2 motors 1 ESC - can a single ESC drive 2 separate brushless motors?

Support my work / pawelspychalski
What happens when you connect two brushless motors to a single ESC? Will such a setup even work? Questions like that pop up from time to time, so let's find an answer to them. Long story short: it is possible to connect two motors to a single ESC, but it will not work reliably in real life.

[@Random4RC]

I remember, about a decade ago, people playing with this concept with hand wound CD ROM motors. Then electronics started becoming dirt cheap.

[@gtaitbiz7787]

Thanks

[@TimJC513]

And for my second trick; 2 ESCs and 1 motor ;)

[@stevefox3763]

Grrr you beat me too it, that's what I was gonna suggest for giggles. That will almost definitely end in magic smoke 😀

[@stevec7596]

It has been done. Also I've been running 2 brushless motors off one esc for over 15 years

[@JessHull]

@@stevec7596 how do you do it?

[@stevec7596]

@@JessHull some motors are wound as 2 parallel motors in one. Ive seen the 2 windings connected to 2 escs. It's probably not a great idea, but it can work.

[@joecrupi9381]

Pawel love your quirkiness! You’re definitely one of my favorite FPV KZbinrs! Keep it up! 🤘🏻

[@FPVUniversity]

Thanks mate!

[@leojk4321]

Yes, brushless motors have more difficulties than actually help. In another video here, I saw that you can't run two different manufacturers motors. But here, they seem to work OK. From my experience, when I tried to sync two brushless motors even with two ESC, it took nearly 3 minutes for the second motor to synchronize. Personally, I still prefer brushed motors, especially for boats. At least they work 100%, and you can be sure they will work on switch on action, and not wait for 5 minutes for pulse synchronization. Leo(Arch Tech & Eng)

[@lasersbee]

Thanks for the tests.

[@MCsCreations]

Yeah... Not a great idea. 😬 Thanks for the video, Pawel! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@AndrewNewton]

Excellent demo thanks.

[@FPVUniversity]

Thank you Sir!

[@JessHull]

I wonder if you had a common gear or pully so that the motors were always in sync if it would work better? woudl be fun to test out

[@9e05cherianpadipurackalvar6]

rip efficiency

[@danybackstone]

@@9e05cherianpadipurackalvar6 in what means? That's an interesting question as many older RC systems used 2 brushed with one ESC and a common gear. High power, high temperature, high consumption, but less motor wear and better sound. The only problem I see inthis video is the lack of synchronicity, If one has morque load, with a common gear, the other helps. If weight is not a problem, how could efficiency ruins this config?

[@p.0788]

This should work, if 2 brushless motors are pulled together bye a gear to a common shaft

[@MrApache64AH]

This is what i suggest, thus increasing the torque etc.

[@IanF-FPV]

Yes...I was thinking the same thing.

[@peterzingler6221]

@@MrApache64AH also increasing the mass adds magnetic Flux density and so on

[@senseisecurityschool9337]

If and only if both motors are lined up before attaching them to the shaft - both having the magnets precisely aligned with the coils. If you do that, if the magnets of each are lined up and the coils of each are lined up, then you've just made a taller motor. if the coils and magnets are NOT aligned, it'll just vibrate rather than spin.

[@smackledorfmcsween]

A diode on one phase going to ONE of the motors and the ESC NEEDS to be rated for at least 2x the current draw of both motors I've done this. There's also some elderly fellow from California who has done this as well and he did it in 2010 and it worked flawlessly.

[@PirateOnYoutube]

Super video jak zawsze , dzieki 🍕🍻

[@h2o-fpv623]

That would be an excellent idea because of the weight but for now impossibile thank u for the video.

[@btbplanevids]

Probably before your time :-D but Kontronik used to sell a "Twindrive set" for fixed-wing which consisted of two brushless motors (Fun 400-23) with a single ESC (Smile 40-6-12). This worked fine and was pretty popular at the time as ESCs cost a small fortune back then. Now both are super cheap so you might as well use an ESC per motor - then you can do fun mixing as well :-) PS I am still flying a Kontronik brushless setup from 2003 so it's lasted pretty well ... I did have to send the ESC back for new firmware when Lipos came out but they did that FOC!

