dereckbc

OK I know a windmilling produces significantly more drag that a stationary prop. Learned that in flight training for constant speed prop aircraft. You use Auto Feather in the event you loose engine power and you want to minimize drag.

I know glider pilots use ESC Brakes for the above reason. But what about a 3D Plane?

I know turning it off to slow the aircraft for landing is desirable, but may or not be advantageous for 3D maneuvers. I can see in my minds eye for doing something like a Wall or Tumble you might want that drag. Most other maneuvers are power on, so brake setting has no effect.

Wildflyer

I have seen many 3D pilots, and so far none have used a prop brake setting.

Maybe it would have a use but if you want the plane to glide a little faster, just hit a little power.

I have some planes without landing gear and I have been thinking of setting a brake to keep from landing on the prop, but so far I haven't got around to it.

Panther

If the prop is stopped between maneauvers it takes a lot of torque and time to accelerate it again. Best to keep it fluid in 3D. Gliders are a different matter where braking is necessary.

Some claim that constant braking /re-starting can cause a prop to come loose but it hasn't happened to me yet.

Xpress..

Prop braking isn't used for 3D flying, infact we do just the opposite and generally set a low idle speed for the motor to spool at. The effects of a propeller spinning are significant, especially as the size of the airplane goes up. You'd be surprised how much father a 35% airplane will glide when the engine is shut down as compared to when it is running..

You want the motor to be spooling slightly because it will rev quicker, some claim it also helps the prop to spin at a more constant speed on downlines but I haven't personally experienced it.

JetPlaneFlyer

As above, i set a slow running idle on my 3D planes because it gives much snappier throttle response from closed throttle. Use a throttle kill switch to stop the motor and to arm the ESC on power up.

dereckbc

That is kind of what I do. No ESC brake, have a kill switch, I just do not set for the motor to turn slow when throttle is cut. I will give it a try.

birdDog

Same, anything other than a Castle esc with programmable end points gets run with an Idle up curve. Generally 6-7% gets it rolling. Lose sync, lose a plane.

dereckbc

I do have a Castle ESC, but what do you mean by "lose sync, loose a plane"?

birdDog

Perhaps I should have labeled it cogging....and crashing.
"Something that people are finding with the sensorless brushless set-up is getting the thing going. You've probably heard it called "cogging" and you could see this is a minor annoyance. Or you could see this as a pretty fry cry from targeting peak performance. Beyond that, here's what's up. From a dead stop the armature isn't moving, so the ESC hasn't the foggiest idea where to begin sending signals. There's no sync yet because there isn't a consistent rotation."
http://beatyourtruck.com/forum/showt...orless-Systems

Castle seems to offer the best throttle response.

ron_van_sommeren

.

solentlife

Problem is E-Motors ... you cannot choose the prop stop position unlike a wet fuel motor. Set the brake on e-motor and it just stops wherever it is.