11
$\begingroup$

I have a brushless motor on my RC plane. After connecting it to an ESC and testing it I've found that it is spinning in the wrong direction.

How can I reverse the direction the prop is spinning?

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ This is bit of a duplicate question. Reference this question for a complete answer. $\endgroup$
    – QuadMcFly
    Apr 15, 2020 at 14:49
  • $\begingroup$ @QuadMcFly My thought was more towards someone who was building a model aircraft. An RC plane is less likely to have a flight controller board or anything to do with Betaflight. Maybe the subsection of "Physically Change the Wires" could link to this question for details on why switching any two wires works? $\endgroup$ Apr 15, 2020 at 20:09
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielBallinger Please consider selecting an answer to "accept". $\endgroup$
    – ifconfig
    Apr 30, 2020 at 4:03

3 Answers 3

17
$\begingroup$

Swapping any two of the wires connecting a brushless DC motor to its ESC will reverse the direction it spins.

Despite the name BLDC which implies that the motor runs on DC power, each of the three wires (connected to one of the three phases in the motor) is driven by the ESC with a phase-shifted AC waveform. Each wire's waveform is shifted by 120 degrees from the other two.

enter image description here

This offset is what allows the swapping of two wires to reverse the direction of the motor's rotation.

Because nothing special is required to reverse the motor direction, it is also possible to fix this by editing the software configuration, which will do the same thing but in software. e.g. in the BLHELI32SUITE software for ESCs with the BLHELI_32 firmware installed

$\endgroup$
8
$\begingroup$

Swap any two of the wires between the ESC and the motor. Alternatively, use the configurator on your computer for whatever firmware your ESC runs and switch the direction via the software.

For example, if it is a BLHeli_32 ESC, you can go to the BLHeli_32 Suite and reverse the motor direction from there.

$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

Two useful ways: Swap any pair of wires running to the ESC. Software configuration for the ESC (a BLHeli Configurator tool) and swap the Normal/Reversed state.

You could technically rewind the entire motor to achieve the same result, but it's usually easiest to do one of the above, and swapping a pair of motor wires with a soldering iron is quite easy.

$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.