Question about 240v air compressor.

[mikesgabellone]

I got this air compressor a few years back for free. It sat for awhile but now that I have my own garage I'm wanting to get it up and running. I'm looking over the electrical side and doesn't seem right to me.
The current plug in cord has 2 orange 1 yellow wire. Yellow seems to be ground as its attached to the metal box. The prange both go to terminals labelled line. Doesn't appear to be a neutral wire? I'm used to 12v and basic 120v.
The 2 load wires then go to the motor. There are 6 wires coming out of motor but 3 are tied to each other. 2 go to one black wire and one to the other wire.
What's up with the 3 unused wires?

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[sberry]

They may be for different voltage or rotation change.

 

[mikesgabellone]

Ok the tag on the motor shows 110/220v I assumed it could be run on 110v but since all the wires are black I don't want to start taking it apart

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[md21722]

Its common for motor leads to be tied together and not connected to line.

If you clean off all the dust, being careful not to remove wire markings, there should be numbers on the wires and a wiring pattern on the motor name plate. Alternatively, if the numbers are illegible then you'd need to follow a procedure to test the pairs for resistance to determine what's what.

If the motor is 2HP or more, it will start and run better on 240V.

It is curious that they used yellow as a ground but it does not affect its operation. In 240V there are two hots and it doesn't matter which is which. Again, black or black and red would be more commonly used here, but it doesn't affect its operation.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Take a pic of the nameplate and post it here.

The yellow wire should be changed to green for the EGC to be code compliant and make things less confusing.

 

[Norcal]

The yellow may have a green stripe, if so it's fine as a grounding conductor, even though it is a idiotic European color code.

 

[alfredeneuman]

The motor is missing the terminal housing.
It goes on the side of the motor (where it's a different color). You might be able to use a regular metal junction box to replace it. (It's dangerous the way it is)

 

[mikesgabellone]

I have the terminal box it's removed to take pictures.
Someone asked for the motor plate here it is.

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