3phase or single phase motor.

[spark91]

hey guys, ok basically a friend bought a 2nd hand thickness planer and asked me to do him a favour and wire it for him.i havnt much experience at this. first off i cant tell if the motor is single or 3phase, it has 400v and 220v written on the plate on the side of the motor. there is a connection block on the side of the machine and there is a brown and blue cable there which means single phase but them 2 cables are then connected to a 3 phase contactor. can a 3 phase contactor work with single phase and how do you wire it? or could you run two seperate single phases to the motor with no neutral or do all motors need a neutral? ha im just confused on this. some questions are prob stupid any help would be very much appreciated tho. thanks

 

[pmac10]

its 3 phase and can be connected in either a star or delta configuration.

 

[Marvo]

Usually a single phase motor will have at least one or maybe two capacitors so they're fairly easy to identify.

 

[pmac10]

do you have a 3 phase supply available?

 

[spark91]

nope but he was talking about getting a converter if it was needed.

 

[spark91]

would anything happen if say i just wired it with single phase and it was 3phase? could i do damage to the machine or anything?

 

[pmac10]

not sure of costings mate, but what about a variable speed frequency inverter, what size of motor?

 

[spark91]

think its a 3hp motor?

 

[pmac10]

it is a 3 phase motor, does it have a KW rating on the nameplate? if it's small you can connect a single phase supply to a frequency inverter to give a variable speed 3 phase output, i'm not sure but i think this would be cheaper than going down the road of a converter

 

[Knobhead]

Have a look at Google

 

[pmac10]

Schnaeder Electric do VFD for a 1.5KW motor on the RS website for £183.

 

[Knobhead]

I think we may as well give up. No reply from OP as usual

 

[pmac10]

same old, same old..........