Blade mCP X brushless conversion

Here's how I went about converting my mCP X to brushless. I strongly recommend BL conversion to anyone who wishes to push the flight envelope beyond mild aerobatics.

My conversion takes the more difficult, but also more rewarding path to the final product. If you don't know how to solder, don't feel comfortable doing it on your own or just can't be bothered, check plug-and-play conversions. WOWhobbies carries them among others.

Note: This guide is a revision of my article published in czech language here.

You will need:

- brushless motor, like the powerful but hungry OverSky HP05S or weaker Walkera HM-4G3-Z-39 inrunner

- speed controller - WK-WST-10A-L3 or OverSky XP-12A, both work great

- pinion gear, 8T or 9T, modulus 0.3 with 1.5mm hole

- brushed to brushless signal converter; I used "theSteve" Custom made converter for the Walkera 4#3/a/b helicopter and the Blade MCPx/MSR

- common tools, such as a hobby knife, soldering iron with a very fine tip (you will be soldering onto SMDs and small contact points), pliers, tweezers and some other hardware

First off, think about how would you like your components to be laid out. Cut the wires so that you have just enough to connect them to the right spots.

There are four wires coming out of the converter:

- yellow - signal input; this wire taps into mCP X signal circuit
- white - signal output; this one supplies the conveted signal to the ESC
- red - power lead
- blue - ground

Remove the ESC out of the heat shrink it comes in. Note, where the original servo wire leads are connected and remove them from their solder points. Solder the white converter signal output wire instead of the original servo signal (usually white, yellow, orange). Do not solder red and blue wires yet, read on for reason why and correct spots.

Red and blue power leads are best soldered to the spots seen on the following image. The reason why not to connect them directly into the ESC power circuit is because every time you spool up (especially with powerful motors such as HP05s), the converter goes crazy and quits delivering correct signal to the ESC.

Now connect the yellow wire to a small SMD resistor on the rear side of the main board.

Heavier gauge power ESC leads will be connected to the flight battery. Solder them to the opposite side of original power leads. White is for positive, black ground.

With motor already installed in the modified frame connect motor leads to ESC's output solder points. Carefully check for correct rotation. If motor goes backwards, change the rotation direction by swapping two out of the three motor wires.

Here is how I connected the Walkera HM-4G3-Z-39...