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Electronic speed controllers (ESCs) for RC planes can be split into two main categories: brushless speed controllers and non-brushless speed controllers. This is the first and most important deciding factor when buying one. If you know about and are familiar with brushless motors then you will know that you need to use a brushless controller to match your brushless motor. If you have a “traditional” non-brushless motor, then you’ve got to use a standard, ordinary speed controller.
The second deciding factor when buying a speed controller is the current capacity, for example 20 Amps (20A). This defines the maximum amount of current that the electronic speed control can provide to the motor. If your motor is known to draw ten Amps when operating at maximum power then you will need a speed controller that can handle at least 10 Amps, and many people would recommend to buy a twenty Amp speed controller for ten Amp motor, just in case it over heats.
The third factor is the type of batteries that the speed controller can support. Some speed controllers cannot support Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries, although the majority of modern speed controllers are Li-Poly compatible.
Once you’ve decided that you need a brushless or non-brushless speed controller that is lipo compatible or non-lipo compatible, and you know the current rating that is required by the motor, then these are the three determining factors in the speed controller to buy. Beyond this the only deciding factors are the manufacturer, the price, the weight, and how easy the ESC it is to set up.
Setting up a speed control is often called programming the controller, and involves configuring what can often be a complicated set of options. Usually this is done by wiggling one of the transmitter control sticks up and down in response to beeps and flashes made by the speed controller. Some speed controllers can be programmed by connecting them straight to a computer or to a special programming card, which makes things a lot easier.
In terms of makes, usually the well known makes produce speed controllers that are better than the less well-known makes. By better, here I mean that either the speed controller weights less for the same power rating, or is easier to program, or just more reliable.
In my experience of buying speed controllers I have fallen into a couple of traps. The first trap was that I bought a few speed controller for non-brushless non-lipo batteries, and then later decided to standardize on brushless li-po configurations in all my planes (due to the incredible performance increase). This meant that I couldn’t use the early ESCs in my later planes, and so the speed controllers are now sitting in my kit box doing nothing .
The second mistake was that I bought some very cheap speed controllers only to discover that they got very hot in use, were a bit heavy, and that they were complicated to program. There’s nothing more frustrating than being at the flying field only to discover that your propeller is going backwards, and you are frantically trying to read the instructions and listen to a combination of beeps and push to sticks in the right direction!
On this point, I’ve noticed that some speed controllers are more sensitive to your control inputs when programming than others. Some speed controllers ask you to push the stick up for yes and down for no, and in the middle to go on to the next question. With one speed controller I had, I wasted half an hour failing to program it until I realized that when it said put the stick in the middle, on my transmitter this meant put the stick about one third of the way up. Putting the stick in the middle was interpreted by the controller as putting the stick all the way up, and so I was continually failing to program it.
From a safety point of view, my procedure is never to test the speed controller and motor with a propeller attached to the motor. Instead, I stick a bit of tape onto the motor shaft so that I can see which way the motor is rotating. I set this rule after two occasions when I have sustained a very painful injury as a result of the motor starting when I wasn’t expecting it, on the kitchen table. Once this happened because I caught the transmitter stick with my dressing-gown sleeve! It’s pretty scary when your plane suddenly comes to life and leaps off the table unexpectedly and heads straight for a you!
Here’s a list of speed control as I have tested:
(later…)
In my opinion the best make is Castle Creations.
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