wiring DC motors in series

Thread Starter

metalmoto

Joined May 10, 2008
3
I am working on a project were I am using 2 seperate DC gearmotors to drive 2 automotive jacks for stablizing an RV. In the process of finding a way to shut of power to the motors/jacks when they reach their limit.
My solution (so far) is to use a circuit breaker, so it trips when the motor stalls...
My friend told me to try wiring the motors in series. And to my surprise, they will operate one at a time, the first one reaching it's limit (stall) and then the other motor starts until it reaches it's limit and stalls.
Then the circuit breaker trips, shutting off the power.

My question is what decides which motor goes first?
And would this damage the motor brushes over time?
 

hgmjr

Joined Jan 28, 2005
9,027
Assuming that the motors are pretty much identical, it seems to me that the one with the least load on it would be the first one to operate. My reasoning is that the one that is closest to stalling would represent the lowest resistance and therefore all of the current would pass through it and over to the motor with the least load.

hgmjr
 

mik3

Joined Feb 4, 2008
4,843
I am working on a project were I am using 2 seperate DC gearmotors to drive 2 automotive jacks for stablizing an RV. In the process of finding a way to shut of power to the motors/jacks when they reach their limit.
My solution (so far) is to use a circuit breaker, so it trips when the motor stalls...
My friend told me to try wiring the motors in series. And to my surprise, they will operate one at a time, the first one reaching it's limit (stall) and then the other motor starts until it reaches it's limit and stalls.
Then the circuit breaker trips, shutting off the power.

My question is what decides which motor goes first?
And would this damage the motor brushes over time?
I dont know what an RV is but why dont you use limit switches and relays to control the motors?
 
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