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View Full Version : MR-03 Steering Servo noisy


Phenochilus
2009.11.02, 08:04 PM
Just wondering if anyone else with an MR-03 is experiencing the same as myself.

The digital steering servo is noisy and sounds like it's contantly trying to center the steering and occassionally the front wheels will shudder.

I have read in the manual under the troubleshooting section, and it says that this is not abnormal with this new digital servo.

I guess I want to be sure that other people are experiencing the same thing and if not, I'll probably need to open the chassis up and see what I can do with the steering servo pot.

EMU
2009.11.02, 08:14 PM
Mine sounds noisy as well.

MantisMMA
2009.11.02, 10:01 PM
you can fix via the ICS settings

ruf
2009.11.03, 12:42 AM
Not sure about the MR-03, but this trait is common with digital servos. They have better holding torque and are constantly trying to find center or the correct position resulting in more noise compared with less accurate analog servos.

herman
2009.11.03, 01:26 AM
i think i'm more inclined to agree with ruf... regarding more noise...

instead of stating it below...
"...this is not abnormal with this new digital servo."
(kinda like a double negative - well to me that is)

i would've suggested...
"...this is normal with this new digital servo''
since "not abnormal = normal" for me, it kinda clears up the confusion...
plus it sounds more positive... (hmm... was that a double positive?)

greenepa76
2009.11.05, 10:22 AM
I notice some are worse than others. We race two other 03's here at work and mine seems the most quiet. It reminds me of my helicopter tail servo, but there isn't a gyro attached to compensate for it changing direction. The digital servo doesn't bother me as it centers very well for a car this small and with the car running toe out, it still tracks really well on the straights. The car is a little twitchy compared the 02's.

Jace1283
2009.11.05, 10:34 AM
yeah mine sounds a little busy too at center but the steering functions perfectly, doesn't worry me at all.

Half
2009.11.05, 12:22 PM
yeah mine sounds a little busy too at center but the steering functions perfectly, doesn't worry me at all.

that makes us two...

bermbuster
2009.11.05, 12:30 PM
you can fix via the ICS settings

if you make changes to quiet the servo....the servo becomes less accurate and then your 03 will react like an 02....
when I hear noise I turn up the Music....:cool:

Tjay
2009.11.05, 01:38 PM
I hear this noise as well. Have you guys looked at the front wheels while it's lifted from the ground? On one of the 03's that I worked on, everytime I hear the noise, I see the front wheels moving erratically. It is like having a dirty pot on an MR02 with AM board.

Half
2009.11.07, 09:33 AM
I hear this noise as well. Have you guys looked at the front wheels while it's lifted from the ground? On one of the 03's that I worked on, everytime I hear the noise, I see the front wheels moving erratically. It is like having a dirty pot on an MR02 with AM board.

The servo does make a huge noise, but front wheels (in air) don't move at all.
Perhaps that mr03's servo is not okay...

leonen
2009.12.15, 02:14 PM
I received mine last week.
Saturday I took it anxiously to the track....

I noted the servo noise from the first moment, but didn't bother too much. And in the track, the car went straight.... so I though "it's no big deal" .

But every each other lap somewhere in the track the car had a funny reaction, as if any kind of interference was acting upon it.... strange as it's 2.4, but well, this got worse as laps went by. Until suddenly the car went straight into a curve without reacting to what i was telling it to do from the radio - this is to turn left or right - More inteference???

I took the car off the track, and check again in my hands and beyond the servo noise, i noticed that the wheels moved smoothly to the left, but, when I turned right, a small bump appeared in between the movement of the wheels.

I thought maybe some debris had gotten inside the servo, so i opened up the cover and using compressed air tried cleaning it. Closed it back up again, and no the steering was smoother to both sides. Great i thought... let's race!

But, after 3 or 4 laps the car begun to do the same as before and even worse: steering got completely unresponsive. Took the cover off again and found out that the fifth gear - the one that's attached to the pot - was moving freely.

Back home i dismantled the servo, and took a pic to zoom in on the gears. and I found out the 4th gear, was completely wipe out!!!! as shown in the pics.

Now, this car had no more that 20 laps max. It's incredible this happened. But even more incredible is that no store has MR03 servo gears available!!!!

