servo problems..

[montyZooma]

hey,

So while holding or having my mcp x on the table, the elevator servo sometimes gets stuck in place, then unfreezes. I havnt tried flying it yet as this could very well lead to a crash I should also metion that the servo gets extremely hot!! I literally cannot touch it for more than two seconds without it being immensly hot! any ideas?

thanks

[SamCassidy]

I would start by cleaning your servos :thumb up:

Originally Posted by ChrisH

So I have been flying my mCP X pretty much every day for the last week it has been out. As I got more and more flights on it (approaching 60 now), I noticed it was developing a vibration. I thought it was my bladescraped-up main blades, so I shaved the weight off my FFF blades and used those. No difference in flight, but it felt really smooth when spooled up in my hand.

On the bench, I realized that one of the aileron servos was twitching intermittently. I could bump the blade with my finger and the servo would jump back and forth (searching for center) for about 3-5 seconds. I unplugged the elevator servo and plugged it into the aileron port, to see if that was causing the problem. Same deal -- same servo was twitching, so it wasn't that specific port. My boss suggested the potentiometers in the servos being dirty, which I thought was unlikely. It was slow so I figured I'd take it apart and see...

Sure enough, there were black marks (on the silver stripe) on the PCB where the wipers on the servos move across. I used some solvent because it was all I had at the time, but it was recommended that isopropyl alcohol or dedicated pot cleaner be used for a better result. I carefully wiped both the silver strip and the wipers, until they were shiny silver again with no black stripes. At this point I had the heli mostly apart so I did all 3 cyclic servos.

Amazingly, when I went to fly it, it was completely solid with NO vibes or shakes whatsoever! It flies identical to the 3 new mCP X's I checked out yesterday for customers, with crisp cyclic inputs and a smooth collective feel. So in short, if you have a lot of flights and have vibes that you can't track down, try this! I had no idea this would make such a big difference but it did!

Pictures (sorry for so-so photos, only had the iPhone 4 at hand):

Start with this:


Remove the two screws holding the servo to the frame


Pull the servo assembly away and flip it over


Remove the four screws holding the plastic servo frame to the PCB


Carefully pull away the servo frame and flip it over


Clean the silver stripe on the PCB with a q-tip (pot cleaner or alcohol)


Clean the wipers on the servo frame assembly in the same manner


Reassemble and you're ready to fly!

And if its getting really hot the servo could be on its way out

[montyZooma]

yes I forgot to mention that I did cleans the servo prior to posting.. It also seems that it has also fixed itself up for the moment! i swear my mcp x has a mind of its own