ESC Brake - what it is, why to use it, how to activate it 

I wish all youtube videos were like this. Thanks.

Very informative and well presented. Many thanks.

I was on a forum and some guy was asking about ESC brakes and stuff, I simply gave him a link to this, and now he understands it perfectly so thanks for your knowledge. I really appreciate it :)

Great video! I would have given up on R/C Planes if it wasn't for these tutorials! I am SO Grateful for all the videos by Experimental Airlines

Great video, thank you! I first started using the brake on ESCs for folding props, as this is the only way to get them folded while flying.

If I use this info or not. This was a bunch of stuff I had not thought about and should. Thanks for another great video!

Thank's, had know idea how to go about enabling the break system. Looked for other sight to get more info yours is the best.

Thanks for this video. I have been championing the use of the ESC brake at the flying field for years, but one of my pals just refuses to program his ESCs despite all the benefits you mention in this video. I've just sent him a link to this video, hopefully he'll listen to you :-)

Thanks for all that really helpful advice. Those cards are worth their weight! Great vid!

Greetings from AZ. I learned about this from you years ago, and truly has helped me tremendously. Thank you.

I know I'm a little late to the game here, but braking is accomplished as a result of the ESC shorting the leads of the motor together, and when they are shorted out, maximum resistance is then applied to the windings and the magnets have a lot of trouble passing those coils (think extreme cogging) therefore locking the rotor up, to a certain degree, and causing a breaking effect... pretty simple actually. You can try it yourself on any permanent magnet motor by shorting the leads together and trying to turn the rotor by hand while doing so... you'll notice a huge difference and increase in cogging/ resistance

Just a couple comments; PWG was correct below when he said braking is achieved by the ESC bringing at least 2 of the motor leads together thus causing the motor to become a generator, thus being hard to turn because it's trying to produce power. Second thought is about a free wheeling prop; it has LESS drag than a stopped prop, just read the comments on any sail boat forum and you'll come across this same discussion. In fact math would indicate a stopped prop has about 3 times MORE drag than a free wheeler in a boating application. This doesn't affect the main point of this vid though, and I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing about braking.

I'd never thought about Breaking before, Thanks.

Hi Ed, Just had a 2200 3S lipo battery erupt in flames while charging. I knew one cell was low, but no error came up when I started the charge cycle. Not a particularly old battery, not puffed or visibly damaged. Praise the Lord, that the I didn't leave it unattended, my cement sheet bunker held, smoke detector and Supercheap auto fire extinguisher..

I love the programming cards. I fail miserably when trying to do it with the raido, ACK! Great video Sir.

I'm glad you made this video! I have a twin-engine plane by World Models ( looks like a Piper ) from NitroPlanes. One motor has the brake off, the other brake is on and I have never flown it because I didn't know my Dynam ESC cards might work ( it's the same programming card you showed ) with it. I'm certainly going to try it and see...wish me luck! Thanks again!!!

As a newcomer to Rc Flying this is very very useful thank you...

Great informative video, Ed - thanks for taking the time and effort to put this together to share with us!

Fantastic video and well explained Ed 😊👍 Now I feel safer with the brake on mode. Thanks!

Your video should be linked to any web page that reviews models that have this potential (i.e., Zohd Dart XL Extreme). I found this indirectly from one of Justin Davis' (Drone Camp RC) comments about the brake on the ESC. I didn't know what he was talking about, but it was enough to make me investigate this further. Thanks.

Setting start to soft is handy when using folding props. It avoids slamming the prop open violently when you throttle up. It's easier on equipment.

The braking force of the ESC most likely uses is 2 lead dynamic braking. So one phase is left open (No AC voltage applied) while the other 2 phases has an AC voltage applied as an effective single phase. The torque applied to one lead in one direction is canceled out by the opposite direction of torque applied on the 2nd lead. The braking force is determined by the voltage applied to the leads...that is why some ESC's seem to have harder braking force.

You got my Transmitter! Isn't that thing awesome!? I got a Taranis off to the side that, one day, I will try to use. But its so hard to think about trying that when I have my I-10. LOVE IT. Great video as always!

Your detailed explanation was spot on and very good to know. Well appreciated sir.

Great video sir 👍

Great video, very informative on this subject and using the programming card! Thanks for doing it.

“A stationary propellor has less drag than a freewheeling one”. The reverse is true and it’s why rubber powered free flight model aircraft for decades have had a free wheeling mechanism when the rubber has unwound to prolong flight duration significantly.

Ed, I hope this comment finds you, I just wanted to say it was great meeting at flite fest this year, I had the red noob tube with the balsa tail stab, u have been very helpful in my building techniques. Thanks, also Nafpv2016 is right around the corner, check it out, and maybe I'll see you there.

