davit motors/capacitors

B

ba_50

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 4, 2001
Messages
635
I had a reversible motor that needed some help to start by turning the belt wheel manually, and blew a circuit breaker after 10-15 seconds. I swapped out capacitors and it seems to work fine now. Do capacitors cause problems like this?

Another motor overheats in about 20 seconds a blows a circuit breaker. Would a capacitor have anything to do with it. It worked fine last spring, but this problem came up when it was used again this winter.

Thanks.
 
spdracr39

spdracr39

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Messages
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Re: davit motors/capacitors

A capacitor sends extra power to the motor to start it turning and would definitely cause problem A. Since motor B is starting the capacitor is probably not the problem but it is possible. A hot motor is usually either an indication of low voltage be provided or excess load. I would look for a bearing issue first on whatever the motor is driving and make sure it is turning freely. Also, if it is a 220 volt motor make sure its getting power to both hot legs. It could be trying to run on 110v.
 
J

joed

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Sep 28, 2002
Messages
1,132
Re: davit motors/capacitors

On capacitor start motor a capacitor shifts the phase to get a motor turning in the correct direction. Once the motor is running is disengages via a centrifugal switch on the shaft. If the motor is not starting then it could be a bad capacitor or a bad switch.
 
B

ba_50

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 4, 2001
Messages
635
Re: davit motors/capacitors

They are both set up for 110V and the one that got hot wasn't lifting anything but a bar.

I don't know anything about fixing them so if it isn't a capacitor then I'll probably try and find a rebuilt one. Thanks.
 
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