Had a customer call telling me that his electric motor for his boat hoist will only lift the boat about 2/3rds of the height it should. Says the motor gets to that point and the breaker trips. Tells me that it's wired for 120V and that its about 300' from the panel in the garage. He had a guy come over from a local marina and he told him that the motor would work fine if it was wired for 230V. Marina guy must be thinking that voltage drop is causing the problem. Owner tells me that this set up has worked fine for several years prior to this summer at 120V.Any thoughts?
motor voltage
- Thread starter nizak
- Start date
- Status
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Underground go bad? Poor connection someplace? Several years of low voltage finally took its toll on the motor. Several years of an overloaded hoist finally ruined the motor.
texie
Senior Member
- Location
- Fort Collins, Colorado
- Occupation
- Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
I would agree with ptonsparky. But I'm not sure why any one would run 300' and choose 120 volt when it would be so easy to use 240 volt. Also I have seen davits and lifts that were always on the edge of full load and then somebody comes along and replaces the cable that is slightly bigger in diameter (change a 1/4" to, say, 5/16") and it's enough to cause a problem.
DaveBowden
Senior Member
- Location
- St Petersburg FL
I did one two years ago at a new house. New lift, new boat, 3 new 300hp outboards on the boat.
Customer called saying the lift tripped the breaker before the boat was lifted. Put an amp probe on it and it was showing 75 amps at the peak before it tripped the 20 amp breaker. Turned out the people who installed the lift forgot to grease any of the fittings before they left. Once everything was greased the load dropped to about 12 amps. Never heard of any other problems since.
Customer called saying the lift tripped the breaker before the boat was lifted. Put an amp probe on it and it was showing 75 amps at the peak before it tripped the 20 amp breaker. Turned out the people who installed the lift forgot to grease any of the fittings before they left. Once everything was greased the load dropped to about 12 amps. Never heard of any other problems since.
- Status