Crawler Canyon Presents:  

And I love the servo tests. Keep them coming! I was wondering what the average breaking strain for a rod end could be, maybe the jig could be modified to see what a traxxas/element/axial/vanquish etc end starts to open up at or squashes at. The highest output servo I’ve ever run was the flash 45kg and I ended up damaging my steering link on a bind, would be cool to see where those numbers were and if there was an average to it. Own an element, don’t go over 35kg etc..

I use Jato/Revo ends on the test rig, and have only managed to tear one-- when I put some monster servo on there with the rod attached at 16mm-- so the rod end broke at like 1400oz-in. A great number of my rigs are still running Blitz ends, which are 4.8mm ball cups-- and I've never managed to even pull one of those off. I'm not sure how to replicate the situation where rod ends break. The end that I've had break on multiple occasions is the front lower link ends where they attach to the skid-- but I think that's because scraping against the ground wears/weakens the ends until they fail.

@@CrawlerCanyon whoa that’s monster torque! Fair enough, I might have had the same situation where it had worn a bit as it was out front and rubbing on stuff to weaken it as well. It’s crazy to think how such a small interface can take all those kilos.

I'm still a direct power guy. At the same price point, a 3S-direct servo is usually gonna make ~20% more power than a 7.4 or 8.4 volt RX powered model. \ Direct power is also nice when builds have ESCs with either a vey weak BEC, or no BEC at all.

@@CrawlerCanyon I see your point, I use a eco power one but I trawl it does the thing. Hey you ever test one of those? Thanks for the info.

kinda not worth it... you can move cog and lose the rear drag due to clearance, but easily make up for it on a true portal portal with weight bias placement, and gain front clearance.

It's in the pipeline, I already have everything for it, save for a chassis. AR44 front and AR45P rear.

@@CrawlerCanyon just built one with that axle combo using an all metal amazon reverse output trans....works but it's too heavy for what I want. Also, the AR45p rear was updated at some point, and I think the max I could do for portal gears was the 14/21, and that's proven to be too much for a really light weight rig. I think I need to add some underdrive to the diff.

A great number of those servos are gone, or were on loan for testing. I think I have maybe... half?

​I'd like to see a servo best off talk like you did with shocks. Would be very helpful. Greets from Bavaria ​@@CrawlerCanyon

Where's the line for "cheaper" stop, and the servo become "expensive?" For me I'd say 100 bucks. Anything over that is expensive. I wish they were all $25, but I'm okay up to around $60. Anything above $100, and I have more than a few, is a combination of torque/speed we don't need, and warranty/support rolled into the price. I'm fine with a 600oz $50 servo with no anticipated support after purchase. Because if you want that CS added, you can get a Reefs for double the money. Same performance, though.

AGFRC makes some great servos, I've never has an issue with any of mine-- I have 7-8, I think. I did the test on the A86BHMW awhile back, it did really well. It's the servo in ICFTW #21.

@@CrawlerCanyon excellent! I’ll go watch that episode. Thank you sir! 👍

@@NEO-RC I have 5 AGF servos. 2 in crawlers and 2 in drift cars, and one in a touring car. I have a spare if or when the Savox in my Associate buggy gives up its ghost. They are great servos. The A81BHMW in my TRX4 is a beast, and you ordered the A86. It'll be awesome I'm sure.

I would see my self as a pretty good understanding in electricity’s. But I can not understand how it can make the same torque with less amps and watts 🤔🤔 what are we missing here?

@@Andy_Yates good to know that I purchased a reliable servo. Only been running RC crawlers (RC in general, all I have are crawlers) for a couple months. So much to pick from and learn. 😅 I try to buy good components so I don’t have to redo work later, BUT tinkering with these things is damn fun.

so... suspect... what, exactly? That the power supply is overstating the amps drawn when servos are powered directly off of the power supply and/or board, and understating when it's powering the ESC? I don't see how either of those things could be happening, but I can't say for sure that they're not.

I would join you in that doubt, as 80kg is like 1150oz or something, and nothing I've tested in a "standard" servo has touched that yet. Getting over a thousand is usually $130+.

For 50 bucks and being brushless if it atleast makes 45kg id be pretty happy@@CrawlerCanyon

I use almost exclusively Traxxas and Element. I really like the Element ends, as they have just the right amount of angle-- but the tradeoff is that they're thinner and more likely to pop off or tear. I really like a mix of the TRX-4 ends (TRA8275) and the Traxxas "long" ends (TRA5525.)

@@CrawlerCanyon thank you. I'll check them out.

I've never tried any of the BETU servos. I always just fall back to the trusty DS3225SG, as it's never let me down. I should try the cheap 35kg BETU option at some point. Slightly concerning that nowhere could I find any kind of claims of transit speed.

An external BEC should behave exactly like the power supply-- but I guess I don't know until I know. I don't think I have a CC-BEC not in use, but I'm pretty sure I have one of those Henge 8A (12A peak) units. Might be worth a try, just to see if the numbers move.

The Flash Hobby 8.4V 60kg servo is usually about $10 more than the direct-power version, which is why I've never bought one. The servos claiming 70kg are playing funny with the numbers I think, as that's close to 1000oz-in, and you don't get that for 70 bucks. I've only ever had two servos hit 4 digits, and they're both $130+. I have an 80kg servo coming in the next few weeks, if just to see how inflated that number is.

Well, on the bench I'd say they're very close. But out on the course, the ESC has to handle all at once, from throttle to steering to whatever other accessories are in use. The direct-power servos are going to be more efficient, as there's less steps to go through, and less loss. So side by side, two servos with identical numbers, but one direct-power and the other RX power, the battery will last longer with the direct-power model. I'm not rushing out to replace all (or any) of my direct power servos with RX powered models just based on battery-drain related power drop. I maintain that there's a lot more versatility to direct-powered servos-- particularly in cases like 4WS. I don't recommend running two steering servos off of an internal BEC. It's not great.

Well, you definitely had that idea too late. We're at the very end of summer, and quite likely won't see anything past low-90s this month (and only a few days at that,) and we're into "winter' after that, so 60s and 70s.

Yes, of course, more of a theoretical at this point but you didn’t really want to do it in the hellish midday heat of desert summer anyway right? I assume it would be likely to cool enough during the re and re time to make it a fools errand anyway…no offence intended, I know you can pull a servo in record time…

@@user-ld9ke2yv6t of course much later on I thought... I could just put the whole servo tester rig in the sun.

You'll often hear me mention the Amazon blue case, particularly the 35kg version that has a transit speed around 0.14sec/60º. The GX 3240 has a transit speed of 0.22sec/60º. That is WAY too slow. Even at the AliExpress price of 14 bucks a pop. We need a bit of speed. I prefer a servo in the 0.10 to 0.12 range (optimally) which is literally twice as fast as the GX. That slow is basically a non-starter.