I found a motor in the "free" box at the local woodworking store. Broken was written on the side. When I removed the side cover I found a white run capacitor with a hole in the side. Two wires. The motor a single phase has two red wires and two white wires. What are the chances that the motor will work with a new capacitor? If so, how do I wire it into circuit? Or, should I put it back in the free box. Thanks

 

Chances are 50/50 that it will work with a new capacitor. There should be a wiring diagram on the motor housing somewhere. That should provide all the information you need. If you take a picture of it and post it here we can help you with the wiring if you are unsure how to proceed. I would suggest testing each of the wires with a ohm meter to check for shorts to the metal housing and between the windings of the motor.

 

Chances are 50/50 that it will work with a new capacitor.

+1. The capacitor may have been the problem, or there may be a problem with the motor that caused the capacitor to fail.

I would suggest testing each of the wires with a ohm meter to check for shorts to the metal housing and between the windings of the motor.

+1 again. That tests for half of the things that could be wrong with it. The other half you can't test for - that being, a winding shorted to itself.

 

Unfortunately no wiring diagram. I tested the leads. No shorts to the housing. I have 2 red R1 & R and 2 white W1 & W. The resistance between are as follows:

R1- R 9.6 ohm
R1-W 3.3 ohm
R1-W1 0.3 ohm
W-R 6.6 ohm
W-W1 3.3

Does this help ?

 

Just a passing thought...if the capacitor fixes the problem, how are you going to wire it to power without a wiring diagram?

 

Is there any label on the motor at all? Maybe a manufacturer name or model number?

 

I was able to contact the company that used the motor originally. Got some new information. Two red wires go to the two leads of the capacitor. Unfortunately this motor should have a black and white instead of two white leads. They did not know how this could happen. Any way to figure out which should be the hot of the two white wires or should I give up now?

 

Here You are.

 

Any way to figure out which should be the hot of the two white wires

it doesn't matter.

 

Thank you for the input Cork_ie The schematic makes sense based on the resistance of the leads. I'll get a new capacitor and give it a try. Not sure I understand why the orientation of the hot and neutral does not matter?

 

Because it's AC. It doesn't have a polarity. When you get to 3 or more wires on a motor, it matters.

 

Got a new capacitor, wired it up and the motor works great. Thanks for the help

 

Thanks for the feedback. We don't often get that; usually people don't come back after their problem is fixed.