Mech. brake vs electrical brake
 

Hi,

I am contemplating to jump on the the buggy conversion bandwagon. I have acquired a sacker pro 1/8 buggy (similar to HB lightning pro) & have been doing a little investigation on how best to this.

I would like to seek everyone's opinion on whether mechnical brake is better or the electrical brake is better. Which system gives better 'feel' (i.e. proportional brake) & shorter stopping distance (stopping ability similar to the comparision of 4 disc brake is better than 2 disc & 2 drum)

My personal impression is that mechanical brake is the way to go but would be a challenge to retain it in the tight space available on the buggy. What do you think ?

Regards,
Joe Ling

Mech brakes are better for the controller, but the controller brakes would be stronger. The mechanical brakes would also add some weight and "clutter" to the set up.

In my opinion the brakes from a speedo are less abrupt when applied than the mechanical brakes.

i find mechanical brakes to be more deft.Especially with the right cam profile.

I've been wondering about this too,since the mechanical brake allows adjustable front and rear bias my money would be on that actually stopping a buggy quicker.Wouldn't the rears lock up without mechanical brake sending very little power to the front unless you ran a heavy oil which would harm the handling?
Good if you have a drag brake style i suppose but i don't think it could stop as quickly.

Recently I saw a buggy that used both mechanical and electronic braking. I don't remember where I saw it at, but the guy said that he wanted good brakes. Anyways, if you use mechanical brakes, you should account for brake fade and maintenance. I have heard of many guys that flip their E-Maxxes forward when they apply the brakes too hard. You don't hear about that much from T-Maxx owners!

My lst can be stood on it's nose or lock up at any speed.My brake set up on that is the best i've used on a MT.It's just the HP pads with a re-profiled cam.Very tactile too.

metal man is right. i have the same problem. brake fade isnt that bad with my nitro revo but with my brushless is your not VERY eassy on the trigger the brakes will lock up and or it will do about 11 cartwheels.

There's no doubting the power of the controller brakes.Doesn't solve the brake bias problem on a vehicle with a center diff though.Does it just lock the rears?joeling is asking about brakes for a buggy,that's why i think mechanical brakes would stop it quicker.

That is very true. Mechanical brakes would stop both the front and rear at the same time. For me with my buggy, though, electronic brakes will work better than mechanical because I am just using a slipper clutch (modified from a Revo) that is on a solid shaft - there is no diff.

Didn't you run it with a center diff at first?If so can you remember what it did.I'm curious to know as i'm contemplating the same thing as joeling.

Hi,

I have a bias against electrical brake because of 1 limited bad experience with the warrior esc. This esc is now in my savage in forward only mode & I am using the mech. brake.

Mech. brake is not easy to retain on the buggy as mentioned earlier. If I want to do this, the motor has to be mounted further away from the diff. & a short extension shaft (maybe around 20 to 25mm in length) will have to be made to reach the centre spur gear. The pro for this will be the ability to use smaller pinion (maybe 12T) but I worry about the extension shaft as it is untested. Time to take a leap fo faith.

Regards,
Joe Ling

PS : Maybe just use both electrical & mech brake simultaneously. hmm...

I did for a little while, but it wasn't very long. The motor plate I had made was weak, so I made a new motor mount setup that used a solid shaft (but no slipper clutch).

joeling,i take it your running the motor in the center above the spur gear then.if so this is my prefered layout for a buggy,allows the batteries to be closer to the center line.

Running a mechanical brake only on the front outdrive may be an idea if your running the motor at the rear/center.This is overkill in terms of power,but would solve the bias problem,if indeed there is a problem.Lots of people here run a center diff with controller brakes so hopefully someone will answer whether it just locks the rears without the use of a heavy diff oil.

The warrior brake fade or should i say brake loss is common.I believe BK say it is due to manufacturing tolerences or something.a percentage of them have this problem.i'm sure they'd sort it if you wanted them too.

Personally i find mechanical brakes modulate/feel better given a good set up.

Metal Man,is it a one piece motor mount and diff mount,if so i like.

It is a one-piece mount, with a matching front support:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...r/IMG_0895.jpg
That pic isn't up-to-date, and as the buggy gets closer to completion I will update the thread in the General Electrics section with new pictures.

Metal Man,i really like that,looks rock solid too.

Joeling,if you're running the motor to the side is it the discs that are hitting the can of the motor?If so a larger spur and/or smaller discs may solve this?

Also,the problem with your warrior is not with every controller and could be solved if you want to go with the controller brakes.