Reverse with mech brakes and direct drive
 

Has anyone figured out how have reverse with mech brakes and direct drive. ie no clutch.

cheers

thers nothing to it...

set your esc brakes to 0.
and use reverse lockout.


Splitter from throttle channel to esc and brake servo.

but what would tell the brake servo to release the brakes while reversing?

Doh, you got me there... maybe a traxxas opti drive unit?

What if you set the mechanical brakes to lock at a higher brake input, so if you needed reverse you could just push the trigger slightly forward? You wouldn't get a lot of speed in reverse, but it could be enough to turn you around.

That will work but you have to drive without a lot of brakes. Here's why, with reverse and mechanical brakes, the ESC could go in to reverse (double brake pump) without the car actually being stopped. So if you don't double pump your brakes often (it's not all that common) then setting the mechanical brakes a little loose should give you some reverse throttle. Try it out and see if it works.

The way I did this on my large scale 1:5 FG was to use a computerised radio like the Futaba 3pk radio and a 3 channel receiver.

I plugged the servo controlling the brakes into the 3rd channel.

Then I set a mix on the radio - which basically did nothing to the 3rd channel (brakes) when the forward throttle was been used. When reverse or brake was applied the mix would send a mix to the brake servo and apply the brakes. The program mix was linked to a switch on the futaba 3pk. When I turned it off the brake servo did not get activated. I also set the throttle curve so that the reverse on the esc would not activate until I was halfway backwards on the throttle. This same curve was also used to turn off the brake servo when this point was reached.

So in a nutshell with the prgram mix on the esc would apply forward throttle and reverse would be brakes. the Esc did not kick in until 60% backwards by which time the mix to the brake servo stopped it preventing it applying brakes. I linked it to a switch so that I could turn off reverse or brake depending on the situation.

If this all sounds very complicated - it took me days to work it out. The best system I have had with brakes is a Savage XL with a reverse module. I have set the esc to forwards only and very little brake. When I apply forward throttle esc applies power to motor. Throttle backwards applies brakes using servo. When I want to go backwards I just activate the reverse module on 3rd channel and the trucks go backwards (reverse gear) when I apply throttle.

Mohan

I would just use CH3 for braking. Would take some getting used to, but would be the easiest IMO.

Problem is channel does not have a nice trigger or a switch you can apply proprotional control. I even tried a 4 channel stick controller and put brakes on the right stick. Since I fly model helicopters I got used to applying throttle on the right and brakes on the left but somehow it didnt feel 'right'

I guess that would depend on what radio you have then. Both my DX3r and DX3.0 (I think) can be set so CH3 is a toggle or incremental.

Are you suggesting to temporarily deactivate the 3rd channel then when you want to go into reverse? If not, the brake will still operate when using reverse.

Or do you mean to use a 3rd channel toggle switch to activate a fixed brake setting?

Yes.. this is what I was thinking sort of. I'm running a Nomadio React so I have a button at my thumb which I'm thinking I need to be able to program as a Ch3 override switch.
I figure if I set the ESC (RX8) to reverse with lockout, (lockout is a long period on the RX8). And I have brakes on CH3. Then all I need is is a switch to override CH3 and set it to neutral. The React has a shite load of programabilty, I just don't know if it has enough..