I just bought all the parts to put a foamie Extra 260 together. I got everything assembled but I am waiting on the receiver to show up. I bought a berg 4 channer receiver. I have a stupid question. I know the battery plugs into the esc then they have a plug that goes from the esc to the receiver on the throttle port. Now how does the receiver get its power? Is it backfed from the esc are do you have to suply power seperately to the receiver?

Thanks, Mike

Yes, your receiver power comes in from the esc. One of the three wires is power, one is ground and one is signal. The signal wire is for the throttle and as the other two state, one powers the unit and the other provides the ground path for the circut.

it should say in the manual if you forget what ryan said

The speed control will shut off power to the motor before the battery is dead so you can still control the plane to land it.

When I first started in RC, this was pretty confusing, and no manuals seemed to explain it, they just assumed you new what a "BEC" was and how it worked with the receiver. The power and ground pins for the receiver channels are all tied together. This means you can power the receiver by connecting a battery or regulator (aka BEC = Battery Eliminator Circuit) to the power/ground pins on any of the receiver channels. Many receivers have an extra connector on them just for a battery connection, but again, you can plug the battery or regulator into any channel to power up the receiver.

Most ESCs have a regulator or "BEC" built into them. The BEC takes the higher battery voltage and regulates it down to about 5V to power the receiver and servos. So the throttle connector from your ESC to the receiver actually powers the receiver and servos. The servos plug into the other channels on your receiver, and they receive their power through that connection. Since the ESC controls the power to the motor, it can cut off motor power when the battery voltage gets too low, and conserve power for the receiver and servos. This allows you to maintain control of your airplane and "dead-stick" land it if you run the battery down too low.

Yeah I noticed that on there manuals. Some are very vague. Someone could make a killing if they wrote a R/C for dummies book. Thanks for all you information, I'm sure you know how much this forum helps us newbies out.

Thanks, Mike