Motor Test
The Motor Test tab lets you spin individual motors to verify wiring order and rotation direction before first flight. It shows a physical frame diagram, test controls, and live monitoring for vibration and ESC telemetry.
Motor Test is available when connected to an ArduPilot vehicle (Copter or QuadPlane). The vehicle must be disarmed.
The left panel renders your actual motor layout based on the FRAME_CLASS and FRAME_TYPE parameters read from the flight controller. Each motor is drawn at its physical position on the frame with:
- Motor number (M1, M2, etc.)
- Test order letter (A, B, C, etc.) matching ArduPilot's DO_MOTOR_TEST sequence
- Rotation direction (CW or CCW)
- A legend at the bottom showing CW and CCW indicators
Click any motor on the diagram to spin it with the current throttle and duration settings.
The frame diagram uses the same motor layout data as ArduPilot. Common frame types:
| FRAME_CLASS | Examples |
|---|---|
| Quad | X, Plus, H, V, Betaflight-X |
| Hexa | X, Plus |
| Octa | X, Plus, V |
| Y6 | A, B, F |
| Tri | - |
If the frame class or type is not recognized, a generic layout is shown.
The center panel provides:
- Throttle slider - Set motor throttle percentage (typically 5-15% for bench testing)
- Duration - How long the motor spins in seconds
- Test Individual - Buttons for each motor in test order (A through H depending on frame), showing the motor number and rotation direction
- Test All In Sequence - Spins each motor one at a time in test order with a pause between each
- STOP ALL MOTORS - Emergency stop that immediately halts all motors
- Reset safety confirmation - Re-enables the safety confirmation dialog
- A confirmation dialog appears before the first motor test in each session
- Motors will not spin if the vehicle is armed
- The stop button is always visible and accessible
The right panel shows real-time data during tests:
- VIB X, Y, Z acceleration values in m/s squared
- Color-coded: green (good, under 30), yellow (elevated), red (bad, over 60)
- Clipping counters (CLIP 1, 2, 3) for accelerometer saturation events
Per-motor ESC telemetry cards showing:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| PWM | Output pulse width |
| RPM | Motor RPM from ESC telemetry |
| Temp | ESC temperature in degrees C |
| V / A | Voltage and current per motor |
ESC telemetry requires a telemetry-capable ESC (BLHeli32, BLHeli_S with telemetry, or AM32). If no ESC telemetry is available, these fields show dashes.
A typical motor test workflow:
- Connect to your vehicle and navigate to Configuration > Motor Test
- Verify the frame diagram matches your physical layout
- Set throttle to 5-8% and duration to 2-3 seconds
- Click motor A on the diagram or use the Test Individual button
- Confirm the correct physical motor spins in the correct direction
- Repeat for each motor
- Use "Test All In Sequence" for a final check
If a motor spins the wrong direction, swap any two of its three wires (for brushless motors) or reverse it in your ESC configuration.
- Keep throttle low for bench testing - 5-10% is enough to verify order and direction
- Watch the vibration panel during tests to catch imbalanced props early
- If ESC telemetry is available, compare RPM across motors at the same throttle - large differences may indicate a bad motor or prop
- The test order (A, B, C...) matches ArduPilot's
DO_MOTOR_TESTcommand sequence, which may differ from the physical motor number