wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
15a FLA? yeah thats a 3HP.
Air compressor circuit breaker size?
- Thread starter wazzabie
- Start date
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
FLA is full load amps. means the current motor pulls when it has a load on it. overloads are set to this rating.
it looks like the motor nameplate has an FLA of 15 but its hard to read.
it looks like the motor nameplate has an FLA of 15 but its hard to read.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
You can make an adapter, but I bet the generator will stall out when the motor starts
Why do you think this?
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Motors draw a huge amount more than their running amps when starting. Running amps are just one part of the equation
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
in-rush starting current which is 4x-8x nameplate FLA.... theres a reason gensets have surge watt ratings.
Last edited:
micromind
Well-known member
In my experience, a 4000 watt generator will start a 2HP motor but just barely. It won't start a 3 or 5 at all.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Tell us you don't know how motors work without telling us.
We explained why it won't work, but go try it on the generator and come back to share how it went
Post #50 explained it pretty simply.
The generator might have power beyond what it lists amd might sustain the industry load. Plug it in and find out. Worst case it works but kills your generator over time.
I tried. I made an adapter. The gas generator runs however the electric motor did not do anything.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Something else is wrong. Did you test that the generator is outputting power?
sparky 1971
Well-known member
Did you make an adapter that allows you to plug the 20 amp 240 volt cord into the 15 amp 120 volt receptacle on the generator? I don't know if the pic above goes with the generator or not, but it shows the receptacles to be 15 amp 120 and 20 amp 240.
Start the generator and use a meter (as in, not a glow pen) and see what voltages are at the generator.
Start the generator and use a meter (as in, not a glow pen) and see what voltages are at the generator.
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
that is your RUNNING watts, NOT your STARTING watts
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
explain the adapter you made.
Update: Someone gifted me a Powemate 5000 watt generator with a 20amp 240v outlet. It turns the motor over. The 4000 watt generator had low voltage and was bad. For this temporary project I don't need to wire a new outlet at the electrical panel.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Did you fully charge the tank and then run it down to trigger the motor again?
It worked a few times then the motor started smoking. At full psi the electric motor struggles to move. So this generator is not the solution. I'm going to need to have a 20amp 240v gfci outlet wired in the garage.
BurtEggley
Well-known member
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- Oct 8, 2024
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- 888
May have shorted a winding. Keep us up to date.
On the motor? The motor still runs. The motor has a thermal cutoff circuit breaker.
A motor doesn't just start smoking for no reason...
BurtEggley
Well-known member
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If the motor gets hot or lacks power, there could be a bad winding. If it has start and run caps, check those with a meter to see if they are within 10% of the rated value. As PCustoms wrote - a electric motor does not smoke for no reason. It smokes because too much current is passing thru it. Solder melts, windings melt, all sorts of bad things happen. If you said that it the equipment is working perfectly now, and the motor remains cool then I would say it is Ok.