Motor Direction Setup In PX4 and Ardupilot

All current Holybro Tekko series ESCs support DShot and allow users to change motor direction without resoldering the motor phase wire. This article will guide you on how to change the motor direction using ground control software such as QGroundControl (PX4) and MissionPlanner (Ardupilot).

For Pixhawk controllers and other controllers with an IOMCU, it is recommended to use AUX (FMU) PWM outputs for DShot ESCs.

PX4 Firmware

Open the QGroundControl application and connect your flight controller to update your firmware to the current stable version.

Once the controller is up to date, select the desired airframe (generic quadcopter is used as an

example below).

Apply the setting and restart.

After the auto-reboot, navigate to the Actuators tab and set AUX 1-4 to DShot300. Assign AUX 1-4 (FMU PWM outputs 1-4) as motor 1-4.

Test your motor direction by powering up the ESC, enabling the Actuator Testing tab, and dragging the slider upward.

If a motor is spinning in the incorrect direction, scroll down to find the Set Spin Direction option. Click Direction 1 or 2 and select the motor you want to change the direction of the motor. If spin direction 1 does not change the motor direction, try spin direction 2.

Ardupilot Firmware

An official Ardupilot article below provides a detailed guide on how to set up Dshot ESC for your controller.

DShot ESCs — Copter documentationardupilot.org

With the DShot configured, navigate to CONFIG->Full Parameter List and search SERVO_BLH_RVMASK.

Set the bitmask based on the servo channel your motor/ESC needs to reverse is connected to. AUX (FMU) PWM outputs 1-8 correspond to Ardupilot's servo channels 9-16.

Write the parameters and reboot or power cycle the flight controller.