Where is the most common place to reverse the leads for a motor? In the pecker head? In the bucket? In the disconnect? Any reasons why one place is better than the other? Also is it common to write YOB or BOY or whatever, where you changed it? Thank you for your help.
Where is the best place to reverse the leads for a motor?
- Thread starter zappy
- Start date
OK, so there's no industry standard really?
Ragin Cajun
Senior Member
- Location
- Upstate S.C.
We always did it at the starter.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Starter, disconnect, or VFD if there is one take your pick. I would probably choose the last in line right before the motor.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
If there is more than one voltage system in the building, then you have no choice but to make the rotation change at the motor.
Not something that I would ever do, but that what is required by 210.5(C) starting with the 2017 code when the scope of Article 210 was expanded to include motor branch circuits. In 2014 and older codes, motor branch circuits were only covered by Article 430.
Not something that I would ever do, but that what is required by 210.5(C) starting with the 2017 code when the scope of Article 210 was expanded to include motor branch circuits. In 2014 and older codes, motor branch circuits were only covered by Article 430.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Just remember if it is fed by a vfd, do it on the load side.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Me neither, no one ever does this.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
You'd be surprised (or maybe not) how many times I've run into that issue, where people complain to me that "The VFD keeps running the motor in the wrong direction no matter how I swap the wires!", because they are swapping on the line side of the VFD.
Personally, as someone OTD, I do it wherever I don't have to bend down as much, so basically almost never at the peckerhead any more...
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
I'm in with the crowd who does it at the starter. I don't care what 210.5 says.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
What the heck was the rational reasoning for 210.5?
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
NEC wants to be a design manual even though it claims it is not one?
Other reason is to supposedly protect those that don't know what they are doing.
I might care which phase is which if I were trying to balance single phase loads across a three phase source. If majority of load is three phase motors, like it often is for me, rotation is all that matters to me, and my rotation meter can tell me what the rotation is if I need to check that.
Electromatic
Senior Member
- Location
- Virginia
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
Could someone post the 210.5 verbiage you're talking about? I don't see anything in the 2017 that would prevent you from having red,blue,black or whatever order you wanted.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
2020 NEC:
Electromatic
Senior Member
- Location
- Virginia
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
How does that prevent you from moving phases left or right in a starter or disconnect as long as the conductors are marked by phase (red, "A", etc.)? It doesn't say anything about left to right orientation like 408 and high-leg placement.
If you identified by phase say A phase was brown if you moved it in the disconnect brown would now be B phase. 99% of the time no one would care.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
It doesn’t prevent you from doing it, you just need to mark them.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Once you get to the top side of a starter, who the heck cares?
If someone needs to be led by the hand after that, they should find a different job!
Electromatic
Senior Member
- Location
- Virginia
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
If I've identified a phase as brown and am consistent with that throughout the premises, that to me satisfies the article. It's physical orientation within equipment isn't mentioned. If I make a splice in a junction box, do I have to make sure the brown wire is all the way to the left?
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
most VFDs have a parameter you can set to do this with no wiring changes required at all. much easier.
I don't see how 210.5 (C) 1 could possibly apply downstream of a VFD anyway. The VFD is effectively an SDS at that point.