Brakes - mechanical or ESC
 

What are people favouring, disc brakes or using the ESC to stop the car?

I prefer mechanical brakes so I can alter front and rear. I have seen alot of conversions that state they allow the use of mechanical brakes but they usually mean only the front brake. The Tekno RC conversion allows for both front and rear brakes to be used with or without a clutch.

I like the simplicity of the ESC brakes, I can adjust them easily from the controller and when i break it stops consistently all the time.

well, will have to see what my motor mount allows me to run I guess, I am thinking that mechanical brakes will be easier on the ESC and more tuneable, but then the ESC brakes is less equipment.

Mechanical brakes are easier on the motor and allow it to run cooler. Some motors have not been able to cope with the braking and acceleration power required and the magnets have let go of the rotor. ESC braking also takes a bit more power than mechanical brakes.

very true

I dont run leccy but if i was to it would be mechanical brakes with an electro clutch, adjustable brake bias (very helpfull 50/50 brakes just doesnt work) and smoother take up of power also handy on loose surfaces

Yeah, I think you have the right idea. It would in my opinion be far too demanding on the ESC. In my experience on 1:10th even running some levels of drag brake on an ESC can cause problems. So I wouldn't even like to consider the demand it would cause in 1:8th.


Julius.

AND just think of the power saving youd have by not using the main battery for brakes!!! 30 mins stops anyone???

My Tekin RX8 T8 combo runs perfectly with esc brakes, after a little tweeking I found the esc brakes very good. Infact I found them more consistant than my nitro car brakes.

I'd go for esc brakes less clutter and weight in the car

well, I got the center bulkhead built with the brakes fitted, it won't take long to switch between esc and mechanical brakes.

I do see one advantage over the ESC brakes, using mechanical, in that when you brake using the ESC brakes, your effectively stopping the centre diff, so if one axle becomes unloaded, the braking will transfer to there, whereas with the mech brakes, you brake the centre diff outputs, so should have more consistant brakes.

That is the same conclusion I came to as well so I have stuck with the mechanical brakes.

AFAIK ESC brakes just progressively short the windings of the motor out to give the braking effect, it doesn't actually use any power to do it. Quite the opposite in fact, if you remember some of the earlier ESC's were advertising 'regenerative braking' which charged your 1200 SC's back up under brakes for a couple of seconds extra runtime :lol:

That was certainly true with brushed Rich, but I'm pretty sure it uses battery power to stop the motor with brushless.

Nope, not according to the manufacturers statements on other forums.
But the extra battery drain caused by running an extra servo, and extra weight due to the extra running gear, surely does.

I'd guess it depends what your background is, if you are a nitro racer you will be used to the feel and the setup of mechanical brakes.

electric racers will be at home with the feel of electric brakes

you can certainly save a lot of weight if you went with electric only brakes, but on the flipside, you will save some heat if you go mechanical

I wasn't sure, hence the AFAIK :)

Surely it's the same system, the magnet and windings have swapped places but they interact in the same way?

No Rich, it is different, as you are pulsing phases to rotate a magnet, brushed is a different tech, and you can regenerate energy under braking.

Chris, with the centre diff, it won't brake the same as a 10th 4wd buggy with no centre diff?

I used elec brakes last year no problem, in fact very very good stopping power. Never ran mechanical so don't know about comparing power drain etc, I'm sure heat would be less with mech though. I'd ha e no worries sticking to elec brakes next time I have am elec 8th...

If you set up the ESC correctly then they should be OK. As I understand it then you can get voltage spikes by setting the brakes super high and just grabbing a handful with high voltage setups (6S)...but then you would lock up anyway so not ideal really.

Set the brakes correctly and the other settings to suit then you should be fine and it's nice and progressive. You can then very easily add or remove braking % to match the traction too....

Then if you grab a handful of brake you slow nicely without locking...I've found this to be the case on my Mamba Monster in the 8T.

I agree mech brake is more "efficient" but listen your driving makes a bigger difference. If your a herky jerky gun the throttle then slam the brakes at every turn sorta racer and your running low on battery every race, get mech brakes.

But if you watch the pros you'll notice they are very smooth and deliberate and use braking sparingly (some little to none), this can buy you way more battery and speed than mech brakes and is easier on your car's drive train. Also, ESC brakes stop just as good, unless you like using them for brake turning like gas guys are used to as they brake in to whip the car around and bleep out. Electrics typically slow with brakes before entering the turn (if needed) then glide thru and accelerate out. Sorta how your supposed to do turns. Plus the brakes can be lightened up at the controller if its slick out there.

During a recent race, the race director surprised us with a change from 15min to 25min main and while most guys resorted to a battery changes, I chanced it by turning my throttle travel down 30% and being very light to the touch on the throttle as if I was a 2wd on a dusty/glassy smooth track where I had to carry my weight and have NO excess wheel spin. This smooth/calmed down driving strategy had me have ZERO crashes during the race, no battery change, same lap times as the guys hauling ass and me winning the race. The real kicker was where I usually got 380mah/minute on that track with my truggy I got 235mah/minute that run, a 38% increase in efficiency!

So F@$K 5-10% mech braking efficiency gains. Work on smooth yet fast driving with minimal wheel spin and not only will you be more "efficient" but have less mechanical crap to go wrong, less cost (added gear and servo) and longer lasting cars.

Thats just my opinion, you can drive like a nitro guy if you want.

+1 on what jasonwipf said.