Was is the best way to test a brushless motor?

[crrcboatz]

I have a couple of brushless motors I want to test because they were bought used. Being a newbe I have no idea which 2 of the 3 leads need to be used.

Also, I have some nimh packs 2 8cell and 2 6cell can I just charge them up and hook them directly to the correct 2 leads??

[Jacked1]

You need to use a brushless speed controller for a brushless motor and all three leads will be used. The motor requires a 3 phase AC voltage across the 3 wires for it to spin. So you can not just plug a battery into the motor or it will act like a short.

[m4a1usr]

What do you want to test? Something simple? That it spins up? That its delivering the spec kv? Not enough information provided.

John

[crrcboatz]

I have some brushless motors and lipos I picked up from someone locally very little coins. Yes make sure they spin up and with the lipos is it ok to charge them up full and ck.

[SLOW]

Lets start with the batteries.
First, are the batteries flat and relatively solid? The should NOT look puffy and squishy. They also should not have any strange smells to them, burnt electronics or a kind of sweet smell are all bad signs.
Now if these check out it is about time to put them on a charger. You need to have a charger designed to charge LiPo batteries. If you do not, get one before ever trying to charge them.
If they charge you are probably good, if you have a balancing charger and the batteries have a balancing port (small second set of wires coming out of the battery) it is a good idea to use this feature.
If all this checks out they are probably ok, keep a close eye on them while charging them. It is always a good idea to charge lithium batteries in a fire resistant container. I have an unused flow pot i set them in while charging just in case.

The motor is a little harder to test as the insulation on the winding can melt and not be seen from the outside. And running a motor that has a short internally can damage a brushless ESC.
Again give it the sniff test, if it smells like toasted electronics this is a bad sign.
Make sure it spins freely, it will with cog as the magnets push against the motor or turn rather smoothly depending on the type of motor.
It should not feel gritty.
You can check to see if it is shorted by feeling for back EMF resistance, not 100% accurate but a good test. While turning the motor by hand touch two of the motor wires together. It should get just a little harder for the motor to turn. When you let them go you should feel a change in resistance. If the wires coming out of the motor are shoring out internally it will always have this extra resistance.
At this point you can go ahead and plug it is and test it. You need a brushless ESC they have 3 wires. Hook everything up and see if it works. If it works throw it all in the boat and go test it out. Remember to check temps frequently and keep an eye on it for a while.

This may all be a little overkill, i'm sure there are some that would say throw it together and go. I just don't like it when one failed product takes everything else with it.
One bad motor can take the ESC and batteries with it as it all goes up in a puff of smoke.