Anyway to use a 415V Motor in a country where there is only 230V current supply

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frankngui

Member
Is there anyway to use a 415V Motor in a country where there is only 230V current supply available, say..the Philippines.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
frankngui said:
Is there anyway to use a 415V Motor in a country where there is only 230V current supply available, say..the Philippines.
Step-up transfprmer comes to mind.
 

broadgage

Senior Member
Location
London, England
It depends on the type of winding in the motor, and on the supply that you have available.

Presuming that the motor is 415 volt 3 phase, and it probably is.
Then it depends on whether the motor has 6 wires or 3.
If the motor has only 3 leads, then its 415 volt only and there is no simple way to run it on 230 volts.

If however the motor has 6 leads, then it may be wired internally in star/Y, in which the connections can be altered to put the windings in delta for a 230/240 volt THREE PHASE supply, IT WONT WORK IF YOUR SUPPLY IS SINGLE PHASE.
In which case the motor nameplate should read 230 volt delta/400 volt star or something similar.

Alternativly the motor may have 6 leads, but be already in delta, in which case the motor should be marked 415 volt delta/720 volt star.
If this is the case, then there is no simple way to use the motor on a 230 volt supply.

If you have a 3 phase motor and a 3 phase supply of a different voltage, then in theory you could use a 3 phase transformer to obtain the correct supply for your motor. In practice though it is probably cheaper, and certainly simpler, to replace the motor with one suited for the supply.

If you have a single phase 230 volt supply, AND a motor that can be rewired for 230 volt 3 phase, then you could use a variable speed drive with a single phase input and three output.

If you have a three phase motor and a single phase supply of the wrong voltage, then I would replace the motor.
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
frankngui said:
Is there anyway to use a 415V Motor in a country where there is only 230V current supply available, say..the Philippines.
If it is a 415V 3-phase motor it is probably a 50Hz machine.
Philippines is 60Hz.
You could, as has been suggested, use a 230/415V transformer but the V/f ratio would be wrong. The motor will run but you would get above rated speed and below rated torque.
Unless you know that the application can cope with this, don't do it.
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
LarryFine said:
Maybe so, but the nut would definitely crack.
Well, yes....
So, as I see it we have a few options:

  1. Do nothing. Run at 230V and 60Hz. You'd get about 25% rated torque, about 30% rated power, and 20% overspeed.
  2. Buy a new 230/415V transformer, get about 80% torque, and 20% overspeed
  3. Buy a new 230/500V transformer and get 98% rated torque, 19% more power. Plus a new pacemaker to cope with your increased level of stress
  4. Buy a step-up transformer plus a new variable frequency inverter. You'd get rated output - and a big hole in your finances.
  5. Buy a new motor to suit the application.
:D
All calcs based on the Stienmetz SCIM model.
 
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