Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / May 2007

Well, the *simplest* way to make the motor run would be to hook it to
a 3 phase AC power supply -- since a brushless motor is identical to a
3 phase AC motor.  (You probably want to drop it down from 110v or
220v, however.)  You might even be able to make it run on standard 1
phase AC, just like you can often make a 3 phase motor run
(inefficiently) on 1 phase AC, but that's not usually a good idea.

As for the circuitry needed to make it run from a DC supply, of course
it's possible to make it -- it's in a brushless ESC.  But just buying
a brushless ESC off the shelf is certainly easier than making your
own, though there are instructions for making brushless ESCs out
there, and you could just use those, but rip out the part that decodes
the servo signal and hardwire full throttle in there.

Though if you don't need speed control, it would be a lot simpler to
just use a brushed motor.  Run at full speed, good brushless motors
aren't much more efficient (when you consider the ESC too) than good
brushed motors.  Brushed motors just get a bad rap because we spend
too much time dealing with ones that aren't good :)

(But brushless motors are generally more efficient when run at partial
throttle than similar brushed motors run at partial throttle -- that's
important too.)