4.11 Motor Order and Rotation Direction

I know it’s starting to sound repetitive, but whenever you test anything with motors and/or ESCs with the battery plugged in:

REMOVE THE PROPELLERS

I’ve personally experienced my fingers getting caught in spinning props, and I know two people who lost a finger this way. No one would stick their hand in a blender, right?

Selecting the Correct DShot Protocol

Before the motors can spin, the correct DShot protocol must be selected. Most ESCs support DShot300 and DShot600. DShot1200 is supported by fewer ESCs. Check your ESC manual to see which protocols are supported.

The MOTOR_STOP slider should stay off, since we are flying with AirMode enabled.
If your ESC is connected to an Rx pad on the FC and configured in the Ports tab, you can let the FC know using the second slider.
The bidirectional DShot slider is the most important for optimal flight performance—but it only works if your ESC supports bidirectional DShot.
- BLHeli32, AM32, and BlueJ ESCs support it.
- BLHeli_S ESCs do not.

⚠️ Make sure you know which ESC firmware is installed before enabling this slider.

Tip: BLHeli_S ESCs can be flashed with BlueJ, though this guide doesn’t cover that. A Google search will give excellent tutorials.

Why Bidirectional DShot

If enabled, it helps filter motor vibrations more effectively and improves propwash behavior due to dynamic idle.

After enabling the slider, check the new settings:
- Number of motor poles: refers to the number of magnets in the motor bell. Count them, especially if you didn’t build a standard 5" setup.
- Motor Idle: leave this unchanged for now.

We’ll adjust dynamic idle in the PID Settings tab:

On the right, under Thrust & Motor Settings, there’s a field for Dynamic Idle Value.
Adjust this based on your prop size. A good starting point is shown in the table below.

Prop Size	Typical Blade Count	Dynamic Idle Value
3"	2–3 blades	30–60
4"	3–4 blades	20–50
5" Freestyle	3 blades	25–40
5" Racing	2–3 blades	20–40
6"	3 blades	15–30
7" Long Range	2–3 blades	12–25

If the copter struggles to hold position at idle, or a motor stops, increase the value. If the value is too high, the props generate lift even when falling, and the copter descends slower—then lower the value.