The examples below are not exclusive as ranges are changing all of the time. Get
in touch if you want more help or information. Please see the end of the
page for a general description of features.
There are as usual many different products to chose from. There are
many different applications for electronic speed controllers or ESC's. Regardless of model
type (with only three exceptions, which we will discuss), the only considerations you have
when buying a speed controller are:
- Physical size. Some cars for instance leave you very tight on space.
- The amount current the ESC with have to handle. This is dependent on two things, the
motor used and the load placed on the motor, be it waterscrew, airscrew or, tyres. It is
very hard to guess at this figure, the best way to obtain it is by direct measurement.
Always remember to measure the current under load. This is particularly hard with cars, so
quite often you will find a motor turn specification on the speed controllers. This is the
least number of turns a motor connected to the speed controller can have, that is before
you melt the speed controller. This motor turn limit is only a figure that applies to 540
motors on 7.2 volts. For every other combination of motor and battery you will have to
revert to direct measurement of the current.
- The voltage that the ESC will run from. Obviously if you connect a 12v pack to an ESC
that is only rated for 6v you will fry it. Sometimes the voltages are specified in terms
of cells, each cell being 1.2 volts. Therefore 6cells=7.2volts 10cells=12volts etc.
The three exceptions to these rules are:
- Some speed controllers are forward and reverse and some are forward only. Reverse can
for instance be a bit embarrassing if used on a helicopter.
- Some speed controllers have "Soft start". This stops you from jamming the
throttle open quickly, and is a feature intended mainly for aircraft. Instead the motor
will accelerate over 0.5-1 seconds. This is done to stop you stripping gears, which is
easy to do with very powerful motors.
- BEC or battery eliminator circuitry. Most modern speed controllers have this built in.
It enables you to run both your drive motor and servos etc off one battery. This is a very
useful feature, in that it enables you to lose some weight from the model. However the BEC
can operate in two different ways. Consider a car as the battery goes flat, what happens ?
the car stops, no problem, you walk over and pick it up. Now consider the same thing with
an aircraft. When the battery dies, it will defiantly stop the motor along with your
servos, which means a crash. Therefore most aircraft specific ESC's will stop you from
totally flattening the battery. This always leaves you with radio control to land. This
feature is sometimes called "Auto shut off."
HOME/
AIRCRAFT /
BOATS /
CARS /
CONTACT US /
DOWNLOADS /
ENGINES /
HELIS /
KITES /
LINKS /
ORDERING /
RADIOS /
SPARES /
SEARCH
All prices are in UK pounds and include VAT @ 17.5%
The image(s) of products shown on any page are intended only to give
you an overview of a specific model. DO NOT take this as an accurate reprsentation of
items supplied (or not) with a model, e.g. (wheels, tyres, engine or motor, silencer,
batteries, body mounts, or radio equipment). Please rely on the text of the page associated
with a particular model for this information.