It's really disappointing but well just wanted to share.

Traveler
2009.12.15, 02:20 PM
Hate to hear about your problems. I think AM is already carrying Kyosho parts and the others won't be far behind. But if you contact Kyosho and send them the pics, they may just send you the replacement part. Good luck!

leonen
2009.12.15, 02:26 PM
Thanks traveller... i'm into that already.

Anyway it's also worth mentioning that it's about the only replacement part that's "out of stock" everywhere.

Tjay
2009.12.15, 02:30 PM
Sorry to hear. I haven't seen or heard anyone with the same problem. I'm sure if you contact kyosho's customer service, they'll take care of you.

Thank you for sharing.

CristianTabush
2009.12.15, 02:39 PM
Thanks traveller... i'm into that already.

Anyway it's also worth mentioning that it's about the only replacement part that's "out of stock" everywhere.

Nestor, we have them in stock...

This was a problem with the cars as well. DO NOT RUN YOUR MR-03 WITHOUT setting your steering end points. This servo is much stronger and will strip gears if they are not set-up properly.

leonen
2009.12.15, 02:47 PM
Cool Chris!!! I'm setting the oreder up right now then!!!

Well... i used a new memory set in my Helios for this car... And never used more than 90 in steering travel....

CristianTabush
2009.12.15, 02:58 PM
The end points should be set at no more than 50-52 L/R and Dual Rate at 100, not more than this... Make sure you do this correctly because 100 L/R with 90 on D/R is too much...

leonen
2009.12.15, 03:20 PM
Wellll the default on the Helios is 100 steering travel and 70% steering balance to each side.

I haven't read anywhere that 50 was the correct value..... It's really a small value for this....

CristianTabush
2009.12.15, 04:22 PM
That is the default on the Helios, but not the correct setting for the 03. Ben Lee used an oscilloscope to measure the settings on the 02, they seem to be the same as the 03.

KO Propo America also corroborated these settings a while back. The case was with the 02, the gears would not strip because there was less torque on the servo and less gears, but the settings are within 1-2 clicks on ALL my 2.4GHz cars. I actually use the same model setting for all my cars :P

Skv012a
2009.12.15, 05:00 PM
The end points should be set at no more than 50-52 L/R and Dual Rate at 100, not more than this... Make sure you do this correctly because 100 L/R with 90 on D/R is too much...

Hey Christian, what are the names for both settings on Ko units?

CristianTabush
2009.12.15, 05:11 PM
Steering balance set at 50/50
Steering travel at 100

This should be max steering

lfisminiz
2009.12.15, 06:49 PM
Cristian, just to make sure....steering travel, max at 100. Is that right? I guess i thought travel was supposed to be 70 MAX. Let me know.


LARRY:)

Skv012a
2009.12.15, 07:37 PM
Want to ask the same, now travel is 100 instead of 70?

arch2b
2009.12.15, 08:19 PM
ko propo has posted some transmitter settings.

leonen
2009.12.15, 10:28 PM
Ok.. anyway it's amazing this can happen.

I remember that post from KO where they said that the max for travel should be 70 on the Helios's just because of the 2.4 PCBs of the 02.... but really couldn't imagine that using wrong dettings could destroy a car like it did with my 03 in so few laps.

Skv012a
2009.12.15, 10:48 PM
Well its definitely one heck of a strong servo they packed in there now.

Tjay
2009.12.18, 01:15 PM
I hear this noise as well. Have you guys looked at the front wheels while it's lifted from the ground? On one of the 03's that I worked on, everytime I hear the noise, I see the front wheels moving erratically. It is like having a dirty pot on an MR02 with AM board.

Oh, so I posted this here... I honestly don't care about the noise. I'm more concern about the wheels moving erractically. I think I was able to minimize the shaking. Check it out (http://fastpaceracing.com/content/mr03-steering-not-centering)!

Half
2009.12.18, 03:48 PM
Oh, so I posted this here... I honestly don't care about the noise. I'm more concern about the wheels moving erractically. I think I was able to minimize the shaking. Check it out (http://fastpaceracing.com/content/mr03-steering-not-centering)!

Holly f***.
I've seen reports on the servo acting "weird" but nothing major like your "stock" car. From the 1st moment that is way out of normal!
Does the car even go straight?!?

