Waterproof Servos??

If I were you I wouldn't bother with waterproofing servos. Your challenge as a floatplane pilot is to not dump the plane. If your plane ends up underwater it was probably your last flight of the day anyway, and your next step will be to dry everything out. Radio gear tends to work just fine once you get the water out, if any gets in, which it will do only if the plane goes totally underwater.

I've done a little bit of float flying and I never had a plane go under. My buddy stuck a Cub in a tree next to the pond and we got some rainwater in a transmitter, but we never had a plane go underwater. It's just not worth worrying about. Pick a nice day when the wind is calm and the surface is smooth and have fun.

Robbie that is a good answer about not dumping your plane under water.

However, I was interested in a water proof answer because I want to put the water rudder servo inside the float. In this case, waterproof would be a plus.

I have two old Airtronics servos that were built water proof but I haven't used them yet because they are large.

Robbie/Laura, I agree that keeping the inside of the airplane dry is the key ingredient but what I was more concerned about were servos that are exposed. Sorry, I wasn't clear on that so I'll expound a bit. I have flown my Telemaster on floats probably 20 times and it is a blast. The servo waterproofing issue comes up in two cases. One, is my float setup where there is a servo mounted directly in the top of one float. If you can keep water out of the servo, it works well and is very simple to set up. I take the floats off and on about 5 times a season. No complicated linkages, cables etc... and mounting my floats takes about 3 minutes since the rudder is simply a servo plug-in! I had some jitter in the servo after the first day of float flying and then (after drying it out) I applied the techniques below to my servo and have flown it through three float fly outings since with not a twitch and all works well. That servo occasionally is awash during taxi or with certain wave action hitting the sides of the floats but apparently remains bone dry inside. The second instance where waterproofing seemed useful was with a friends new Goldberg Hot Stick that he decided to put on floats... 'cause we can!!! He has 4 wing servos mounted in the bottom of it's wing and they get a lot of spray off the floats. Especially since this thing has massive control surfaces, you definitely don't want uncontrolled movement! We decided that we were better safe than sorry so we did all 4 using the same routine. It's the most aerobatic float plane you've ever seen. Aileron rolls that test the float mount strength to it's maximum for sure. On this plane we used a flex cable and connected to the rudder servo arm directly and it works well. It's not quite as precise or strong as my direct rod connection, but it kept us from having to waterproof another servo! Anyway, it was after waterproofing the 4 servos in his wing the other night (was still easier than remounting them inside the wing!) that we started wondering about waterproof servos. Sorry to get so long winded and thanks for the response.

Jack

"Robbie and Laura Reynolds" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@kcnet.com...

I'm not arguing with you for sure, but I like to keep things simple. Instead of having a water rudder on the float, I used a water rudder that installed in place of the tailwheel on my planes. It's the same linkage, except that instead of a wheel it has a long wire with a little rudder about the size of a large postage stamp soldered on. It works great.

Other than that I don't have anything to offer about waterproofing servos. I just wish I had a decent place to fly float planes around here.

Jack Sallade wrote:

Refer to "Water Proof A Servo " under sub section "Servo & TX alterations, calculators, clonepacs, make an ESC or winch, FAQ." of "Radio Systems, Accessories, Alterations and FAQ" at Alan's Hobby, Model & RC Web Links

HS-765HB Sail Arm servos, [spec sheet = ] HS-785HB Winch [spec sheet = ] and similar other servos are described as being "Water & Dust tight" (= water resistant) not water proof. "O" rings around screws, case and especially an output shaft do not last for long with an uneven load usually on one side. Even factory applied heavy duty electrical silicon applied around the output leads does not last long due to flexing of the leads which results in the silicon separating from the case. - most common water damage seen is where water runs down the leads, onto the circuit board. Saline water usually results in instant death of the board. IMHO, I doubt any manufacturer of servos designed for typical cheapskate RC modelers' use will ever claim their servos are water proof.

regards Alan T. Alan's Hobby, Model & RC Web Links

That is what I do, also. It does not look "exactly" scale, but it works well, and the hassle factor is very low.

I have it set up as and additional fin, below the fuselage, and the linkage is attached to the fin to give you the water rudder.

To change, remove the tailwheel, add the fin, and hook up the water linkage. Easy.

Why don't you just put the servo in a waterproof container and then figure out how to get the pushrod/wires out of that container. It seems like that would be a lot easier than trying to keep the water out of the servo... Just a thought tho...

Jeremy

In the spirit of your "wouldn't it be easier to" idea, that's exactly why I wire everything just like a regular land plane, and drop a long music wire down below the rudder with a water rudder. I don't want to add anything to the floats, including linkage, signal wires, or movable surfaces.