[@DigitalArtisan77]

Thank you very much, that was a question.

[@DigitalArtisan77]

And if the 2 centre wires were in series? But I guess there's no way to provide that configuration. If you took current sensing from the telemetry, could you drive a pitch change servo mech using that in place of torque sensing?

[@szybkiczopek]

It was only yesterday when I was wondering about that on some ground vehicle... Now i know, thanks ;)

[@MrGazhay]

Go on... build an X shape octocopter with matching motors, 4x ESC’s and see how it does with props on! 😀

[@3dprinting_and_aviation]

It will fly well. Already tested ;)

[@spacewater7]

This gives me a great idea! Well it's either a great idea, or a really terrible idea. I'm going to totally have to try it now, thanks!

[@FPVUniversity]

Go for it and have fun!

[@zer001]

Nice Video

[@MikeNugget]

What if to put some diods between ESC and motors?

[@flyerelite5153]

Nice video. Have you ever thought of wiring two video transmitters to one camera with the idea of having both transmitters on the same channel to act as a diversity transmission outcome and having your goggles On the same reception channel?

[@3drcworkshoppe-39]

Yess!!!!! Thankyou!

[@danielborn2631]

What happens if both motors use the same axel?

[@dustinplee5067]

Can I use this kind of esc on a danchee ride rock crawler or if not can you leave a link for 1 brushless esc and 2 motors if there is a thing

[@chrismofer]

Of course when you fully stop one more than the other, they get wildly out of sync. I'm curious to see this done with propellors installed. They'd provide flywheel effect and the same amount of drag.

[@daviddavidowsky7981]

Bardzo pomocny filmik

[@Enderkruemel]

I Used this in a rc truck where the Motors are directly connect via a gear system. They never can get out of sync But as These Escs are getting realy cheap i buyed 2extra ones each for one Motor. Also the Starting Power is now better...

[@gtaitbiz7787]

Do you recommend a 4 in 1 esc for larger drone tarot 650 frame with a tarot Martin motor

[@FPVUniversity]

Modern 4in1 should handle those big motors no problem. Only remember about capacitor

[@DemaMoto]

Very interesting but what if you use 2 ESC connected independently to the motors but in parallel to the control signal? How to you make a X8 work with controllers that can control only 6 motors? Thank you

[@VincentFischer]

thats what I'm doing on some of my planes and it's working perfectly fine. If you don't use dshot you have to independently calibrate your esc's to do the same thing though

[@Terry_Fritz]

Did all three motors have the same number of poles/magnets? I think having a different number would make it even more complicated. I was surprised that both started. Interesting experiment.

[@robinfpv4858]

It's very likely they have the same number

[@takeoogami]

You could use it in a wing application where there is a puller and pusher, the rotations would cancel out any torque and thus should fly better.

[@spacewater7]

I like the idea. If you ever tested this do let us know.

[@JuanRodriguezArchitect]

Pawel quick question: is there a way you could implement a "glide" mode in Inav? Where the flight controller fights to get keep the plane in the air with little or no throttle. I know that position hold existing but I assume it requires throttle. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks man. Great channel by the way.

[@rougeneon1997]

Not until iNav can use an airspeed sensor. Imo

[@JuanRodriguezArchitect]

@@rougeneon1997 I would think it could be linked to the barometer... so that specific code would want higher barometric pressure as a guide perhaps.

[@MARLIELEPPO]

That was interesting.

[@55amps]

Why does the motors grind?

[@ChiefRickyRC]

I'm gonna try two 2435 brushless motors on one of my hosim 9125 trucks. We will see if they stay sinked on the same spur gear. Ill lyk thansk for your video info giving me confidence it will work 👍🤘

[@spacewater7]

What would happen if you simply relied on the traction of the tires to keep them synced?

[@steve_beatty]

Interesting... I tried this with boats years ago..was told it wouldn't work unless the motors were precisely timed and physically connected to keep them in sync .I didn't listen, tried w/o a physical link but synced using a hall sensor initially if I remember correctly) and they would go out of sync and burn up pretty quickly.....Boats are hard on electrical equipment to start with..lol..

