📖 RC Glossary

Every RC term and acronym in plain English — LiPo, C-rating, Kv, FDR, blinky, camber, VTX and the rest. New to RC? Start here.

43 terms · cross-linked to the Wiki and Tuning Guide.

#

2S / 3S / 4S How many LiPo cells are wired in series. Each cell is 3.7V nominal, so…

A

ARTR Almost-Ready-To-Run — mostly assembled but needs some electronics (ofte… Ackermann Steering geometry that makes the inside front wheel turn more sharply t… Anti-squat Rear suspension geometry that controls how much the rear squats under a…

B

BEC Battery Eliminator Circuit — a small voltage regulator (usually in the… BND Bind-N-Drive — comes with electronics but no radio; you bind it to your… Bashing Driving for fun — jumps, sends and general mayhem — rather than organiz… Bind Pairing a transmitter and receiver so they talk only to each other. Blinky A spec racing mode where the ESC runs zero timing (a blinking LED prove… Brushless A motor with no physical brushes — more efficient, powerful and longer-…

C

C-rating A LiPo's safe continuous discharge rate, as a multiple of its capacity. Camber The inward/outward tilt of a wheel viewed from the front. Negative camb… Caster The backward tilt of the steering axis. More caster = more stability an… Crawler A slow, high-articulation RC built to climb rocks and technical terrain…

D

Differential A gear or fluid-filled unit that lets the left and right (or front and…

E

ESC Electronic Speed Control — the module that takes the receiver signal an… Expo Exponential — softens the response around the center of a radio channel…

F

FDR Final Drive Ratio — the total gear reduction from motor to wheels. FPV First-Person View — flying or driving via a live video feed from an onb… Failsafe A receiver safety setting that cuts throttle (and applies brake) if the…

G

Gyro A stability gyroscope that adds automatic counter-steer to help hold a…

H

Heat / Qualifier A qualifying round used to set the grid for the mains. Drivers are spli…

I

IR (Internal Resistance) A measure of a LiPo cell's health — how much it resists current flow. L…

K

Kv A brushless motor's RPM per volt with no load.

L

LiPo Lithium-Polymer battery — the light, high-power rechargeable pack most…

M

Main The final race that decides the result, after qualifying. Split into A-…

P

Pinion The small gear on the motor shaft. More teeth = more top speed (and hea… Prop Propeller — for planes/drones/boats. Rated by diameter and pitch; pitch… Puffed A swollen LiPo — a sign of damage or abuse (over-discharge, over-charge… Punch How aggressively the car accelerates off the throttle — the initial hit…

R

RTR Ready-To-Run — a model that comes fully built with electronics installe… Rollout How far the car rolls forward for one full turn of the motor — the true…

S

Sensored A brushless motor with a sensor that tells the ESC exactly where the ro… Sensorless A brushless motor without a position sensor — the ESC estimates rotor p… Servo saver A sprung link in the steering that flexes on impact so a hard hit doesn… Slipper clutch An adjustable friction clutch on the spur gear that lets the drivetrain… Spur The large main gear the pinion drives. Set the pinion-to-spur mesh with… Storage charge Bringing a LiPo to about 3.8V per cell for storage — the voltage the ch…

T

TQ Top Qualifier — the driver who set the fastest qualifying result, earni… Toe Whether the wheels point slightly in (toe-in) or out (toe-out) viewed f… Transponder A small device on the car that a track's timing loop reads to record la… Turns (T) The number of wire windings on a brushless motor — the traditional way…

V

VTX Video Transmitter — the onboard transmitter that beams the FPV camera f…