COMMON RC TERMS
Like any sport or hobby there is a lot of specific terminology used to describe various aspects of RC vehicles and racing in general. This page is meant to help you out
Transmitter: The transmitter (tx) or controller is what you use to control your RC vehicle. The pistol style (right) is far and away the most common in RC racing. There is a trigger style throttle and brake input and a wheel that rotates left and right for steering inputs. Some have lots of programable features and often can be used to control multiple vehicles. This way you don't have to fumble with several different controllers when you are racing more than one class.
Receiver: The receiver (rx) will be located on the RC vehicle. The steering servo and ESC are connected to the receiver using the standard pins and harnesses seen in the image to the left. It receives the inputs from the transmitter and conveys the information to components in your vehicle.
ESC: (Electronic Speed Controller) The ESC is a little computer inside your RC vehicle. It is connected to the battery, motor, receiver and has the power switch to turn on your vehicle. It's job is to take the throttle inputs from the receiver that you are controlling with your transmitter and the power from the battery and control what your motor is doing. It controls how fast it turns, how much braking you have and how smooth your motor accelerates and deccelerates.
The ESC is programable to suite the operaters driving style and class you are racing in.
BLINKY MODE: Your ESC can be programmed to deliver power to the motor at different intensities. The lowest intensity level is for stock racing. This mode is called blinky mode. It is called this because ESC's have LED lights on them to indicate various settings and when stock mode is selected the LED's blink.
Servo: The servo is basically an electric motor that only turns 180° in both directions. In electric RC vehicles this is connected to steering linkage toward the front of the vehicle to turn the wheels. It is connected to the receiver to get the inputs from your transmitter.
Electric Motors: Electric motors now come in two flavors: brushed and brushless. Racing RC vehicles today are equipped with brushless motors while a lot of hobby grade RC's intended for playing around in your yard still come with the older-style brushed motors. The difference between the two is that brushless motors use electronic sensors to communicate information to the ESC while brushed motors still use mechanical brushes and commutators to do so. Brushless motors require much less maintenance and are therefore considered more reliable. Brushless motors also come sensored or sensorless. Sensored brushless motors have an additional cable that communicates information back to the ESC and produces smoother power output which is why almost all race vehicles use sensored brushless systems.
Some electric motors are also more powerful than others. Electric motors are rated two different ways. They are rated by Turns (T) and KV. Most racing motors are rated in Turns but some are rated in KV.
Turns (T): When referring to Turns (T) the lower the number of turns the faster the motor is. For example: A stock motor is 17.5T where as a mod motor might be a 6.5T. The 6.5T motor powered vehicle will be much faster than the 17.5T. However, the higher the 'T' number the more torque you will have. For example: a 35T motor will have a lot of torque and might be used for scale rock crawling vehicles.
KV: The KV rating on some brushless motors refers to how fast the motor will rotate per volt. Unlike Turn rated motors, the higher the KV rating, the faster the motor while the lower KV rated motors have more torque.
