View Full Version : 3 phase motor capacitors?
TalonMotorFabrication
22nd January 2014, 09:47 PM
I need some help from those that know about 3 phase electric motors. I changed my knackered single phase 3hp compressor motor for a 5.5hp 3 phase so that I could run 2 pumps from the single motor, how ever the new motor did not come with run capacitor(s).
Now what I need to know is do I need a capacitor for every phase then join to the poles of the motor or is it a case of just putting one on a single phase to just kick start the motor??? Also what sort of rating would I need? any help would be great please before I either burn the motor out or burn the workshop down!
beardydave
23rd January 2014, 07:10 AM
Don't need capacitors with a 3-phase motor, the capacitors are to provide power for longer tokeep the motor turning at start up.
just wire the brown, black and grey supply wires (red, yellow and blue if its an old installation) with a 3 pole switch and a fuse or mcb for each phase directly to the u1 v1 and w1 one the motor. You need to size your cables for about 7x the full load current (flc) to cope with the spike in current when the motor is started, but the fuses should be set to just above the flc.
if the compressor has any remaining single phase controllers on it use one of the phases and run a neutral wire as well.
Do you have a switched 3-phase or 3-phase+neutral socket on the wall? That would provide the switch and would imply that the circuit has already got circuit breakers.
TalonMotorFabrication
23rd January 2014, 08:40 AM
Currently it's wired directly from a linked 3 phase 16amp MCB to a 3 phase start/stop pressure switch then directly to the motor. Every now and then it trips the MCB on start up which is why I asked if it should have any capcaitor(s) in there, I'll check the type of MCB this morning as it could well be a type B which is causing the problem.
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