Contents
Take Your Props Off
This quads can hurt you and in the right situations cause fatal injury. When dealing with motor direction and software involving your motors spinning, TAKE YOUR PROPS OFF. Do not be that guy who posts pictures on the internet of not taking your props off.
Jibber Jabber
Maybe you just built a quad, maybe you just replaced a motor, maybe you just replaced an ESC, maybe you were sent spam and found this page. One or more of your motors is spinning the wrong way and you need to change it.
2 Ways To Skin A Motor
There are two ways to change the direction on a brushless motor. One involves changing any two of the motor wires on the esc its connected to. The other uses software called Blheli, similar to BetaFlight, to change motor directions without having to solder anything. If your ESC supports Blheli, I would use software to change the direction.
Blheli or Blheli_32?
If your ESC’s support Blheli, it is usually indicated on the ESC or in your documentation. Blheli, Blheli-S, or Blheli_32.
There are two versions of the Blheli software. One is BLHeli_32 and BLHeli 16. BLHeli_32 is specifically for any esc with BLHeli_32. All other Blheli ESCs need to use the BLHeli16.
Download BLHeli or BLHeli_32
Both versions of the Blheli software can be found from the following link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y1bUMnRRolmMD_lezL0FYd3aMBrNzCig [reference]. Download the version you need and install it. A windows based machine is required.
Left file is for Blheli_32. The right side is for Blheli 16
Open Blheli Suite
If your ESC is not Blheli_32 you are using the BlheliSuite16.
Run the BlheliSuite.exe
Click Select ATMEL/ SILABS Interface from the top menu (1). Make sure that [E] SILABS BLHeli Bootloader (Cleanflight) is selected (2). This will enable USB passthrough on your Flight Controller so that the software can talk to the ESC’s.
Before Connecting To Blheli
To connect to Blheli and change ESC settings, you need to connect your USB cable and power on your quad. Take your props off. Final warning.
Which Com Port?
Before you power up your quad and connect to Blheli, pay attention to what is in the port drop down in the lower left hand corner. In the example below, before we plug in we only have 3 options. COM1, COM15, COM16. These COM ports will vary from computer to computer.
What you need to pay attention to is when you power up your quad and connect it through the micro usb, an additional com port will populate the dropdown. This indicates which COM port BLHeli has identified your hardware on. In the example below, our new port is COM3. We will select it and use it to connect.
Change The Motor Direction
With the quad connected and powered up with the props off, click the connect button.
Click Read Setup
When the software has gathered information about your ESC’s it will prompt you with the following. Click Ok.
The software will read the first ESC and prompt you on its success or failure. Click OK.
The best way to change motors, is one at a time. At the bottom of the screen you will notice that it shows Multiple ESC / Master.
In our example we are going to change the motor direction for motor 1. Motor 1 corresponds to ESC#1 in Blheli. Motor 2 = ESC#2. Motor 3=ESC#3. Right click on the number 1 to select ESC#1.
The motor 1 / ESC#1 is set to Motor Direction: Normal. Use the slide bar to Reversed. If yours is already set to Reversed, change it to Normal.
Click Write Setup
When the update is complete, you will be prompted with the status of the update.
Repeat these steps for the motors you need to change. The video below is an example of this process.
Example Video
I Cant Connect To Blheli
- Are you sure your ESC are blheli?
- Are you running the correct version of Blheli. Blheli_32 is for any ESC labeled Blheli_32. All other Blheli ESC’s use Blheli16.
- Do you have your quad powered on and connect to your computer via USB?
