Motor polarity?

[rigging65]

Ok, so I just swapped out from the stock motor to a 2221-8. Slick little sucker that -8!!

Got the bird all put back together and wound up the motor for a test and it ran backwards...huh??...ok, double checked my connections and the colors match the way they should (red-red, black-black, yellow-blue). hmmmm...

So I swapped the red and black wires and everything is good, the motors runs up fine and in the correct direction now. YAY! My question(s) this:

--WTF??? is this normal? Are some motors poled in reverse??

--I don't think there's a 'reverse' in the DX6i for the motor...how else can I reverse the poles?

--Am I gonna cause damage to anything with the wires reversed?

Little help here, please???

[cyclemandavid]

your good to go, nothing in you dx6i to revers.your not going to damage any thing.

[Larry227]

It's perfectly normal. Swapping any two wires will make it run the opposite direction.

[supra6]

Yes for us compulsive people it would be good if the manfactures used just one color for the wiring. I am so bad I have been known to change them so it looks pretty.

[rigging65]

Cool, thanks. Seems silly there's no standard....

[xspare]

It ain't silly, it's just not important. The few folks who truly need to know can measure the phase sequence, and perhaps even relate it to a GPS timing reference. Go look at the top of a power transmission pole/tower and come back when you can use the color code to tell us all which wire is phase A, B, or C.

Originally Posted by rigging65

Cool, thanks. Seems silly there's no standard....

[rigging65]

If it's not important, then why are the red and black wires coded at all? Why not just have two black wires and a yellow wire? Someone, somewhere thought it was important enough to differentiate the two wires.

[NCBladerunner]

Originally Posted by rigging65

If it's not important, then why are the red and black wires coded at all? Why not just have two black wires and a yellow wire? Someone, somewhere thought it was important enough to differentiate the two wires.

+1

[whoanelly]

+2 ,,no need for the attitude...

[fast400]

i have a motor with all black wire`s, how would you know how to hook that up right.

[Bit-Man]

ALL electric 3 phase ac type motors have this issue. It all depends on how the coils are wound when they are being made. If they are wound one way that will produce a pole that has the N and S and if they have the oppisite then the poles will be of coarse opposite. Sometimes the effort to check this is needed ( think generators in big manufacturing plants) but most all times it is a very easy quick check to energize the motor very briefly in order to check rotation.

There may be some kind of code but it is so lax that it is never adhered to because it it so easy to determine the phase like I have mentioned above.

It really is no big deal.

[xspare]

Hopefully I can explain it, clear things up, and let you accept it with peace of mind.

The microcontroller and switching circuits in the ESC need DC power (with the correct polarity) and would smoke if hooked up backwards; this is why you've got a red & black wire. The 3-phase switching in the ESC ends up connecting each motor lead to each battery lead, in sequence, and mixed up leads will simply cause the motor to turn in the other direction - no smoke involved.

It makes some sense for Horizon (to reduce customer support costs) to have colour coded wires on an RTF B400. Unfortunately, Scorpion doesn't know if you put their motor in a B400 or an EC135 where you want the head to turn in the scale direction. Scorpion also has no idea whether the pinion/prop/fan in any particular heli or plank points up, down, forwards, or backwards either. So the idea of forwards and backwards rotation is entirely dependent on your system, as it is with the power grid.

Most things in the hobby are way more complicated, time consuming, and debatable than swapping two motor wires to reverse the direction. So let's just be happy it isn't.

Originally Posted by rigging65

If it's not important, then why are the red and black wires coded at all? Why not just have two black wires and a yellow wire? Someone, somewhere thought it was important enough to differentiate the two wires.

[rigging65]

Now THAT is a good explanation....thank you!

[Carter1345]

Originally Posted by rigging65

Now THAT is a good explanation....thank you!

+1

Thanks! I also saw the all black wires on some motors and didn't understand why they had been done like that...