Yesterday, I took the motor to a motor repair shop and asked a few questions. I felt really awkward and stupid about my questions.
> - one of the starter winding wires (red, black) is too short to reach
> > the other tab to reverse the rotation direction - is this normal or
> > should I pull on them harder?
The guy suggested taking apart the motor and replacing the wires with longer lengths, or using a crimp-down insulated tube (sorry, don't know the proper term for this) to splice on another length of wire. I got the feeling it's just "do whatever works".
(In normal residential home wiring, there are certain practices that inspectors look for to see that a wiring job is done safely. I thought there were similar practices when hooking up motors, hence my questions.)
Rotation direction isn't always reversible (some motors, you would > reverse
> the motor and use the shaft on the other end of the motor). If it IS > reversible,
> you MUST let it spin down to a stop so as to re-engage the centrifugal > switch
> before attempting to reverse
Yes, I was told this by a coworker.
The repair shop guy said the slight plucking noise I hear when I rotate the shaft manually might be that switch. He couldn't confirm without opening up the motor.
> - how would you normally attach a DPDT switch to reverse the rotation -
> > do you cut off the sockets and splice on another wire to extend outside
> > the panel? do you use the existing socket on the wire and plug in your
> > extension wire?
>
> I'd worry about wire-stuffing limits and heat rating of the terminals > (the motor
> can get warm). If possible, you should put all wires from the outside > of the
> motor into bolted-down attachment points (so they don't tug directly on > any
> of the motor winding wires), and there are often 'spare' attachment > points
> in the motor for this kind of addon.
There are two bolted-down attachment points, each one with three prongs. One has L1 and one of the starter leads, the other L2 and the other starter lead. The third prong is for power.
There are 'feedthrough' crimp
> connectors
> that both accept the wire terminal AND plug down onto a bolted
> terminal,
> for just such wiring issues.
Thanks, I'll look for these.
> - where would I ground the motor? I don't see any specific
> > tab/terminal/screw in the panel or on the case for the grounding > > connection
> Keep looking; sometimes a nut is painted green.
> Sometimes you use the screw that closes the wiring door.
There was a bumpy section on the case that the guy identified as the grounding symbol (It was "upside down" from how I would usually draw it.) He said to use an existing case screw (outside the wiring panel), or to attach to a hole in the case inside the panel (I'd have to tap my own threads into that hole).
Thanks for your help, whit3rd. I appreciate it!
- Daniel