Interestingly a pretty in depth study determined that, depending on the length vs pitch of the prop, the drag could be more or less when stationary then windmilling. Apparantly its pretty complicated to figure out which one is better and there is no one answer.

Excellent video & topic sir! To be honnest I have to say not All ESC's come with the beep-beep-beep instructions :$ That card-thing really is the easiest bet

Cool video, Ed! I've grown to have an enabled brake on some planes and a disabled brake on others and I like the results. I've not seen a programming card like your Trust card but that looks easy enough. I really like the Turnigy Plush line of esc's and I have the button programming card for them. It's just so simple to make adjustments as needed at home or the field. Take care buddy!!!

Thank you sir, as always your videos are full of information.

Hi there, great video. Do you know if it's possible to implement "drag breaking" on a typical ESC this way? I'm using a similar type of ESC to control a vehicle on wheels and am trying to achieve a steady break instead of a hard stop. Any help would be very much appreciated thanks.

Nice video! Good info!

excellent explanation thank you good Sir

Great video! How's the TGY i10? I intend to buy it this summer. The price for the package looks too good to be true. But is is really that good?

i have a question for you ? with brushless outrunner rc aircraft motors is it possible to adjust the timing with just the motor mechanically without rebuilding or disassembly of the motor ? thanks for help.

I think the ESCs just short out the motor wires,the difference in breaking speed would depend on the resistance applied between the wires.

Help, please.....I shopped and the name Hobbywing keeps showing up - but there seem to be some for cars some for planes and the ones for planes see to be for certain model planes only- is there a generic card that will work for all or most esc ?

can u do a quick video on motor esc timing?

That is very interesting as in the manual of my Flyzone Cessna Corvalis they describe how to program the brake, and suggest to leave it deactivated.

Though I am not sure with the logic that you presented with reduced drag and minimal chance of breaking the prop on belly landing I do see the potential for more hang time when flying inverted with a mini rotor

Wonderful information, thanks for the info

Great video, as always kept simple and easy to understand (also for foreign speaker like me). Thanks for the good education. Graupner ESCs are also quite good programable, with help of the Hott telemetry with a GUI directly in the transmitter, and the adjustment possibilities are huge. Also I wanted to ask you if you could do a video about motor timings. You have spoken in this video pretty much about it and made me curious.

I can't find that exact program card you're using. Can you suggest a good one that's available today ? Thank you

A windmilling prop presents a lot more aerodynamic "flat plate" area than a braked prop producing induced drag. Great for a speed brake!!!

What does the Auto Rotatation restart timer mean? I've got the turnigy plush 32 programming card.

Any idea, is that regenerative brake or does it just plug up the motor?

Thank you. I learn a lot today.

is it possible to set that the break will always stop the prop horizontally?

You are a great man.

👍👍👍Very useful !!!!! But i have inquiry in the RC forums and they are saying that this is only possible with a retractil propeller. Nobody have hear of a ESC feature that recognice the propeller position and set the ESC accordingly to stop the motor at a specific position. I hope you can elaborate more on how the motor knows the position of the prop just by haaving the break mode on. Thanks

if you can get the prop to stop in horizontal position, great. mine keeps spinning slowly, like 1/4 turn per second and in the last few days since i have set the esc brake i have broken more props than in my life probably. if it does catch the ground with the brake on it has way more resistance to overcome compared to a brake off. choose wisely

Is there a way to program the brake using your transmitter?

1:10 that's absolutely false mate ! With esc braking, the motor is exerting some force to keep the propeller stopped, it is indeed slowing the aircraft more than if the prop was turning freely. It turns because wind is blown onto the prop (relative air speed). It's by no means comparable to a windmill. A windmill takes the force of the wind, which spins the blades and you use the rotational kinetic energy to produce work. In a windmill you put resistance on the shaft, which is the amount of work you get. With esc brake off, 0% throttle, the esc gives 0V to the motor, and it doesn't gives nor take any work to the prop. You can also see it from a more physical/fundamental perspective : The blades, as they turn freely due to the wind, their cross section relative to the airflow is the thickness of the blades (they slice the air like usually). But if you prevent them from turning, the cross section relative to the airflow of the very same blade is closer to its wideness (I'm not talking about the diameter here). Basically, it's the area of the propeller's shadow if the light comes along its axis of rotation. More surface against the airflow = more drag. Therefore what you stated here is a misconception. I will try to see if any difference is noticeable inflight, but esc braking is of course useful on belly landings !

