I currently have a Futaba ER with Futaba servos and Rx, if I change to another brand TX and/or TX and RX, do I have a problem with my existing servos?
If your radio is a “recent” one, you shouldn’t have any problems.
Hard to say… in some cases you can interchange servos using different receivers… but as a rule of thumb I don’t recommend doing it. You can always buy another Rx and servos (same as you are now using) and put them in a 2nd boat and keep using the same Transmitter… I see that done all the time. If you are sailing with a club that assigns freqs it is even better that way because you have your specific channel and you never worry about others being on it (unless you have someone new of course)
Then too… not all servos will work in a different brand receiver… in fact I should word it the other way around… most servos plugs are not compatible with other receivers… and even changing the plugs over does not guarantee complete cooperation between components.
I would only do this as a last resort, and it has not come to that yet. I do on the other hand see guys at the lake show up using Futaba transmitter and Hitec Rx and servos, and they usually complain about problems… which tells me that it just probably is not a good idea.
interseting…never had ANY problems and I do mix things up
Futaba radio (always)
receivers: Futaba, Sanwa, Graupner, Brand X
Servos: Futaba, Hitec, Graupner, Robbe, Brand X
I heard that some years ago, there was a problem with Sanwa servos and other brand…Z connector.
hi
the older airtronics servos used to have a non-standard order to the plug wires , but all new servos have a standard pattern for the wire order
1= ground - usually black
2= positive ( the middle wire ) - usually red
3= signal - usually yellow or orange or white and others
you have to be carefull to plug the plug in correctly but it is common now to mix brands of servo and receivers as in hitech servos with futaba radios
servo can come with two styles of plug that are very similar and with minor trimming will fit either style plug
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUZ89&P=ML
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUZ90&P=ML
the links above show two hitech servos that are the same except for the plug,
one has a Futaba-J Connector.and the other has a Hitec, JR, or Airtronics-Z Style Connector
mixing receivers with transmitters is another story
futaba and jr transmitters have a different standard for thier signals , called positive and negative shift , they are not compatible with eachother , so in mixing brands of tx’s and rx’s you have to be carefull to get the right shift rx to match your tx
as in , say you have a futaba tx , you can go to tower and order a hitech reciever to go with it , you can also order the same rx that will work with a jr tx , some of the new rx’s will automatically sense what shift your tx is and configure themselves to work properly
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCXM8&P=7
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCXM9&P=7
again the above links show two rx’s that are the same except one is for futaba and the other is for jr
again its common to mix brands of tx’s and rx’s , you just have to be carefull to order the proper shift to match your tx
i’ve probably made this just that much more confuseing for you , the easy way to deal with it is to be sure to tell the salesperson what brand of tx you are useing when you order additional radio gear