Looking for a little direction..

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marcmm

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[FONT=Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif]I have this vacuum set up we use for our fenestration testing. The Motor is a central vac motor (specs are below), and is controlled by a dimmer switch so we can adjust it as needed in the field to work with our magnehelic gauge.
On the board is an auxiliary receptacle which is constant hot when the unit is plugged in. We want to make it work off the variable speed switch so we can run another vac, both at the same speed, controlled by the same switch.

We tried wiring the plug in parallel with the motor, then plugging in a shop vac but when we did; they would power up... but only low or high speed and made some weird noises. Neither were controllable by the variable speed switch.

After we wired the vac motor back to the way we had it, it worked fine.


[/FONT]We just need to know who we can take this to, to have it wired correctly?



[FONT=Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif]Here's the spec on the vac that is installed inside...Blower Stages 1, No. of Speeds 1, Open Motor Enclosure Design, 93.0 CFM @ 2-In. Orifice, Vacuum (H2O Sealed) 47.8, Voltage 120, 60/50 Hz, 1 Phase, Max. Amps 5.7,
The aux shop vac is just some random small vac

Thank you

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marcmm said:
Here's the spec on the vac that is installed inside...Blower Stages 1, No. of Speeds 1, Open Motor Enclosure Design, 93.0 CFM @ 2-In. Orifice, Vacuum (H2O Sealed) 47.8, Voltage 120, 60/50 Hz, 1 Phase, Max. Amps 5.7,
Click to expand...
120 x 5.7 = 684 watts. What's (no pun intended) the rating of the dimmer?

Note that motor speed controllers and light dimmers are not the same.
 
Just to mention it: dimmers go from off to low through high; motor controllers go from off to high through low.
 
There are probably a dozen or so different kinds of AC single phase motor variations, only two of which can be speed controlled with "dimmer" like devices, and of those, not all dimmer like devices work with motors. Your motor must be either a "Universal motor", often found in hand held shop tools and small countertop appliances, or a "Shaded Pole motor", the type found in circulating fans. Universal motors are small HP (actually usually rated in watts, not HP), AC/DC and usually have brushes. Shaded Pole motors have very low starting torque and are not typically suitable for vacuums. From the description, I'd say you likely have one of the many types of single phase motor that CANNOT be speed controlled.
 
growler said:
They probably need to consult with an electric motor shop. There seems to be a few in the LA area.
Click to expand...

marcmm said:
I called around today and seems as if nobody is willing to help. this sucks.
Click to expand...


If they had been willing to help they probably would have said pretty much what Jraef stated, that your have a motor that's not capable of being speed controlled.

You may have to find a way to regulate the amount of vacuum you are pulling without changing motor speed .
 
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