Bricks4Breakfast
Member
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 9
- Arrma RC's
- Senton 3s
Hello Arrma fans!
This week, I ran into a (to me) 'mysterious' issue that I cannot seem to solve and would very much love a bit of feedback on from the knowledgeable tinkerers on the forum.
In November, received my Senton 3S V3 and I love it! However, I quickly noticed that the Spectrum SLT3/SLR300 combo does not provide the signal range I was looking for, also since I am planning to install an FPV camera this spring. In addition, towards the limits of its range, it would sometimes result in erratic steering.
In January, I installed the DumboRC X6Fg transmitter/receiver combo and it solved all of my range issues. For the price, I highly recommend this kit, and very much appreciate the gyro function as a bonus - especially on the ice and compacted snow we have had here for the last months.
Although the standard Spectrum SPMS651 servo was still okay, I decided to "upgrade" to the popular 20Kg digital KS-3518 servo from the well-known low-cost drop-ship website overseas. To allow for installation of this 25t servo, I also ordered the red 25t servo horn from the previous generation Senton. Last week, I installed everything, manually set the steering end points on the transmitter, and went for a little field test.
The steering 'feel' is quite different, but not necessarily better or worse. The servo is clearly more powerful, albeit a bit slower, but no big issues there. However, the Senton now erratically wanders left and right during driving to the point that steering is not intuitive anymore, let alone reliable. The car intermittently veers off course in an unpredictable fashion, darting off of the road after several meters of seemingly normal driving. This occurs independently of having the gyro "on" or "off" (i.e. at any point between 0 - 100% on Channel 6 of the transmitter, which corresponds to the gyro intensity). I've played around with the steering end points and steering intensity, checked the steering rack on possible contact points, checked the wheel and steering geometry and the ball joints that all still seem pretty much 'out of the box' to me, recalibrated the DumboRC combo, and even reset and recalibrated the ESC (throttle) just to be sure. The issue persists.
I am now very much wondering where the issue lies and cannot find a clear answer online. Before the servo transplant, everything was working as I was hoping it would, and I figured that swapping out the servo would not change anything "upstream". Am I overlooking something here? Could the servo be faulty and intermittently react on ghost signals
?
Although I don't mind the tinkering, I hesitate to swap everything over back to the Spectrum SLT3/SLR300 just to check the servo in that setup, as I know I do not want to hold on to that transmitter/receiver in the long run. I would not be opposed to reinstalling the old servo or even ordering yet another servo to have a bit more power in my steering, since that seems like a win. Normally, I would stick to what works and swap things over when they break. However, since the standard servo is known to fail quite regularly, I kind of have my mind set on a more powerful alternative that is compatible with the DumboRC gyro. The KS-3518 tends to have great reviews, even in the Arrma BLX 3S line, so I still suspect I am doing something wrong here...
Any and all suggestions and recommendations would be warmly welcomed! Many thanks, blast on!
This week, I ran into a (to me) 'mysterious' issue that I cannot seem to solve and would very much love a bit of feedback on from the knowledgeable tinkerers on the forum.
In November, received my Senton 3S V3 and I love it! However, I quickly noticed that the Spectrum SLT3/SLR300 combo does not provide the signal range I was looking for, also since I am planning to install an FPV camera this spring. In addition, towards the limits of its range, it would sometimes result in erratic steering.
In January, I installed the DumboRC X6Fg transmitter/receiver combo and it solved all of my range issues. For the price, I highly recommend this kit, and very much appreciate the gyro function as a bonus - especially on the ice and compacted snow we have had here for the last months.
Although the standard Spectrum SPMS651 servo was still okay, I decided to "upgrade" to the popular 20Kg digital KS-3518 servo from the well-known low-cost drop-ship website overseas. To allow for installation of this 25t servo, I also ordered the red 25t servo horn from the previous generation Senton. Last week, I installed everything, manually set the steering end points on the transmitter, and went for a little field test.
The steering 'feel' is quite different, but not necessarily better or worse. The servo is clearly more powerful, albeit a bit slower, but no big issues there. However, the Senton now erratically wanders left and right during driving to the point that steering is not intuitive anymore, let alone reliable. The car intermittently veers off course in an unpredictable fashion, darting off of the road after several meters of seemingly normal driving. This occurs independently of having the gyro "on" or "off" (i.e. at any point between 0 - 100% on Channel 6 of the transmitter, which corresponds to the gyro intensity). I've played around with the steering end points and steering intensity, checked the steering rack on possible contact points, checked the wheel and steering geometry and the ball joints that all still seem pretty much 'out of the box' to me, recalibrated the DumboRC combo, and even reset and recalibrated the ESC (throttle) just to be sure. The issue persists.
I am now very much wondering where the issue lies and cannot find a clear answer online. Before the servo transplant, everything was working as I was hoping it would, and I figured that swapping out the servo would not change anything "upstream". Am I overlooking something here? Could the servo be faulty and intermittently react on ghost signals
? Although I don't mind the tinkering, I hesitate to swap everything over back to the Spectrum SLT3/SLR300 just to check the servo in that setup, as I know I do not want to hold on to that transmitter/receiver in the long run. I would not be opposed to reinstalling the old servo or even ordering yet another servo to have a bit more power in my steering, since that seems like a win. Normally, I would stick to what works and swap things over when they break. However, since the standard servo is known to fail quite regularly, I kind of have my mind set on a more powerful alternative that is compatible with the DumboRC gyro. The KS-3518 tends to have great reviews, even in the Arrma BLX 3S line, so I still suspect I am doing something wrong here...
Any and all suggestions and recommendations would be warmly welcomed! Many thanks, blast on!
