phase converter

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donselectric

Senior Member
Location
nh
i have a ph converter that some caps blew up on...
it didnt have a mag starter just a 60a disco fed by a 60 dbl
pole brkr. i guess it ran fine until the lathe was run.
anyone know anything about them...

thanks
 
Since you didn't make any mention about an idler motor, I am going to assume you have a static converter (If I am wrong about that, then ignore the rest of this--sort of).

An off-the-shelf static converter is about the worst thing you can do to a motor because all it is, is a motor starter. Once the converter gets the motor spinning, it cuts out completely and leaves the motor to single-phase.

A balanced-static converter also uses run capacitors tuned to the characteristics of the tool motor, and will provide an output fairly close to that of a rotary converter.

As long as you are going to have to replace the start caps in your converter, you may as well spend a few minutes and turn your unbalanced converter into a balanced converter. To do this, you leave the start circuit as-is (after replacing the damaged caps), but simply add a couple of caps between the two source phases and the generated phase.

I have an article describing how to do this at http://www.waterfront-woods.com/Articles/phaseconverter.htm.
 
Oh, in that case, just replace the cap(s) with the same size. There should be a starting circuit and a running circuit, each with its own set of caps. Make sure the starting circuit is engaging/disengaging properly. If it doesn't engage, the motor will start very slowly and it will burn out the run caps and/or motor windings. If the starter doesn't disengage, the amperage will remain too high and burn out the caps and windings.
 
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