illustrated a voltage divider 22 attenuates the phase voltages of the motor 12 having a peak phase voltage of about 450 volts by about a factor of 130 to result in a peak sensed voltage of about 3 3 volts thus attenuated phase voltage signals 24 are inputted directly into the controller 20 fig2 is an illustration of a stator 30 from a bldc motor 12 with eight poles or legs 32 or alternatively four pole pairs or leg pairs 33 flux linkage 34 is shown through a single leg pair 36 for illustration corresponding to an energized or driven phase winding 40 surrounding the single leg pair 36 the stator 30 may be made from laminated iron typically each leg 32 is wound with enameled copper wire generally indicated at 40 between each leg and connected to other windings 40 depending on a number of factors including wye delta requirements phases and unipolar bipolar operation the hub and associated magnets of a rotor not shown rotate around the outside of the stator 30 in this type of inverted bldc motor 12 it can be seen by the flux linkage 34 that the adjacent legs 32 which are wired to other phases will have energy coupled onto them even when they are the de energized or non driven windings in a connected motor still referring to fig2 the opportunity for significant flux linkage 34 to electromagnetically couple with adjacent stator legs 32 in the stator 30 allows determination of whether motor 12 is connected in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention if no motor is connected all non driven phases are open with the exception of some calibrated leakage path to ground or back emf.