 speed. Simplicity breeds durability.

[indybama]

Holy crap durok, thats awful. Hopefully it didnt ruin anything else. On another note, u could possibly use the aluminum case for an upgrade case on another servo

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

[durok]

I'm thinking about getting a new Traxxas receiver from eBay, and then installing the HW 1080 ESC, HH Motor, DS3225 servo, and keeping my fingers crossed that the micro-servos still work. There are only two of the Eco-Power micro-servos available on all of the internet as far as I can tell at this time, otherwise they are back-ordered. Hopefully I don't need to wait for them to come available...

[mewalsh100]

Can you test the micro servers off another rig? Anything with a BEC and just adjust the output voltage to 6v to test them?

[Topher Builds]

That really sucks Durok. Those types of incidents are scary. Only had it happen to me once with a yeti but it was not fun. Hope the rest of the truck is healthy.

[kincer]

Meltdown is never fun, I had it happen on the bench once myself with another rig, never did figure out what went wrong either, they go up quick!

[durok]

Appreciate all the sympathetic comments, guys!

The receiver may also be OK, I'm just deciding what I want to risk connecting and testing right now...

[pyroM!KE]

I dont see why anyone would need more than a Hitec 7954 403 @7.4 on these rigs... Ive owned so many over the years. They are just powerful bulletproof servos and can be had around 80 bucks.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by durok

After work yesterday I got home and hooked the JX BLS-12V7146 servo directly to the power take-off and tested it, centered it and bolted the SSD servo horn to it.

Added a 6" servo extension and then hooked it up again for a final test before closing up the radio box and attaching the steering link...

...and MUSHROOM CLOUD!

While it totally sucks that your electronics turned into vape bros, we can use this as a teaching moment.

The JX 12V servos are not the same as Holmes servos for less money, presenting exhibit A:

Your loss can be a collective gain for the world, take comfort in that fact.

[durok]

I believe I'm gonna go down in history as exhibit C, but it was still quite informative!