The electronic speed controller (ESC) is simply what controls the speed of the RC car. I know, duh.
Well, there's a bit more to it than that! First you need to understand that the receiver's only job is to receive signals from the transmitter and then pass those signals on to the steering servo and to the ESC, to tell it how fast you, the driver, want it to go. The ESC then does the heavy lifting of sending the requested power from the battery to the motor.
Modern ESCs have a wide variety of adjustments available to help you tune exactly how the battery's power gets delivered to the motor to give precise throttle and braking control and to help prevent sending too much power the wheels and thereby losing traction.
ESC Settings
- Anti-drag
- Blinky mode
- Boost
- Brake control
- Brake frequency
- Drag brake
- Initial brake
- Initial throttle
- Neutral range
- Throttle frequency
- Throttle profile
- Throttle rate control
- Turbo