[@danieldimitri6133]

I would assume, kinda? Like the current in the motor phases should try to keep them in sync but I could imagine ripples in thr back emf doing strange things if there is some resonance between the motors.

[@spacewater7]

That's my concern for my idea. Wonder if the ESC would handle the feedback?

[@Quick-Flash]

Hmm if you connected the shafts of two motors that might make it work. Might have a few small use cases.

[@mihdd]

just take a bigger motor

[@paulhope3401]

I was just thinking that exact same thing.. Struggling to imagine with what application that would be useful though.

[@Quick-Flash]

@@paulhope3401 I'm thinking size constraints. Instead of stacking the motors place them side by side and lock the bells rotation with a belt. But yeah it isn't to practical.

[@paulhope3401]

@@Quick-Flash I was thinking a shaft going through one motor in the middle of the plane to the one on the front (or rear) in a high power setup when achieving CG would otherwise involve adding dead weight to the opposite end of a plane when having a single large motor at eeither end of a fuse. I guess the space between both motors could still be utilsed for the electronics if you were clever with the wiring.

[@rougeneon1997]

I always wandered if that was possible. I didn't think it would work at all

[@meareAaron]

i wonder if the same applies for EDF brushless motors

[@FPVUniversity]

This applies to every brushless motor

[@meareAaron]

@@FPVUniversity thanks again for the video! learned quite a lot from this :D

[@frasersteen]

Serious question, can 2 (or more) escs drive one motor? Could you for example use a 35A 4in1 on 1 motor for a 140A equivilent?

[@dsmandrewa]

I dont believe it can unless you can sync the motor signals from the 2 escs

[@frasersteen]

@@dsmandrewa thats no problem, wire both escs to the same dshot output. The escs read the motor position too so they might just support each other. You'd have to make sure you wired them all right though, if you had 1 reverse and one normal with the same wiring bad things would probably happen.

[@paulhope3401]

I like your thinking, I reckon if you were able to sync them in INAV/Betaflight then perhaps.. but you probably wouldnt get the same 140A combined that you would on a quad because plane fuses typically have significantly less airflow going through them. Advantage- being able to stack them under a flight controller. Disadvantages- The wiring would be quite messy and as with quads.. If the ESC burns, it often also burns your FC. In this day and age with so many planes using FC's which already have onboard BEC's, I'm surprised no-one has brought out an FC mountable & sized plane ESC with the Quad tech, it would probably be quite popular. Thoughts?

[@frasersteen]

@@paulhope3401 with dshot you don't even need to do that, even if they wern't synced it would just create an inbalance in power (I think) they'd still be reading the same zero crossings on the motor, just that one would be trying to accelerate it less. Yeah sure airflow is a thing but lets face it 140A is probably way more than you need even on 4s. More likely if your 60A motor was spread over 4 they'd share 15A each (hopefully). 100% we need some fplane/wing FC/ESC combos. Especially for 1/2s builds where keeping it light and compact is key.

[@paulhope3401]

@@frasersteen Yeah, that makes sense. I'm actually so intrigued by this question that I've asked it in the 'power systems' section of the RCG forum. There are some very clued up EE's on there that will no doubt be along shortly to tell us what is likely to happen.. See- www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3716205-Wiring-a-4in1-quad-Esc-all-outputs-to-feed-one-motor

[@dare2scheme904]

What about drones which use 4 motors

[@mafiiiyo6613]

What if there is a 775 motor and a brushless motor..?

[@BBFPV]

No magic smoke? 🤷

[@PontoonStriperFishin]

I ran 1 esc on twin aircraft 10 yrs ago!

[@TheTomy03ful]

Do you recommend these motors? (Emax)

[@nite31fpv17]

IMO, can't go wrong with Emax because they've just been around for so long if that's the answer you're looking for.

[@TheTomy03ful]

@@nite31fpv17 I thought the RS2 motors (in this video)

[@nite31fpv17]

@@TheTomy03ful yes they're RSII motors. What im saying is that the company "EMAX" is a pretty reliable company known for theyre motors particularly in high performance and racing

[@TheTomy03ful]

@@nite31fpv17 I see.

[@maxmax-xx7nw]

2esc + 2 motors + 1pwm ? Is this possible ? Will it work?