Skv012a
2009.12.18, 03:59 PM
Mine is probably almost as loud as the unfixed sample, but the steering is solid and dead-on. Makes me wonder, but at the same time makes me leave it alone lol.

Tjay
2009.12.18, 04:00 PM
Most of the MR03's I've seen are doing the same as the stock car. My first MR03 was doing this also.

Yes it does, but little adjustment on the steering wheel makes the car unstable on the straight-away. This 'stock' car was bought last week with probably less than 3 hours of runtime.

I've tried messing with the ICS settings but that didn't do anything for the steering. Right now, I just want it to be exactly like the 'mod' car, smoother steering.

dxm2
2009.12.18, 04:36 PM
Someone on the forum posted a pic of a trashed servo gear. Have you taken a look at the servo gears? If the new motor is more powerful than the old one, and the steering endpoints are set too narrow at the factory, could it strip out the servo gears?

Tjay
2009.12.18, 04:53 PM
Nothing wrong with the servo gears.

The new motor will definitely strip the gears if not adjusted on the tx properly.

color01
2009.12.18, 06:30 PM
That is most certainly NOT normal behavior, thank goodness you fixed it. I wonder if securing the steering pot on the 03's servo will help it as much as it does the 02s.

Half
2009.12.18, 06:34 PM
Most of the MR03's I've seen are doing the same as the stock car. My first MR03 was doing this also.

Yes it does, but little adjustment on the steering wheel makes the car unstable on the straight-away. This 'stock' car was bought last week with probably less than 3 hours of runtime.

I've tried messing with the ICS settings but that didn't do anything for the steering. Right now, I just want it to be exactly like the 'mod' car, smoother steering.

Mine is right from the "1st" batch, I will indeed have a look on the servo gears now. Still I haven't detected any problem with my car, no steering glitch, no fet fries (I've mount one 70T up to 3 times), and/or other problem.
Perhaps only thing I'll do now is polish the front king pins, they didn't came as bad as yours and CT but it's worth doing it.
It's really weird that 2 out of 3 of your cars have problems, really really weird...

pfcparts
2009.12.18, 07:36 PM
I think if you hear a little noise now and then your fine,
but excessive noise and rocking like that isn't what they
were talking about lol.

Curious tj, what are your ics settings?

Anything that bad I experienced was with high GAIN
or too high PNCH with DUMP over I think.

High GAIN seems to be noisy even with PNCH turned
down to 1. Servo seems perfectly capable of running
at 1 though (as opposed to the MR02 at 10 lol!) so do
believe in the stripping power... :eek:

Mine is basically stock with the exception of
V.INERTIA at 0 and PNCH up to 3-4 depending
on what wheels I have on it.

All the 03s I've tried had run fine and have responded to
ics settings pretty well...


parts

Tjay
2009.12.19, 10:29 AM
ICS settings is at default on both cars.

Color01: yes! Super glueing the pot onto the gear helped it.

What I also notice with the "mod" car was, when you hold the front wheel (car OFF) and move it left to right, it (mod car) had a very tight feel than the stock car. The stock car servo gears felt very, very smooth like there's no servo gears inside.

My mod car is insanely precise! I love that thing. Today, I will mess around with the ics and see if that'll help.

Half
2009.12.19, 07:29 PM
What I also notice with the "mod" car was, when you hold the front wheel (car OFF) and move it left to right, it (mod car) had a very tight feel than the stock car. The stock car servo gears felt very, very smooth like there's no servo gears inside.


If it helps, my 03 steering movement is kinda smooth the firsts 10% or so, the rest 90% of steering angle are very tight and kinda seem a "lock feel" once their fully turn left or right.

Skv012a
2009.12.19, 09:09 PM
Also wanted to add that despite the noise and possible tiny movement, mine tracked PERFECTLY straight for an hour or so I got to play with it last weekend. Smooth looong hallway where RM setup would've spun out instantly had the steering twitched even a little and nothing of that sort happened. So if it sounds rather busy on idle but keeps straight, it might be just fine.

Tjay
2009.12.19, 10:36 PM
If it helps, my 03 steering movement is kinda smooth the firsts 10% or so, the rest 90% of steering angle are very tight and kinda seem a "lock feel" once their fully turn left or right.

