[jasperok]

So being new to this game I spend a lot of time reading and constantly see people referring to braking and brake settings on their controllers.

Now the way I have picked this up is that braking on slot cars is actually referring to the resistance of the motor and rolling mechanicals when power is no longer applied , this resistance slows the car down as opposed to an external braking force?

So when people adjust the brakes on their controllers they are actually setting the lowest level of power to the car that is ALWAYS there?

So when you tune your brakes to specific car and circuit you have to be careful that when you're not applying ANY throttle that you have not set your brakes high enough to crash/deslot the car on the slowest/tightest bend?

Have I got it right?

Thanks!!

 

[Julian_Boolean]

No, the braking comes from the voltage generated by the back EMF from the motor.

 

[lordjw]

You can try braking by yourself

1. Rotate motor shaft and feel how easily it turns

2. Connect wire between motor terminals to form a short circuit

3. Now that you rotate "shorted" motor's shaft you can feel that it does not rotate very well

Basic braking shorts the motor terminals - adjustment adds or removes resistance between terminals

Active braking feeds motor with negative voltage thus enhancing braking - adjustment increases or decreases amount of negative voltage

Cheers!

Julius

 

[RikoRocket]

Easier, get a braked throttle then hold a car on the rails with rear wheels in the air, get it up to full speed and then lift off the rails, the motor speed will decay slowly as it slows down. Now same position and let go of the trigger the motor stops abruptly. If you haven't got a braked throttle you can get the same effect by just shorting the rails.

Julian and julius are both right, it is back emf, by shorting the rails you are turning the motor into a mini generator, with rails shorted it tries to supply infinite current so that takes a lot of work so the whole thing slows down in a fraction of the time.

Different motors have different braking effects, some are strong some are not, so often you will hear people complaining that a motor has no brakes. Having resistors in line reduce the braking effect as it tries to drive less current.