12VDC Motor Question

I had a question from a friend that I couldn't positively answer.

Here's his question:

My blue rotating light has two bare wires (pos & neg). Now, when I hooked it up to the eliminator correctly, pos on pos, and neg on neg, the light comes on and rotates one way, but when I reverse the polarity (pos on neg), the light goes the other way.

Next part.....

When it's hooked up correctly, theres like a weird noise coming from it, from the gears I think. but when it's reversed, it seems like it's smoothe, no sounds. I don't know if it'll freeze up like it does after a while when it rotates the "right" way.

Would it hurt if I hooked it up in reverse to get rid of the weird noise? huh.....would it!? tell me!!!

I told him it shouldn't matter and that the gears are probably worn on one side, but that I didn't know for sure and I would seek help elsewhere from a smarter bunch of people!

So, what do you all think? Does it usually matter if the polarity is reversed on a 12 Volt DC motor?

The light in question is a rotator for the top of his truck while plowing.

Thanks!
Rene

P.S. The UBB codes don't seem to work. Is it just me?

Quote:
Does it usually matter if the polarity is reversed on a 12 Volt DC motor?

No.