# Motor Problems Capactors???



## Kroll (May 25, 2014)

Guys I have a Lux Mill which is from Taiwan,its a 1 1/2hp motor that can be wired 110v/220v.I wire it for 220v but just hums,so I took it back apart and the capacitors I think are bad due to being swollen and they were very hot.But on the capactor it says 125vac 300uf motor start,what I'm wondering is when I wired it for 220 volt did I damage the capacitors since it says 125vac when I applied 220v?I wired it back to 110volt and it ran for about 10mins then I heard one of the caps pop and it shut down.The wiring diagram is alittle confusing,leads are #1-#6 with #5 and #6 being the start windings.110volt L1-#2,#3,#5 L2-#1,#4,#6 with capacitor wire going to L1 and L2.
220v L1-#2 L2-#4,#6 with #1,#3,#5 being a joint but how does the capacitors tied into this which I wired it with #5 and with #6?Its confusing but HELP,I check prices at griz cost close to 400.00----kroll


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## JimDawson (May 25, 2014)

Pretty sure the capacitors were damaged by connecting to the 240V.  One of the problems is that the Taiwanese stuff is rated at 220V and our power here in North America is 240V and sometimes goes to 250V.  Peak to Peak voltage of a 240V sine wave is 339 volts.  This probably will exceed the breakdown voltage of the crap capacitors they use.

I suspect the capacitor are wired in series thus giving you a theoretical 250 volt rating, it seems not to work as well as planned.  I have seen this happen on Taiwanese motors before, in fact, just a couple of days ago on a Taiwanese band saw.  We replaced the 2 capacitors with one 330V,  300 MFD and it is working fine.

If you can't source the capacitor locally, then Grainger P/N 2MEP7 would work fine.  Also there are several other vendors available.  Locally, I would look for an electrical supply, heating and air conditioning repair, or a motor rebuilder.  The cost should be less than $40.

The best advice I can give you on the wiring is to try to wade through the wiring diagram.

Hope this helps.


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## John Hasler (May 25, 2014)

JimDawson said:


> Pretty sure the capacitors were damaged by connecting to the 240V.  One of the problems is that the Taiwanese stuff is rated at 220V and our power here in North America is 240V and sometimes goes to 250V.  Peak to Peak voltage of a 240V sine wave is 339 volts.  This probably will exceed the breakdown voltage of the crap capacitors they use.
> 
> I suspect the capacitor are wired in series thus giving you a theoretical 250 volt rating, it seems not to work as well as planned.  I have seen this happen on Taiwanese motors before, in fact, just a couple of days ago on a Taiwanese band saw.  We replaced the 2 capacitors with one 330V,  300 MFD and it is working fine.
> 
> ...



Putting those nonpolar electrolytics in series is bad engineering.   They are made with very large tolerances and the voltage divides in proportion to the ratio of the capacitance values so the smaller one can end up having much more than half the voltage applied to it.


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## Kroll (May 25, 2014)

Thanks for the help guys,these are wired parallel(?) and you can see the damage to the bottom and the wires kinda melted togeather


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## JimDawson (May 25, 2014)

Kroll said:


> Thanks for the help guys,these are wired parallel(?) and you can see the damage to the bottom and the wires kinda melted togeather



You're welcome.

I agree, they look like they're wired in parallel.  That was exactly the same setup as on the Taiwan band saw motor.  That would give 600 MFD but, the 330V 300 MFD worked just fine on the band saw.


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## John Hasler (May 25, 2014)

Kroll said:


> Thanks for the help guys,these are wired parallel(?) and you can see the damage to the bottom and the wires kinda melted togeather



They do appear to be wired in parallel, which means that you put 220VAC  across a pair of capacitors rated 125VAC.  That destroyed them.

I think that as part of rewiring for 220 you were expected to reconnect them in series.  I suggest that you replace them with a single 150 mfd 250VAC capacitor for 220VAC operation(assuming that they were 300s).  The exact value is not critical.  Anything from 150 to 300 will probably work fine.

Can you post a photo of the motor nameplate?


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## Kroll (May 25, 2014)

Thanks guys for sticking with me on this.If I understand this correctly just one 150mfd 250vac start capacitor and wire it to L1 and L2 which will be 230v correct?Some of the USA made start capacitors the housing is a black plastic does this matter? John heres a pic of the name plate I hope this helps.Guys again thanks so much----kroll


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## JimDawson (May 25, 2014)

Kroll said:


> Thanks guys for sticking with me on this.If I understand this correctly just one 150mfd 250vac start capacitor and wire it to L1 and L2 which will be 230v correct?Some of the USA made start capacitors the housing is a black plastic does this matter? John heres a pic of the name plate I hope this helps.Guys again thanks so much----kroll



I am going to disagree with John here just a little bit.  While a 250V will work, I would go with the 330V capacitor, much higher break down voltage and it will run cooler, I do agree that 150 to 300 MFD will work fine.  The cost difference is not enough to worry about.

The plastic case is pretty standard, and will work fine.

Edit:  I can't find any information on that motor, nothing seems to be on the net, and the company seems to be out of business.


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## Kroll (May 25, 2014)

Jim I could not find any info on the motor itself.I found mills very simlar to this one on Grizzlys website and Harbor freight website but no info on the motor.This mill was made and sold under different names.
So I should only need just one capacitor which would be up to 330vac by 150-300MFD and the two wires for the capacitor would go to L1 & L2,correct? Thanks for very good advice and guidence---kroll
This is not a perfect match http://www.amazon.com/CS300-360x330...1401070724&sr=1-11&keywords=300+mfd+capacitor
I could not find one that was just 300MFD,could someone provide a link?


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## JimDawson (May 26, 2014)

Kroll said:


> Jim I could not find any info on the motor itself.I found mills very simlar to this one on Grizzlys website and Harbor freight website but no info on the motor.This mill was made and sold under different names.
> So I should only need just one capacitor which would be up to 330vac by 150-300MFD and the two wires for the capacitor would go to L1 & L2,correct? Thanks for very good advice and guidence---kroll
> This is not a perfect match http://www.amazon.com/CS300-360x330...1401070724&sr=1-11&keywords=300+mfd+capacitor
> I could not find one that was just 300MFD,could someone provide a link?




The 300-360 will be fine.  That is the tolerance range.  The capacity is not very critical.

I sent you a PM with a couple of links.

EDIT:  You will want to wire in the single capacitor just like the original capacitors were wired in, where ever they were connected to.  The problem with Asian motors is that there doesn't seem to be any standard for wiring.  They all seem to be different.  US and European motors follow an industry standard and they are consistent.


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## Kroll (May 26, 2014)

Guys today I found my problem wiring at 110volt.I went back through some of my pixs that I took while taking it apart.It was not wired like the diagram that was with the motor,so now my plan is to just wire it like it was at 110volt and order acouple of 125v x 300uf capacitors.So hopefully I did not damage the motor.At 220volt I have no ideal on where to land the wires from the capacitors.Sorry for my error and any new thoughs on just going back with 110volt.----kroll
Is this the same capacitor,the housing is plastic the other is metal http://www.amazon.com/PACKARD-CAPAC...1401146961&sr=1-11&keywords=300+mfd+capacitor


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