Badasssapper67
Well-known member
I have a "project" air compressor. 80gal tank, two stage pump, 5 hp 3 phase motor.
I bought a single phase 5 hp Baldor off ebay, installed it and learned a lot about industria equipment and how things are done in that kind of field. I've worked on a lot of cars and trucks, but not so much industrial.
#1 priority was to see if it run. It didn't run when I bought so I put the motor on and yep, she ran like a champ. But I knew to do it right I should put a mag starter on it.
I hate when I dont know stuff about things because I cant justify spending a lot more money for the stuff with American names. It's like ordering Chinese food at a restaurant where there's no explanation of what the food is.
So I bought a shindinzhou or something starter and crossed my fingers. Now the journey begins......
Before this, mag starters were majic. A little box full of pixies and demons that somehow made machines start. Im glad I saw this through, I love learning new things.
There's numbers all over this thing and all the advice I found on the net was not for a guy at my level which was pretty much zero. The directions instantly made me wish I bought something with a name like Honeywell, wow, they were written for someone that already knew what to do.
I wired it up and ta-da! Nothing. I pushed the button in the middle and it tried to start, but when I removed my finger, nothing. I quickly began asking myself if this starter was necessary but I knew I had to do this right and see it through.
Research, research, videos, forums, anything except asking my Dad, whose an electrician. im old enough to be a grand father but I still do things hoping to make him proud. I guess that means he did one hell of a good job being my dad.
It all comes down to the pressure switch. I had a notion in my head that was wrong and that notion is what kept everything from working.
What I was doing wrong was I was running power from the wall to the pressure switch then to the starter. Which is the only way I had ever known but is wrong.
To wire the starter right, power goes to the starter first, then one wire runs to ONE side of the pressure switch. On the same contact point side a wire runs from that side of the pressure switch BACK to the magnetic starter. When pressure builds, the contact points on the pressure switch open, the current going to the coil in the magnetic starter is broken and the motor stops. When the pressure switch contacts close, power then flows from the magnetic starter TO the pressure switch on that one wire and through the contacts back to the mag starter's coil energizing that coil and closing the circuit sending power to the motor and it runs.
To summarize, when you're done there will not be a total of four wires on your pressure switch. You will not be using TWO legs on the pressure switch. You will have a wire coming FROM the mag starter going TO the pressure switch on one leg only supplying power. You will complete that ONE LEG by running a wire from the same contact point back to the mag starter. This is HALF of what you used to have on the pressure switch.
Once I got that point, all the videos made sense. All the tutorials and forums made sense.
I hope that is helpful.

I bought a single phase 5 hp Baldor off ebay, installed it and learned a lot about industria equipment and how things are done in that kind of field. I've worked on a lot of cars and trucks, but not so much industrial.
#1 priority was to see if it run. It didn't run when I bought so I put the motor on and yep, she ran like a champ. But I knew to do it right I should put a mag starter on it.
I hate when I dont know stuff about things because I cant justify spending a lot more money for the stuff with American names. It's like ordering Chinese food at a restaurant where there's no explanation of what the food is.
So I bought a shindinzhou or something starter and crossed my fingers. Now the journey begins......
Before this, mag starters were majic. A little box full of pixies and demons that somehow made machines start. Im glad I saw this through, I love learning new things.
There's numbers all over this thing and all the advice I found on the net was not for a guy at my level which was pretty much zero. The directions instantly made me wish I bought something with a name like Honeywell, wow, they were written for someone that already knew what to do.
I wired it up and ta-da! Nothing. I pushed the button in the middle and it tried to start, but when I removed my finger, nothing. I quickly began asking myself if this starter was necessary but I knew I had to do this right and see it through.
Research, research, videos, forums, anything except asking my Dad, whose an electrician. im old enough to be a grand father but I still do things hoping to make him proud. I guess that means he did one hell of a good job being my dad.
It all comes down to the pressure switch. I had a notion in my head that was wrong and that notion is what kept everything from working.
What I was doing wrong was I was running power from the wall to the pressure switch then to the starter. Which is the only way I had ever known but is wrong.
To wire the starter right, power goes to the starter first, then one wire runs to ONE side of the pressure switch. On the same contact point side a wire runs from that side of the pressure switch BACK to the magnetic starter. When pressure builds, the contact points on the pressure switch open, the current going to the coil in the magnetic starter is broken and the motor stops. When the pressure switch contacts close, power then flows from the magnetic starter TO the pressure switch on that one wire and through the contacts back to the mag starter's coil energizing that coil and closing the circuit sending power to the motor and it runs.
To summarize, when you're done there will not be a total of four wires on your pressure switch. You will not be using TWO legs on the pressure switch. You will have a wire coming FROM the mag starter going TO the pressure switch on one leg only supplying power. You will complete that ONE LEG by running a wire from the same contact point back to the mag starter. This is HALF of what you used to have on the pressure switch.
Once I got that point, all the videos made sense. All the tutorials and forums made sense.
I hope that is helpful.
