RC servo without the RC?

[Rvjimd]

Hey folks,

I'm trying to use an old standard size futaba servo for my barge winch motor.

My question is, can I hook this servo up to four or five volts and use it without the radio RX/TX?

I would love to be able to run it from a few nimh or nicad cells and still use the pot and signal to control the speed and direction.

Perfect installation would be with a control knob on the dock someplace next to the servo and battery to control speed and direction. If the speed was constant that would be okay also. Just need to run either direction, or stop.

I should add, I want to use the old futaba analog servos because I have several just lying around that will not ever get used for anything else AND I thought the low gearing would be pretty good for the barge winching application.

Jim