2 post lift motor control help, it fried. Advice?

[DustyJoe]

The motor is labeled 230v but the start capacitor is labeled 110v, is this normal?

The lift worked fine going up and down a few times testing things, then once I tried to lift a car the start capacitor melted....

My brain is fried for the evening =/

Any ideas?

http://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/892403_10151524334239054_1441992445_o.jpg

http://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/885015_10151524334289054_1755218879_o.jpg

 

[pattenp]

Seems odd to have a 110V cap on a 230V motor. My 230V motor on my lift uses a 233-280 MFD 220VAC cap. How many wires are hooked to your cap? My cap has to terminals but there are 3 wires connected to it.

Edit: After a little research it only uses the 110V cap on one leg of the 230V to kick start the motor. So the 110VAC cap is correct. Buy a new cap and try again.

 

[nehog]

...

Edit: After a little research it only uses the 110V cap on one leg of the 230V to kick start the motor. So the 110VAC cap is correct. Buy a new cap and try again.

That sounds very odd... Can you give a URL for this? He doesn't have 'one leg' in that setup, he (should, if wired the way all the ones I've seen are wired) has two hots, no neutral, and a ground which is not a current carrying conductor.

OP: there is no reason (electrically) that you can't use a capacitor rated at a higher voltage (220-240 volts) if it will physically fit.

 

[Grumpy365]

"Factory wired" may indicate, it could be wired for 110v as an option.

Look at the wireing diagram for the motor and see what it is actually wired at.

 

[yokley3]

Hello all my name Bill. This is my first post to the forum. I'm a HVAC-R tech.
Dustyjoe you should take the cap. and the motor to a motor shop. They can check the motor to see why the cap. blew. They should be able to get the right cap. for your motor. You have to use the same one that was on the motor.
They are sized for each motor they are used on. Hope this helps.


Bill

 

[pattenp]

I did a google search with "230 volt motor with 110 volt capacitor" or something like this. I got the following plus another site that had some info but now I can't get more than the below info, which isn't much.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_a_230volt_motor_have_a_110_volt_capacitor

If the motor could be wired for 110V wouldn't that info show on the data plate?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Seems odd to have a 110V cap on a 230V motor. My 230V motor on my lift uses a 233-280 MFD 220VAC cap. How many wires are hooked to your cap? My cap has to terminals but there are 3 wires connected to it.

Edit: After a little research it only uses the 110V cap on one leg of the 230V to kick start the motor. So the 110VAC cap is correct. Buy a new cap and try again.

But if u test the input wires on your cap, I'm sure it's only getting 120v, otherwise, it would have to have 4 poles since single phase electricity is 120v per leg!

 

[nehog]

I did a google search with "230 volt motor with 110 volt capacitor" or something like this. I got the following plus another site that had some info but now I can't get more than the below info, which isn't much.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_a_230volt_motor_have_a_110_volt_capacitor

If the motor could be wired for 110V wouldn't that info show on the data plate?

(Sorry, but when I went to that very informative site, it was funny.)

I'm going to call this site's answer as bogus.

How motors work is that with single phase there is no movement, so a motor can't start. Polyphase does have movement, this allows a motor to spin up. With your typical three phase motor, what you have is one set of windings that both start and run the motor--that's why three phase is so popular, it's good for motors as they are simpler.

With single phase you need phase shift. There is no need to have three phases, two will work, as long as they are somewhat out of phase. So you make a two phase motor, and to get that second phase you put a capacitor in series with the second winding. It's all simple really.

Maybe time to contact the manufacturer and ask for the specifications. It could be 120 volt! But, I'm not comfortable saying that a 120 volt capacitor is right.