Yup my mod car is the same as yours however, both of my other cars are not. Although after the fix, they're both fine now.

blt456
2009.12.20, 04:16 PM
Hey TJ jw.. my car has some noise but has no twitch like your mod car.. is the noise good? thanks :)

Tjay
2009.12.20, 09:29 PM
Hey TJ jw.. my car has some noise but has no twitch like your mod car.. is the noise good? thanks :)

Hey Luke,

How you been? The noise is normal and the twitch too only if it looks like video 3 & 4.

Interesting, after glueing the pot, I have zero noise and almost zero twitch.

Phenochilus
2009.12.21, 04:08 AM
Oh, so I posted this here... I honestly don't care about the noise. I'm more concern about the wheels moving erractically. I think I was able to minimize the shaking. Check it out (http://fastpaceracing.com/content/mr03-steering-not-centering)!


My mr03 wheels move erratically just like your stock car on the left so you're not alone. It did this straight out of the box.

It was bought as a preorder from a reputable japanese hobby shop so I think it's from the first batch, however it does have solder on the motor tabs on the pcb.

I'm eagerly awaiting for your write up on how to fix/minimise it...:D

Tjay
2009.12.21, 04:40 AM
:) thanks! Most of these guys read the forums but they don't post. When we posted the steering glitch fix, the site made 360+ hits within 24 hrs and only had like couple of posts here. In two days, the site was being watched around the globe and link was posted in the other forums as well... I know I'm not alone. ;) they just choose to read and send me message. Lol... Anyway, Just yerterday I saw a MR03, brand new off the package with the steering glitch... Did I mention Off the package?

I will post a quick tutorial on how I did mine. I'm sure there's other ways but mine seemed to work well and so far, I haven't seen the front wheel moving like that. I'll post it tomorrow or in a few hours. :)

HaCo
2009.12.21, 09:40 AM
I added a link to your site and blog on mini-z.be and of course to this topic as well ;)

JeremyC
2009.12.21, 10:27 AM
:) thanks! Most of these guys read the forums but they don't post. When we posted the steering glitch fix, the site made 360+ hits within 24 hrs and only had like couple of posts here. In two days, the site was being watched around the globe and link was posted in the other forums as well... I know I'm not alone. ;) they just choose to read and send me message. Lol... Anyway, Just yerterday I saw a MR03, brand new off the package with the steering glitch... Did I mention Off the package?

I will post a quick tutorial on how I did mine. I'm sure there's other ways but mine seemed to work well and so far, I haven't seen the front wheel moving like that. I'll post it tomorrow or in a few hours. :)

So you are saying that your fix resolved this problem?

Tjay
2009.12.21, 10:35 AM
So you are saying that your fix resolved this problem?

By securing the pot with the servo gears, yes. This eliminates the problem I was having with the steering.

JeremyC
2009.12.21, 11:50 AM
By securing the pot with the servo gears, yes. This eliminates the problem I was having with the steering.

Was the problem that the car wouldn't track straight consistently?

Skv012a
2009.12.21, 12:16 PM
By securing the pot with the servo gears, yes. This eliminates the problem I was having with the steering.

Kinda funny how we all jumped to the wires on the board vs checking the pot, no?

Tjay
2009.12.21, 01:03 PM
Kinda funny how we all jumped to the wires on the board vs checking the pot, no?

yeah, especially knowing that we came from AM cars to where cleaning the "pot" is mandatory. :D

They're two different things.

1. Steering glitch= on-power steering twitch (posted on "NEW MR03" thread)
2. Steering not centering= on idle, front steering moves left-to-right erratically (posted on this thread).

blt456
2009.12.21, 03:05 PM
Yeah my car makes some noise but no glitch...here are the servo gears.. thanks TJ :D

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r198/blt45/th_MVI_2250.jpg (http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r198/blt45/?action=view&current=MVI_2250.flv)

Tjay
2009.12.21, 03:09 PM
Luke: you just gave me some serious headache. lol...

yeah, I dont see anything wrong with your steering (glitch/twitch). The noise is normal.

blt456
2009.12.21, 03:19 PM
Sorry lol..wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong w/ it..

