Motor Connections

[Wayne Elliott]

I've recently moved my cyclone from my main room to a backroom for space and noise reasons. It worked fine previously, but now it won't run. I've connected it the same way I had it, but now, when I power it up, the motor starts, then audibly slows, then speeds up, then slows, etc. for about three or four cycles, then it pops the main breaker (20 amp). Any ideas what could have happened or what I may have connected incorrectly?

[imported_admin]

Wayne,
Check the wiring. P1 connects to L1 (line 1) and T4 & T8 connects to L2. T1 & T5 get connected together and wirenutted.

Ed

[Wayne Elliott]

Assuming L1 and L2 are the hot leads, where do I connect the neutral and ground wires?

[imported_admin]

Wayne,
There is a ground terminal inside the motor box.....it's a green screw that attaches to the frame of the motor. That is where you attach the ground wire. In a 230V 1PH system there is no neutral wire per se. Don't hook it up to anything....cap it off with a wire nut.

Ed

[Wayne Elliott]

Wow - I'm pretty sure that's not how I had it connected before, but it seemed to run just fine. I'll get it right this time. Thanks very much Ed!

[landscapingmule]

Ed,

I had trouble with this also. It is pretty easy to misinterpret T1 & T5 and INCORRECTLY connecting to L2, which I found out popped several breakers including the main.

Ed it might be a good idea to include your connection sentence in your installation instructions:

P1 connects to L1 (line 1) and T4 & T8 connects to L2. T1 & T5 get connected
together and wirenutted. In a 230V 1PH system there is no neutral wire per
se. Don't hook it up to anything....cap it off with a wire nut.

My cyclone is up and running like a champ now :lol:

Thanks,

Don

[cooterMN]

I'm currently to the "hooking up" phase of my project as well. From reading this post I think I have it right now, but I have attached a drawing for all of you garage electricians to review. I'm wiring a 110v outlet prior to the contactor so I'll have 110v to power the remote switch I bought at Menards ($12). This is the only part I'm a little nervous about doing, but the flow seems OK. Utilizing one leg of the 220v circuit I think I am creating a 15 Amp 110v outlet. Does this all sound legitimate to you folks?

Keith

[imported_admin]

Keith,
Your circuit will work, but I just want to make a distinction between neutral (white) and ground (green). By definition a ground wire is a non-current carrying conductor and a neutral wire is a current carrying conductor. That's why the ground wire in romex cable isn't covered with insulation. The ground wire is there in case something goes wrong. That is the only time it is supposed to carry current. In our systems ground and neutral are both grounded and have 0 voltage, but that's not always the case. A neutral wire doesn't always have 0 voltage. There are industrial applications as in transformers where they have what they call a floating neutral. An isolation transformer can have a +120V and + 360V with neutral at halfway between. That would put the neutral wire at +240 volts and it would still operate your 230 V motor, but the neutral and the ground wire in this situation would have different voltages. Ok, that was the long way around.

In your circuit you have the ground wire going to the other side of the coil. You should have the ground wire going to the motor only. The white wire from the remote needs to go to the other side of the coil. That will complete the circuit.

Ed

[Guest]

Thanks Ed.

I must have gotten confused by the drawing on your wiring page because there it appears to me that the ground wire from the x-10 is going to the other side of the relay contactor. That is why I drew it up with the wht-neutral from the remote being capped off. I will run a straight ground directly off of the 10-3 w/grnd from the makeshift 110v outlet directly to the motor connections and bypass the contactor.

Thanks again.

[bbenkaz]

One thing you want to be sure of at all costs is electrical safety that is the purpose of the ground wire. Make sure that if you put your contactor in a box that you connect the box to the ground from the panel that way if anything happens in the box it will trip the breaker. You want to switch the 2 hot leads for the motor and tie the grounds together and run them to the motor and connect it to the chassis.

[Blackrain]

My Electrician showed up today while I was at work. Even though I left him this thread printed out, he still hooked up the motor "like he thought it should be hooked up", tripped the 100 amp subpanel in the shop, then the main breaker (150 amps) to the whole house! This is an easy mistake to make. He left, telling my wife that this beast of a motor was designed for use in a warehouse, not a 13x18 foot basement woodshop! :huh:

I got home, and hooked up the wires EXACTLY as described above, and she works like a charm, even when I booted up my 2 HP (15 amp) General table saw and space heater (12 amps) at the same time, all of which are on the same subpanel as the Leeson Motor. Now I just need to assemble the rest of the pieces, and I'm on my way. Thanks all, this thread was a lifesaver. :D

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm going to post here for those interested in the Leeson wiring on something I found today.
I had my motor wired, so I thought, according to what I found on Leeson's site. When this thread came up and Ed sent a clear message (I never knew where CCW and CW were viewed from for sure, it was just a little muddy) on how the motor was to be wired, I made a mental note to check mine.
I wasn't making heads or tails about the wiring I had done, so I unhooked everything and started over. Got the T1 and T5 wired together, then wired the L2 to the T4 and T8. Going smoothly. Grab the L1 and go to grab P1......where is it at??? I didn't have real good lighting, so went after a flashlight. Found the P1 bare wires pinched between the motor's electrical box and motor housing!!!! Somehow when the electrical box was installed at Leeson's factory, it got caught there, and QC didn't catch it. A short tug and it came out (box has an insulation membrane between it and the motor housing) and I was able to wire it to L1. Ed, if you see this (I'll posted this on the SMC also), know that this is not your fault or problem!! But someone upstairs was watching out for me that I didn't get the power turned on until after this thread came out! It has possibly saved me a motor replacement! I'm indebted to Damien at SMC for starting the thread where this info came out. I might have checked it before I turned it on, might not have. L1 was wired to something, just not the right thing, and definately the wrong thing!!! (probably wired to T1 and T5 since that was the only other available bare wire(s) in sight) If you have a motor that you haven't used yet, please check the factory wiring before plugging it in. Jim.[SIZE=14]

[mruseless]

OK I'm confused about one thing (OK more than one thing if you've seen me post before :D ) If you are looking at the spindle of the motor, it should be turning couterclockwise, so the fins are curved backward, right?

So the wiring connections are for CCW? They are the opposite of the wiring diagram in the motor. Does it matter that I have a left-handed cyclone?

[mruseless]

OK never mind about the left-handedness of the cyclone, I answered that one myself (duh).