Servos Servo Failure???

[RMB677]

A week or so ago my Blade 450 went to the left as I lifted off. Since I was only about 2 ft. off the ground I was able to land without incident. When I did an inspection I found the pitch servo stuck, I put a little pressure on it and it came free. Just in case I did get a replacement on order.

Yesterday I was just about done with one battery and working back to my landing area, about 10 ft. up, when it again went left but I was unable to save it. Luckily it went into the shrubs in front of the house instead of the window. Stipped main and bent feathering shaft.

My question is. How does one determin if a servo has gone bad or is going bad? Looking at the e-flite servo, opening it looks like you might not see much. Are servo testers worth the money and what do you look for when you test a servo? Does a tester cycle the servo simulating flying conditions? I've read the comments about just using the Rx but again what would I look for?

 

[Tony]

If a servo sticks like that, I would trash that servo unless you find a bad gear or a piece of trash in there. if you find trash or a bad gear, then it's either clean or rebuild time. But, if it does it and there is nothing wrong with the gears, then you are looking at a bad servo and you shouldn't run it. Sucks about the crash. It did try to warn you though

 

[pvolcko]

Make sure your swash is well centered and you are not accidentally actuating the servo into a bind (kind of like hyper extending a joint). If this is happening despite being a ways off from the "stops" of the servo or from binding against swash linkage, then yeah may need to replace it. Sometime the pots can go bad in them and result in dead spots. You may want to try applying some electrical contact cleaner to the pot inside the servo too, if you're up for taking it apart and playing a bit.

 

[coolgabsi]

+1

Not smooth servo is a dying servo.. Needs rebuild or replacement .. If gears are clean inside then replace the thing