ESC braking causing spike?

[Unsullied_Spy]

Putting caps on the battery side gives that voltage somewhere to go, since the internal resistance of your lipos is higher than the internal resistance of the ESC (energy follows the path of least resistance) a lot of energy is contained within the ESC causing serious heat issues as well as a lot of wattage running through circuits and components not built to handle it. By adding caps you are giving some of that ESC-killing wattage somewhere to go and they will also help protect against ripple current (a major killer of ESCs). $5ish worth of components can save you hundreds worth of ESCs!