Hello,
I have a brand new 1.5hp, single phase, high torque, ac motor. It is dual voltage and it is wired to run at 240v (I have a previous thread concerning wiring the motor at 240v). I hooked the motor up to a 12" metal shaft that has approximately 8 to 10 pounds of chain link attached to the shaft. The links are equally spaced and weight is equally distributed on each side of the shaft (two links on ones side, two on the other equally spaced apart). When I put power to the motor it started fine, got up to speed and ran fine. I shut it off, came back later, adjusted the links to ensure nothing was jammed and started it up again. This time the motor started but I saw a small puff of smoke from under one of the capacitor covers and the cover got hot. The motor started running at speed with no other problems though. The third time I turned it on the motor had a hard time starting and it pulled a huge amount current out of the generator (the generator rpm dropped way down before the motor got up to speed). Once the motor got up to speed it ran fine. I opened the start capacitor cover and noticed the pressure valve popped and it had some liquid leaking out. Okay, starter cap is bad. However, any thoughts on why the capacitor got hot and popped its valve?
The start capacitor is a 300uf 125volt unit. The run cap is 50uf, 250v, 40/80/21 unit.
Any suggestions on how to ensure I do not blow a new capacitor? If that is the correct question to ask that is. Should I maybe get a hard start kit type cap setup? I have never used one but I read some info on it today. I don't think the hard start kit would fit under the cap cover though. Obviously I am learning as a go here. Thanks for any help.
I have a brand new 1.5hp, single phase, high torque, ac motor. It is dual voltage and it is wired to run at 240v (I have a previous thread concerning wiring the motor at 240v). I hooked the motor up to a 12" metal shaft that has approximately 8 to 10 pounds of chain link attached to the shaft. The links are equally spaced and weight is equally distributed on each side of the shaft (two links on ones side, two on the other equally spaced apart). When I put power to the motor it started fine, got up to speed and ran fine. I shut it off, came back later, adjusted the links to ensure nothing was jammed and started it up again. This time the motor started but I saw a small puff of smoke from under one of the capacitor covers and the cover got hot. The motor started running at speed with no other problems though. The third time I turned it on the motor had a hard time starting and it pulled a huge amount current out of the generator (the generator rpm dropped way down before the motor got up to speed). Once the motor got up to speed it ran fine. I opened the start capacitor cover and noticed the pressure valve popped and it had some liquid leaking out. Okay, starter cap is bad. However, any thoughts on why the capacitor got hot and popped its valve?
The start capacitor is a 300uf 125volt unit. The run cap is 50uf, 250v, 40/80/21 unit.
Any suggestions on how to ensure I do not blow a new capacitor? If that is the correct question to ask that is. Should I maybe get a hard start kit type cap setup? I have never used one but I read some info on it today. I don't think the hard start kit would fit under the cap cover though. Obviously I am learning as a go here. Thanks for any help.
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