What is the purpose of having a Brake on a ESC ?

This question is aimed at fixed wing ac, btw.

Thanks for your input,

Bob

All I can tell you is what I like mine for. I have a foam plane with no landing gear which I simply plop onto its belly to land. In that situation I have the brake enabled so the prop stops as quickly as possible when I cut the throttle so the prop is no longer spinning when I touch down. This is all I have used mine for, but I am sure there are other reasons.

Thanks,


I would agree that is all it would be good for. I re set mine to
the Off position, it sounds much better lol.


Bob

They are also used on planes with folding props. If the brake is 'off' the motor will continue to turn and the propeller will not fold in properly.

Folding props help to reduce drag--traditionally used on sailplanes.

That make since too, thanks.

Bob

Little more to it than that.

The most effective way to slow down an aircraft with respect to the propellor is to have it spinning at a speed slower than the surrounding airstream. The least effective way is to have it completely stopped.

If you use "hard" brake - or on - when you close the throttle the prop will stop spinning entirely. When you use soft brake (or off) the prop will be spun by the motion of the aircraft through the air (like the wind driving a wind mill) - this will produce a much faster reduction in airspeed than if the prop blade was stationary.

For general powered application brake off is probably best, but if for example, you want to have a gliding contest with your power aircraft with your mate, just sneakily turn on your brake before you leave the ground. In glide with no power you will perform substantially better due to the reduced drag.

Cheers,
Oz.

I prefer to fly my planes with brake on so I can tell if the motor stops for any reason other than me putting the throttle to zero. This lets me know if there is a problem with the plane.

Thanks for your input. Have you had many or any
dead stick landings with E power ?


Bob

There are two times this tends to come up:

1. Have nuked the motor/ESC through yet again exceeding the recommended amp draw by 75% (or motor has failed in some other way)
or
2. Have run the battery dead.

Excluding my trainer, I've probably flown around 850 flights. I've probably lost power on less than 10 occasions:

Motor slipped it's mount - 1
Motor failed after collision with another aircraft - 1
Ran out of batteries - 4
RX/TX Failure - 3

7 of those problems were on one aircraft. By and large epower is very reliable. Just use a kitchen timer or something to track your airtime, and don't let flying buddies goad you into racing them when you know your battery is low (ask me how I know).

Every landing with my Wing Dragon and Firebird Phantom is dead stick. These are pusher planes and have a long glide. If I apply power they just hang in the air until I cut power.

My Slow Stick I can land either way, powered or not. It's a nice floater, too.

Great info guys, thank you. I learned about the kitchen timers
with my heli lol. I also use it when charging my lipos, I clip to
my jeans,so my old brain don't Forget.

Bob