Thank you for yet another informative and well articulated video. The problem I have is knowing what brand programing card works with what ESC? Example: My Turnigy card works on Hobby King ESC's but not Hi Tec Energy Sport ESC's, or Twisted Hobby ESC's. Very difficult to find out which cards work with what ESC's. You might need to buy several, or use only 1 brand of ESC to simplify. Bottom line: Using the brake is a good thing for multiple reasons, and yes, using the transmitter to set ESC is a pain in the %$&.

the "music" setting is a cell count setting. It assigns different music to each cell setting. Most escs have the cell count setting on auto as default.

Good clear info. Thanks.

Great video, I am going through this process right now. I bought some ZTW 30amp Spider opto ESCs, and put them on a quad copter. They are flashed with Simon K and don't seem to run right with the Naze 32 rev6 board I have in the quad. They seem to me to be running with the brake on, or the timing off. They won't rev up to full speed, and get real hot quick and the motors start to smoke. Anything flashed with BL heli works fine. I tried to flash them through the pass though feature on the Naze and using BL Heli suite, but the boot-loader is Simon K and it wont recognize them to do it I think, so I ordered a DYS USB adapter to flash them. I hope that works, because I tried the transmitter method, and it was next to impossible and the ZTW site had little if no info on how to do it with the transmitter, and what info they did have was hard to understand. I hope I didn't ruin my motors lol.

How about setting it on esc 4in1?

Very nice explanation.Congratulations.Tks Doug fm Brazil

Edd I got idea: Maybe you be willing! A lot these planes got CG problems when short servo rods! im only fly the pusher : because don't want break prop/ and... want use expensive ..carbon prop- quiet/ efficient! what I need is a lawn dart Bumper! Can you make 1 please!!! ??? Thinking like... big spring loaded shock/also like lawn dart.. stab up in ground: want break the wing see. idk

Thanks for the great info!

Great video! That is any way of doing this through the transmitter?

tell me i have a blheli 30amp esc and a c motor from flite test and if you turn on the brake it makes all kinds of squealing noises unless you are at full throttle or no throttle

how much long plz,

Thankyou Ed, a top tip 👍

Years ago a old timer advised me to increase the size of my prop, why? Because the wind milling of the prop would slow the plane when landing. Now I always install landing gear on my planes, even my NoobTube because I enjoy landing as the best part of my flight. Landing gear nearly eliminates broken props providing it's a smooth landing.

Hey what would you recommend for a first time scratch build? Thanks for the help

Its perfect for crawling and sticking to gradiant

Thx for the good video. Air dynamics on prop is not the same with horizonal auto-gyro and front facing airplane prop. I don't agree with the comparison you made.

Will this work on a naze 32 for a racing quad? If so, how?

Any way to set up 0 throttle braking on blheli?

Can you please explain how to do this with usb programmer?

good video

So you listed the benefits of the ESC brake but not the disadvantages. Are there any? Does the ESC brake use battery power?

Is the brake setting ESC more useful than default.. bro?

Is that scar on your hand a propeller accident?

Thankyou

Which is better brake or no brake at rc-boat ? (The esc have reverse function)

Hi can you set it that it'll stop at certain degree ? like at 3 olock or 6 oclock etc. ? thanks

I love the progra

Where did you buy your esc programming card sir?

a spinning prop gives less drag than a nonspinning one

where can one get the program card with LEDs or one like it? I have a skyhunter and i just have a feeling a prop will be snagged at some point. Thanks

what is a good programmable generic card to buy?

Will the drag brake drain the battery faster?

Great video! What is that radio?

So Cool! Hey do you know if anybody is building this drone design, Patent 6607162 ?

Thx ed- you than rc man ! :>)

Do those work on ground based speed controllers as well?

4:27 lithomilling

Where do you get the light up programmer?

i hope one day that usb programmer comes with micro usb or usb c connector so that it can be used with phones. better yet, a bluetooth enabled one!!

5 years in future... turned out that ESC braking is one of dreaded things that suck battery power in multirotors and make whoop and freestyle quad flight times miserable.

Wow thx- nobody ever explained this before!!!! TYVM :>)…..now I got another reason my wife gripe- nickle and dime us to death ! :>) - but im going get 1 with lights :>)

Why on earth bother with cards and programming when all you have to do is ... 1. Battery unplugged. 2. Turn radio on and put throttle to maximum. 3. Connect battery. 4. Wait for music tone. 5. Move throttle to minimum. 6. Wait for acceptance tone. 7. Move throttle to maximum and back to minimum. 8. Confirmation tone declares engine brake ON. Simple engine brake installation only using Transmitter !!!

I thought I sudded to you over a year ago. did so now. are you a teacher?

tooooo much talk

talks to much get to the point.