Motor 120V 3-Phase

I bought for $5 an almost new looking 1 hp motor from a garage sale. From the Specs plate it looks like a 120Vac 3 phase motor. Is there such an animal? How do I wire one up wth the regular household plug?

Reply to
klm
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Well, now you know why it was cheap.

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie Bress

There is such an animal. Used them in industrial greenhouses, they were more reliable than single phase during brown outs and the like.

How to wire it up to your home? If you don't have three phases pumped into your house (and I don't know of anyone who does) then you don't. In theory you could wire up one phase, leave the other two phases out of the equation. It will work, but will probably burn out over time.

Suggestion: Go find a single phase 120Vac motor for $5 at another garage sale. Or check out people tossing old washers & dryers. The motors are often just fine in those beasts.

Carolyn

Reply to
Carolyn Marenger

First you would have to get 3 phase, which you probably can't. Then you would have to get some transformers to reduce it to 120v, and you probably can't do that either.

Then, just plug it in!

Reply to
Wade Lippman

possibly. but I don't see how you'd use them in a residential area.

you can't since you only get 2 phases in a house and a 3 phase motor needs 3 phases.

Reply to
j j

it won't work if it's an induction motor.

Reply to
j j

he can't get 3 phases to a residential area because the netwqork itself only brings one phase to an area, then splits it into 2 phases with a center-tap transformer.

but why would he need a transformer to bring it down to 120V? we get 120V per phase in Canada.

Reply to
j j

Hi, Because 3 Phase is only available in higher voltage. Tony

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Reply to
Tony Hwang

Never heard of a 120V 3 ph motor. Most 3 PH has three legs of 120V coming in or in some cases one leg has 220V called Delta ph. In any case there are converters out there that work but cost way more then $5.

Reply to
Randd01

240v is single phase also. See
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Reply to
Wade Lippman

Go buy a $500 Variable Frequency Drive. Most will accept single phase in and will produce a three phase output. Set the parameters for 120 volt motor and you are set! Either that or sell it for $5 on a garage sale and buy a motor that you can use! Greg

Reply to
Greg O

oh, right, I thought he meant he would need a transformer to bring the normal residential line to 120 V (since residential areas don't get industrial voltages, using a transformer didn't make sense to me)

Reply to
j j

you get 2 120V phases into your house, and since they are 180 degrees out of phase, you can combine them to get a 240V phase, but at the entrance to your house you get 2 distinct 120V phases.

Reply to
j j

You really need to inform California Edison of that then...since they have several like that in Indio, for starters..

Reply to
CBHvac

Maybe with a phase generator.

No, it splits the primary phase into 2 low voltage "legs."

(Is a 12v-18v-24 volt transformer a 3-phase output?)

Reply to
HA HA Budys Here

No, you don't.

Reply to
HA HA Budys Here

this is turtle.

I have a 480 volt Step down transformer to 120 volts that you could try to fix to do something or someway to do something for your 120 volt 3 phase 1 horse motor. I don't know how you could wire it up but it's cheap and i only want $2.00 for it because it has $2.00 worth of copper in it. Now you only need 3 phase 480 volt service to your home and you have it here. I kept it for it has a tap off the side for 480 volt 3 phase to go to rooftop condenser fan motors of 230 volt 3 phase fan motors which 4 will run off it. I don't know what the 120 volt 3 phase taps is doing on it.

Hurry up it's going fast for I have only had it 5 years now and looking for a home. Awwwwwwwwwwww E-Bay they can find a home for anything.

TURTLE

Reply to
TURTLE

If the motor in question is really 120 volt then it isn't three phase. The phase to phase voltage of three phase power that will provide 120 volts relative to the center tap of a wye connected transformer set is

208 volts. I've been doing electrical work in heavy industrial to home environments for over thirty years and I have never seen a 120 volt three phase motor. 120 volt service is pretty much a north american thing. I have worked a lot of places and I have never encountered a three phase voltage that was 120 volts when measured phase to phase.

-- Tom H

Reply to
Tom Horne

Tony That may be true were you are but it is untrue in many places. Many utilities will provide 208/120 volt wye connected three phase service. It is an especially common service to large apartment houses. Since the US NEC forbids luminaires that require voltage over 150 in dwellings the

480/277 volt three phase service is of little use in such buildings.

-- Tom

Reply to
Tom Horne

On the street in back of mine there are three 13.9 kilovolt lines on the top cross arm of the poles. Every third transformer is tapped off of the same phase. That is undoubtedly because the area has some apartment houses but the point is that the network often brings all three phases to a residential or even a rural area in order to balance the load on the supply. PEPCO, Allegheny, and VEPCO all provide three phase service to much of their service area. They will not supply a three phase transformer setup to supply a service unless the demand justifies the expense. If the demand expected on that service will not justify the expense some power companies will supply three phase distribution voltage as the service to a customer owned transformer.

-- Tom

Reply to
Tom Horne

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