Tjay
2009.12.21, 06:51 PM
I'm eagerly awaiting for your write up on how to fix/minimise it...:D

Hi Phenochilus,

Please excuse the quickness of this tutorial as I am quite tired today... I think I posted few tut on FPR's site.

Here you go (http://fastpaceracing.com/content/erratic-steering-movement-fix).

EMU
2009.12.21, 08:05 PM
TJ, any thoughts on glueing the rear of the pot to the black plastic holder behind it (where the 2 bumps are) to prevent the pot from moving in the chassis? I like that fix, I have done it to many MR01's and F1's. I had to do it on a few MR02/015s, but not as much. I havent done it to ANY AWD cars, but I may try it with one of my cars that doesnt track as straight.

Do you think that the gear is loose or tight on the pot? I have yet to open my MR03...

Tjay
2009.12.22, 01:25 AM
TJ, any thoughts on glueing the rear of the pot to the black plastic holder behind it (where the 2 bumps are) to prevent the pot from moving in the chassis? I like that fix, I have done it to many MR01's and F1's. I had to do it on a few MR02/015s, but not as much. I havent done it to ANY AWD cars, but I may try it with one of my cars that doesnt track as straight.

I did this to my AWD car as well. Not sure about the 03 though. Maybe someone can try it. :)


Do you think that the gear is loose or tight on the pot? I have yet to open my MR03...

I assumed mine was loose so I glued it. This is what I usually do to my 02's..

Phenochilus
2009.12.22, 07:09 AM
Hi Phenochilus,

Please excuse the quickness of this tutorial as I am quite tired today... I think I posted few tut on FPR's site.

Here you go (http://fastpaceracing.com/content/erratic-steering-movement-fix).


Thanks TJ for the tutorial.

I am extremely happy to report that your tutorial has fixed the erratic steering movement problem on my mr03. My mr03 has been sitting on a stand with the wheels off the ground for the past hour and the front wheels have not twitched at all. The steering of the wheels both left and right is now more smooth and precise. It no longer twitches when not at full lock. :D

It took me two attempts to get it right.:o

First attempt, I put too much ca glue on the top of the pot knob, which when pressed up against the servo gears, smeared the ca glue further back on the knob causing it to bind the pot's plastic round dust protector (not sure what it's called). I re-assembled the car, tested it and woah, it was worse. The steering went crazy...:eek:

Second attempt, I removed all the ca glue from the parts, removed the pot's plastic dust protector, and blasted the innards of the pot with some electronic cleaning solvent. I then turned the pot knob by hand to ensure that the plastic dust cover wasn't binding and turning with it. I then put a pin drop of ca glue on top of the pot knob and reassembled following your tutorial, ensuring that the servo gears were moving as freely as possible. I proceeded to test it again, and it now works flawlessly.

Thank you so much for your help with this, you've given my mr03 a new lease of life :):):)

Tjay
2009.12.22, 07:53 AM
You're welcome! :) I too had to do it twice and this is the reason why I keep mentioning to be very careful when working on this. Some of the guys may say that you can just use the ca debonder but the problem with that is, it may also remove the glue that holds the stationary dial inside the pot.

Btw, thank you for sharing your input. :)

JeremyC
2009.12.22, 10:53 AM
I assume you guys are using regular CA. This stuff is great if you need capillary action to get into small spaces, but is a disaster if you are trying to not make a mess.

I highly recommend a Gel style CA glue. It is more like tooth paste than water, and doesn't make a mess. Yet it is still CA so it makes a strong bond.

This is what I use: http://www.loctiteproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=15&subid=34&plid=195

I use regular CA glue as well as the gel doesn't work in all situations, because it doesn't flow into cracks.

Tjay
2009.12.22, 12:01 PM
I assume you guys are using regular CA. This stuff is great if you need capillary action to get into small spaces, but is a disaster if you are trying to not make a mess.

I highly recommend a Gel style CA glue. It is more like tooth paste than water, and doesn't make a mess. Yet it is still CA so it makes a strong bond.

This is what I use: http://www.loctiteproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=15&subid=34&plid=195

I use regular CA glue as well as the gel doesn't work in all situations, because it doesn't flow into cracks.

That's awesome! Thanks JeremyC!