Hi,
The title of the post states my problem clearly, I have a rotary phase converter that starts spinning in a random direction every time I turn it on. Here is a little background.
I bought 2 used Phase-A-Matic 5 HP rotary phase converters maybe a year ago. Here is a link to the company's rotary converters information. By the way, those are based on Baldor motors, so not some random crap. After getting them, I tested that they both would spin and produce 3 phase. Then I picked one and wired it up for my Deckel FP1 mill and got no problems with it at all once I educated myself a bit about a few details. All of this to say that I now know for sure how to wire those.
A couple of weekends ago, I decided to set the other one up for a cold saw and a surface grinder projects that were put on the back burner for too long. I wired it up and connected it to the cold saw and it turned in the wrong direction. Ok, no big deal, switch the two input legs and try again. Well, it started in the wrong direction again. After double and triple checking my initial wiring and the direction of the spinning saw, I came to the conclusion that the rotary converter itself must be spinning in different directions from one start to the next. I was able to check and see that the spinning direction of the saw changed according to the spinning direction of the converter's rotor. So this means that what we are dealing with here is a motor that starts in a random direction.
I called the company's tech support last week and after I read the output's line to line voltages, I was told that the capacitors were no good. I got a set of new capacitors and got the exact same result, i.e. unpredictable spin direction.
So, now, I am completely lost. I have no idea what else I should look at or what else I can try or test. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Jacques
The title of the post states my problem clearly, I have a rotary phase converter that starts spinning in a random direction every time I turn it on. Here is a little background.
I bought 2 used Phase-A-Matic 5 HP rotary phase converters maybe a year ago. Here is a link to the company's rotary converters information. By the way, those are based on Baldor motors, so not some random crap. After getting them, I tested that they both would spin and produce 3 phase. Then I picked one and wired it up for my Deckel FP1 mill and got no problems with it at all once I educated myself a bit about a few details. All of this to say that I now know for sure how to wire those.
A couple of weekends ago, I decided to set the other one up for a cold saw and a surface grinder projects that were put on the back burner for too long. I wired it up and connected it to the cold saw and it turned in the wrong direction. Ok, no big deal, switch the two input legs and try again. Well, it started in the wrong direction again. After double and triple checking my initial wiring and the direction of the spinning saw, I came to the conclusion that the rotary converter itself must be spinning in different directions from one start to the next. I was able to check and see that the spinning direction of the saw changed according to the spinning direction of the converter's rotor. So this means that what we are dealing with here is a motor that starts in a random direction.
I called the company's tech support last week and after I read the output's line to line voltages, I was told that the capacitors were no good. I got a set of new capacitors and got the exact same result, i.e. unpredictable spin direction.
So, now, I am completely lost. I have no idea what else I should look at or what else I can try or test. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Jacques
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