[@FPVUniversity]

yes

[@edouardmalot51]

Yes sure can't work if load a different. The Bemf cross zero detection is the issue.... (Sensorless algo)

[@ziadkadi]

How about a timing belt between the motors or a gear

[@FPVUniversity]

but then why not just to get a bigger motor?

[@ziadkadi]

@@FPVUniversity because it would be useful in some applications where you need 2 motors to be 100% mechanically timed. Like a dart blaster maybe?

[@engineerahmed7248]

Just put props on & find it out to be totally impractical bcz on THRUST TEST u don't get even 10th the thrust

[@robinfpv4858]

Interesting, I have similar symptoms on a single motor and I blamed the ESC. Maybe I should try resoldering before changing

[@FPVUniversity]

One phase on your motor might be damaged. It's one of the symproms

[@robinfpv4858]

@@FPVUniversity thanks, I'll try swapping things about too and see if the fault moves

[@jackdaniels7913]

Learn something new every day! 🥃cheers🍻

[@Athiril]

I’m more curious about 2 ESCs to 1 motor, to share the current load between the ESCs, or even more of a weird idea, running 6s over 2 x 3s ESCs - connecting the 2 escs in parallel to the battery? Or 3s battery and wiring the output differently from the 2 ESCs?

[@bumblebimmer]

Do the same thing with a sensor ESC with one esc connected to only one of the motors gall sensors.

[@CsotPet]

Hmm but what about two esc's on the same signal wire?

[@FPVUniversity]

I'm glad you ask :) This experiment is on the works

[@boactech3076]

I think it will not a problem as long you use pwm or other one way protocol without feedback. Bidirectional dshot will a problem I think..

[@thirtythreeeyes8624]

If you mean two motors and two escs with one signal it works fine a lot of people run their twin engine planes this way.

[@Siamect]

Works better than a marriage...

[@OllieMarshall92]

This seems quite viable for an RC car if the two motors are synced with a set of gears.

[@77chevy4x4]

I have DC brushed Clodbuster… and why I’m looking at this video made by this nice gentleman.. brush as he mentioned has easy forward backward drive and now add the series parallel switch.. truck for 20 years of trail walking has done phenomenal. I see the brushless have the neutral transmission timing between the two motors. Is there a frequency switch or buffer. To recenter timing to The motors as they rotate!?! Now that’s a good question

[@senseisecurityschool9337]

Note they would have to be synced with the magnets and coils perfectly aligned. The ESC detects the instant that the magnet passes the coil. Without gears, it automatically syncs on start if there is no load.

[@marcobassini3576]

They must identical, be mechanically synced with a 1:1 ratio AND with the same phase (alignment of windings/magnets). The latter is almost impossible to achieve since there is no easy way to tell if the phase (rotation angle of the shaft) of one motor is the same as the other. And even then it would be hard to mechanically perfectly align them.

[@gerdanc]

1 signal to 2 ESCs/2 motors works fine

[@FPVUniversity]

Of course is does

[@helidrones]

So one could definitively attach two identical brushless motors to just one esc if the two motors use the same shaft and are perfectly aligned.

[@FPVUniversity]

yes

[@peterboy209]

Take a 2in1 ESC :)

[@roter36]

2 ESCs and 1 motor, please

[@3dprinting_and_aviation]

Yes, it can. But not with 3 or more motors. Why?

[@fedkot]

beware of this strange motor sound - it`s going to overheat

[@kasatka60]

Видео о том как не надо делать)

[@AtradiesInc]

Umm if you foul a single motor you take risk of damaging the esc. So this would work fine if you kept your fingers off the motors lol....

[@marinehm]

It’s terrible. Why would you want to do that?

[@nite31fpv17]

back then ESCs were pricey so they would use this method for twin planes also it could be used for weight purposes if it is an issue

[@JimEdmiston]

This has been covered many times in the RCGroups forums and on KZbin. Try making some original content, bro.

[@nite31fpv17]

Yeah on forums (not everyone reads them) and I don't see many vids covering this. Not everyone reads all the forums and watches all the videos on KZbin like you. It's always good to get a second opinion and updated information to cycle it to the new people in the community. Try being positive, bro.