Motor brakes or mechanical?

[Ryu James]

DEAR MR DIRK DIGGLER,

i used mech brakes for quite a while and then recently put motor brakes to the test. i didnt like the motor brakes as much and i did not notice any longer run time. if the regenerative theory is even true i dont think it amounts to anything that will give you more power or run time.

after 20 minutes of hard and fast practice on a tight track with many turns i have never noticed even the slightest fade in my setup. maybe others do with lower quality pads but if you get halfway decent pads this is not an issue. also, at the track i can take the turns tighter than anyone else running motor brakes because i am able to set bias to the rear allowing me to sort of "powerslide" into the turn...kinda like drifting. mech. brakes add a total of 2 ounces to your setup. hardly anything that will hurt you and weight you could easily makeup somewhere else by getting lighter components in other places on the car.

i think the guys that like motor brakes are guys that have never really raced with, or even tried, mechanical brakes. i was guilty of this myself against motor brakes but after some convincing arguments i tried them out, hoping i would like it. i wasnt sold.

motor brakes do have tons of power though and are able to lock up as easily as mech brakes. the difference is you cant adjust bias.

and mech brakes are definitley more efficient for your motor. with mech brakes you can have braking and reverse set to 0% so your motor is not working at all when you brake. ideally though you set your esc to about 10-20% motor braking and use mech brakes. the motor braking is nearly non existent and the brakes do most of the work....just like a real car that is a manual. to slow down you shift down and let out the clutch so the motor takes a little bit of load off the brakes. also helps to eliminate chance of brake fading.

if motor braking really was better we would all just drive our real cars without brakes and just shift down when we needed to stop. i know thats not an apples to apples comparison but you get my point.

if you want efficiency, performance, and cooler temps then you want to run mech brakes. try them both and let the proof do the talking.

DEAR MR DIRK DIGGLER

[sleebus.jones]

Originally Posted by Ryu James

and mech brakes are definitley more efficient for your motor. with mech brakes you can have braking and reverse set to 0% so your motor is not working at all when you brake.

Huh? The motor isn't "working" when you brake, it's using the battery as a load and dumping the power there. Your argument doesn't make any sense.

FWIW, I've tested this with my eagletree and I can see amperage and voltage go UP when I brake, which is proof positive of regen braking. Think of it this way, if you didn't use regen braking, where would that energy go? Where's the load to dissipate it? Surely not through the FETs. It's regen.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by sleebus.jones

Huh? The motor isn't "working" when you brake, it's using the battery as a load and dumping the power there. Your argument doesn't make any sense.

FWIW, I've tested this with my eagletree and I can see amperage and voltage go UP when I brake, which is proof positive of regen braking. Think of it this way, if you didn't use regen braking, where would that energy go? Where's the load to dissipate it? Surely not through the FETs. It's regen.

Have a closer read of Ryu James's sentence that you quoted.

[Ryu James]

Originally Posted by sleebus.jones

Huh? The motor isn't "working" when you brake, it's using the battery as a load and dumping the power there. Your argument doesn't make any sense.

FWIW, I've tested this with my eagletree and I can see amperage and voltage go UP when I brake, which is proof positive of regen braking. Think of it this way, if you didn't use regen braking, where would that energy go? Where's the load to dissipate it? Surely not through the FETs. It's regen.

my point is that the motor is not having to "work" to slow down the vehicle cuz the mech brakes do this. i am sure energy is still being spent in small amounts of course but the motor is basically freely rolling if you set your esc brakes to 0% and reverse to 0%. it must be working less than it would be when slowing down a 9 lb truggy all by itself, right?