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Switch/motor wiring

Rickoo

Plastic
Joined
Jan 19, 2021
I've searched for information about wiring a drum switch and can't seam to find what I'm looking for.

I'm trying to understand how to properly wire my forward/reverse drum switch to a single phase, 120 volt, 1/2 HP GE motor.

I have pictures of the motor and switch that I think might help. Not quite sure how to upload them here. Am I restricted from uploading pics for some reason? I select the files and click upload and nothing happens?
 
Okay, here are a few pics of my switch/motor. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Okay, a bit more info if it helps. The metal tags on the motor wires are labeled:

T1 for the white wire.
T2 for the red wire.
T3 for the green wire.
T4 for the black wire.

I had this motor apart and cleaned/painted it. It was pretty filthy inside as you can imagine. Has a phenolic plate with some contact points inside. I really have no idea how the motor operates. As you can see it has a capacitor on it. No idea how the thing runs, but I do know that I re-connected everything the same way it cam apart.

Now I just have to figure the switch wiring out.

Thanks for any and all advice!
 
Thanks. I read through the posts pertinent to the motor and switch wiring. Enough to make my head spin. Paula's motor is similar to mine, except I have only four leads coming off the motor. She has five. It appears there are many different configurations of these motors. Without trying to fully understand the inner workings of this thing and what everything does, I would love to find a wiring diagram that shows how to connect the switch I have to this 4 lead motor.
 
Thanks. I read through the posts pertinent to the motor and switch wiring. Enough to make my head spin. Paula's motor is similar to mine, except I have only four leads coming off the motor. She has five. It appears there are many different configurations of these motors. Without trying to fully understand the inner workings of this thing and what everything does, I would love to find a wiring diagram that shows how to connect the switch I have to this 4 lead motor.

As usual, I am a little confused. (I too have a GE 5-wire by the way).
But did your motor already have a rotating drum switch, or did it simply have a couple of push buttons? You show something with a Cutler Hammer plate, but I don't know what that
is exactly. So if it already has a drum switch (and you don't know how to wire it), can you show a photo of it?

By the way, I am not an electrician nor an old motor expert. The one you have looks great...like an art-deco classic.
(let me know if you ever want to sell it!)

Thanks.

PMc

View attachment 319715
 
I was just wondering (dangerous) if one of those wires is an actual GROUND to the chassis/motor?
Do you have access to a VOM (volt ohm meter) to test continuity?

PMc
 
I went through this nightmarish issue myself. What I learned is it depends on the motor and it depends on the drum switch. There are a lot of similarities, but not all the motors are necessarily labeled the same nor do they all have the wiring necessary. My 220v single phase motor had different labels then the ones indicated on the drum switch, or any other reference. The drum switches come in a couple of different configurations as well. I even tried emailing the drum switch manufacturer a photo of the wiring diagram off the side of the motor, and their response was "we can't help you."

Ultimately, I was able to figure it out in my case, but it took some time studying everything and drawing it out to be sure I had it right. In a nutshell, I had to run 6 different wires between the drum switch and the motor in order to get it working properly. And they say a good electrician is overpaid. Hah!
 
Thanks. I read through the posts pertinent to the motor and switch wiring. Enough to make my head spin. Paula's motor is similar to mine, except I have only four leads coming off the motor. She has five. It appears there are many different configurations of these motors. Without trying to fully understand the inner workings of this thing and what everything does, I would love to find a wiring diagram that shows how to connect the switch I have to this 4 lead motor.

From what I was able to glean from my googles, is that the motor has two different windings, one for starting it, and one to keep it running. Depending on the way the start wires are connected, determines in which direction it will start moving, and the other wires keep it moving. I think this is the way all reversible AC motors are wired.

If I were to guess on yours, green is ground, white is neutral, and depending on if you connect the hot wire to red or black determines the motor direction. But I wouldn't test it.
 
I may have the original schematics for mine somewhere -- I'll have to look. Can't right now, it's too late for me. IIRC they showed the 5-wire option with a 4- wire alternate method. I have to get some sleep now though. I will post them if I find them.
 
If I were to guess on yours, green is ground, white is neutral, and depending on if you connect the hot wire to red or black determines the motor direction. But I wouldn't test it.

You read my mind. If the green is actually a ground wire to the motor chassis, then that only leaves the 3 other wires to run the motor. Could it be that simple? All depends on if the green is a ground or not. I would still like to know what's in the Cutler Hammer box. Not much to go on yet unless he provides more information.

But if the green is ground (which I kinda doubt), he could then put a plug on the wires; connect the black and white to the two prongs, and do a quick "bump" test to see it it runs. If it does, then substitute the red for the black to see if it runs in the opposite direction. Again, that's if the green wire IS ground, which is why I asked him to test it FIRST with a VOM.

I don't recall that any of the five wires on my GE motor went to ground. Ground would never go onto one of the drum switch terminals.

PMc

PS, the other option is to just buy a new 110 volt motor.
 
From what I was able to glean from my googles, is that the motor has two different windings, one for starting it, and one to keep it running. Depending on the way the start wires are connected, determines in which direction it will start moving, and the other wires keep it moving. I think this is the way all reversible AC motors are wired.

If I were to guess on yours, green is ground, white is neutral, and depending on if you connect the hot wire to red or black determines the motor direction. But I wouldn't test it.

That was my initial assumption, however I'm pretty confident it is not correct. The green wire was previously connected to a screw terminal on the switch. Wouldn't think a ground would ever be switched in any way.
 
I may have the original schematics for mine somewhere -- I'll have to look. Can't right now, it's too late for me. IIRC they showed the 5-wire option with a 4- wire alternate method. I have to get some sleep now though. I will post them if I find them.

Would be great if you could dig that up! Thanks.
 
First, let me say I have seriously considered using a VFD and three phase motor with this lathe. If I have no luck making this work, that will be what I end up doing.

I have two switches and two motors. One motor is a five wire and this one is a four. I would prefer to use the four wire GE motor I have posted as it appears the original and of much higher quality than the other motor I have. The two switches I have are similar, but have different jumper configurations.

Okay, here are a few pics of the switch I would like to use. I'm not 100% confident this switch was previously used with this motor, so one should not assume it has worked previously with the jumpers as they are. Again, any and all suggestions welcome. Thanks!

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Well yes, I can see that in the center (off) position, the three center terminals are isolated. In the forward position, the three center terminals are in contact with the respective three forward terminals and in the reverse position, the three center terminals are in contact with the respective three reverse terminals. There's really nothing fancy about it.

With the great help of one of iron junkie's posts I was able to confirm that T1 and T3 leads from the motor are the run winding and T2 and T4 are the start winding. I was able to power up the motor and run it in both directions. Now just have to figure out the switch connections.
 
The very last switch photo of the CH 790, shows, I believe, the correct jumpers for your start and run windings.
Switch with drum open, terminals on top, switch handle at top:
1-2-3
4-5-6
7-8-9

T1-S1
T2-S5
T4-S4
T3-S7

L1-S2
L2-S8

Jumpers:
S1-S3
S4-S9
S5-S7

Interchange Leads T3 and T4 at switch to reverse directions.

Steve
 








 
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