mfisher
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2006
- Location
- Annapolis, Maryland
All,
The short question: what is a likley cause of the green light in the 'push to start' button fading out quickly before pushing the button?
The longer story: Rather than do a rig job of putting a RPC together, or spending a ton of money, I have gone the patience route. I bought a used 5hp home built converter from PM member Lino without motor. Very well put together, all wires labled and neatly run. Over the next months picked up a three phase breaker panel for the loads and other bits and pieces as they appeared cheap. RPC has start and run caps. Motor is a new old stock 5 hp Marthon 3450rpm, 208-220/440V wired for the low voltage.
The RPC came was running when it was removed and shipped to me, and it had a cheap plastic start/stop button wired on it. A new quality on-off switch was included. Wiring it in was easy, all the contacts were the same and clearly marked.
When I first put power to the unit, after it was sitting for some months, the green light in the 'on' button (momentary contact, push to start) came on for a second or two then faded out to off. I pushed the button anyway, and the idler motor spun up nicely. Let it run a few moments and then hit the off button and it shut down. I turned the main feeder breaker to the unit off for a few minutes, and when I turned it back on the green light did not come back on.
I haven't had a chance to pull anything apart yet, but the fact that the bulb faded out would imply that it is not a bad bulb, but rather tied into a spot where once the capacitor charged there was no more voltage? I have a wiring diagram for the system, and could confirm that it is built as it is shown in the diagram, but I am hoping that someone could guide me to a possible culprit.
The short question: what is a likley cause of the green light in the 'push to start' button fading out quickly before pushing the button?
The longer story: Rather than do a rig job of putting a RPC together, or spending a ton of money, I have gone the patience route. I bought a used 5hp home built converter from PM member Lino without motor. Very well put together, all wires labled and neatly run. Over the next months picked up a three phase breaker panel for the loads and other bits and pieces as they appeared cheap. RPC has start and run caps. Motor is a new old stock 5 hp Marthon 3450rpm, 208-220/440V wired for the low voltage.
The RPC came was running when it was removed and shipped to me, and it had a cheap plastic start/stop button wired on it. A new quality on-off switch was included. Wiring it in was easy, all the contacts were the same and clearly marked.
When I first put power to the unit, after it was sitting for some months, the green light in the 'on' button (momentary contact, push to start) came on for a second or two then faded out to off. I pushed the button anyway, and the idler motor spun up nicely. Let it run a few moments and then hit the off button and it shut down. I turned the main feeder breaker to the unit off for a few minutes, and when I turned it back on the green light did not come back on.
I haven't had a chance to pull anything apart yet, but the fact that the bulb faded out would imply that it is not a bad bulb, but rather tied into a spot where once the capacitor charged there was no more voltage? I have a wiring diagram for the system, and could confirm that it is built as it is shown in the diagram, but I am hoping that someone could guide me to a possible culprit.
