When to upgrade Servos / BEC?

[saderax]

I have been flying for about 3 months now, and and can hover pretty steady and am starting to get into some FF, and FFF. Unfortunately I'm still such newb that crashes are more common then I'd like, and Im growing tired of buying $4.00 gear sets to replace the ONE and ONLY gear that breaks in the stock servos.

If I upgrade to something like the HiTec HS65MG will I just end up breaking more expensive servos or are they more durable than the stock servos? I've read enough to know if I were a perfect pilot and doing 3d and all that, the servo upgrade would be an obvious first step. However, as a crash-test-dummy, is upgrading these servos now a good move?

Thanks in advance.

[Larry227]

Upgrading to metal gear servos is a good move anytime.

[Cailid]

I've crashed many times with the hs65mg's and never had to do any repairs to them. It's well worth upgrading the servos. Just be aware that if you use the hitecs, you will have to enlarge the openings in the frame a bit to get them to fit.

[saderax]

Thanks for all the quick answers. Do I need to upgrade any additional components at the same time? When do I consider upgrading the ESC or adding a BEC? Or will the stock ESC handle the upgrade to all HiTec servos fine?

Thanks.

[fast400]

bec`s are the cheapest insurance you`ll ever buy.

[Starcraft-IX]

When I read the title, I thought "as soon as you open the box"

Honestly, the stock ESC just doesn't cut it for long without a BEC, and the difference that you will notice going to the hitecs vs the stock servos is night and day

[T/CHunter2009]

Add a Turnigy Sentry 40 amp ESC no need for a aux b.e.c . The ESC has it built in and it works fine.Hobby King has them for a reasonable price. Even with upgraded servos & Gyro that ESC doen't even get anywere near hot. Good time to do upgrades , Now couldn't be better.

[n6nev]

me 2, I run a align 35A ESC 2200 MAH batts, stock motor, and after 7 min of idle up. it's just warm to the touch, no bec needed...........

[widower]

You will be amazed at how much easier it is to hover with the hs65mg servos. I upgraded my stock servos after going through a few gear sets and blown servos. I've yet to replace a hs65mg. I'm still running stock ESC with no additional BEC. I'm also still running stock gyro with an upgraded tail servo.

[saderax]

Argh, so many decisions... so unimformed am I (for a newb?)

ESC/BEC combo or External BEC?
35A or 40A?
Castle Creations or Turnigy?
5V or 6V?

The only thing I'm sure about is I need a brushless whaddever... I'm currently grounded. Please... help...

[fast400]

the fastest fix is to get atleast another 35a esc from your LHS.
the slowest fix would be buying from hobbycity, unless you add another 25 bucks for ems shipping, then thats still a week out and adds that much more to the price of the esc.

[exit44rc]

I just bought a Castle Creations BEC from www.ronlund.com and with the us postal service's priority mail it came in two days (from texas to ohio). I was running an upgraded tail servo but am upgrading the gyro now and decided to go ahead and buy the BEC. I've never found any real solid answer about when to upgrade to the BEC but did it to avoid problems. The JR ds920g tail servo flew fine with the stock esc, stock cyclic servos, and stock gyro.

If you're upgrading the cyclic servos it may be a good idea to go ahead and do the BEC addition while you're at it. At least that little job would be behind you.

[SleeveofWizard]

The JR package fits right in---comes with 3 ds285's and a tail 3500 for $165 shipped on ebay. They work great too. You can keep the stock gyro or go with a new one. I went with teh JR's and a gy401 and she flew awesome.

[atkinson]

I've found that the casle ice 50 is a good choice. It has a 5 amp adjustable voltage switching bec and came with a rebate for the castle link. With the link plugged into a computer a ton of other options are changable and it has data logging. Plus it fits perfectly in the original esc place.

[T/CHunter2009]

Now he's more confused. If you need it today you pay more , if you can wait ,you save, Your choice. All are good choices. many to chose from any many not even listed that are just as good. GoodLuck

[Ozz58]

Originally Posted by Starcraft-IX

When I read the title, I thought "as soon as you open the box"



Honestly, the stock ESC just doesn't cut it for long without a BEC, and the difference that you will notice going to the hitecs vs the stock servos is night and day

Me too.

[claywake222]

Originally Posted by T/CHunter2009

Now he's more confused. If you need it today you pay more , if you can wait ,you save, Your choice. All are good choices. many to chose from any many not even listed that are just as good. GoodLuck

Are the HITEC HS-65MG DIGITAL servos, just plug and play? with the stock 400 ,

[puggster]

Originally Posted by claywake222

Are the HITEC HS-65MG DIGITAL servos, just plug and play? with the stock 400 ,

the stock servos work difrently to other servos

most other servo hopups will have reversed throws,

so your cyclic will be reversed and the pitch too
you just head on up to the swash mix in the dx6i settings and if it says +75 you need to change to -75 on all three mixes, dont reverse the channels as it messes up the mixing, it has to be done in the swash mix settings only.

i opted for the karbonite servos as im still learning also so if the gears break whicj will take a very bad crash to break anything, i can simply buy the metal gear sets as they are the same gear ratio as the karb ones,

karbonite ones are also alot cheaper, metal gear ones are stronger but serious crashes can still break em also so you need to think about cost effective here

i chose the karbonite ones as they are still way stronger than stock and still the same performance of the metal gear ones, and still the option to upgrade to metal gear without the cost of buying a whole new servo
im thinking this might be more cost effective for me with still having great performance too

the servo upgrade is a pain todo as you need to level the swash and set the linkages up and things but you will be like WOW, its a whole diffrent animal afterwards

very smooth and precice control "much faster responce" over stock, may need a tad more expo to make it feel like stock servos if you dont like the sudden performance upgrade feel,

defo hitecs are one of the best servos to put on the b400

[claywake222]

Originally Posted by puggster

the stock servos work difrently to other servos

most other servo hopups will have reversed throws,

so your cyclic will be reversed and the pitch too
you just head on up to the swash mix in the dx6i settings and if it says +75 you need to change to -75 on all three mixes, dont reverse the channels as it messes up the mixing, it has to be done in the swash mix settings only.

i opted for the karbonite servos as im still learning also so if the gears break whicj will take a very bad crash to break anything, i can simply buy the metal gear sets as they are the same gear ratio as the karb ones,

karbonite ones are also alot cheaper, metal gear ones are stronger but serious crashes can still break em also so you need to think about cost effective here

i chose the karbonite ones as they are still way stronger than stock and still the same performance of the metal gear ones, and still the option to upgrade to metal gear without the cost of buying a whole new servo
im thinking this might be more cost effective for me with still having great performance too

the servo upgrade is a pain todo as you need to level the swash and set the linkages up and things but you will be like WOW, its a whole diffrent animal afterwards

very smooth and precice control "much faster responce" over stock, may need a tad more expo to make it feel like stock servos if you dont like the sudden performance upgrade feel,

defo hitecs are one of the best servos to put on the b400

Well I am sold, I have broke more teeth in them servos than I would like to say.
If I understand right I could still replace the gears in 65s if they get stripped?
and do I worrie about annalog or ditigal?
thanks for the info.

[saderax]

Ok... LHS was good to me... (or I was good to it). I got 3 new HS65-MGs and a new GY401. Unfortunately the ESC/BEC (Phoenix ICE 50) will not get here until next week.

Any harm in flying all the new gear on the old ESC for a week? Can I at least turn it on and test the servos / setup the tail? Or should I not even hook up a battery until I get the new ESC?