wiring a compressor


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Old 03-10-07, 05:52 AM
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wiring a compressor

i bought a compressor from princessauto. it is a 1 phase, 5hp motor, 60 gal, 22amp, 60 hz. Has no starter, it is approx. 15 ft from box. My question is the motor has a yellow and black wire and the regulator is marked t1 t2 l1 l2, where do the wies from the motor go l1 l2 or t1 t2. I think that a 30 amp and 12-2 wire. also from the box side those wires go to what.
Ps i have wired lots just never run acrossed L1 L2 T 1 T2 before. any help would be great.
 
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Old 03-10-07, 06:05 AM
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Make and model of the unit would help.

Normally your line voltage will go to L1 and L2 and then T1 and T2 would go to the compressor motor.
 
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Old 03-10-07, 06:08 AM
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with all the info you did give, you never gave the voltage required.

L1 and L2 are designations given to the line side of the power. Line side power is that that comes from the supply.

T1 and T2 are the terminals that the motor would attach to.with the current given, I presume it is a 230 or 240 volt rated motor.

You will need at least a 30 amp 2 po;e breaker and #10 wire. and up to a 70 amp 2 pole breaker.

We also need to know if the motor has internal thermal protection. if it doesn;t, you will need a motor starter that provides thermal protection.
 
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Old 03-10-07, 07:00 AM
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If you bought the compressor from Princess Auto and it came with the motor and pressure switch not connected they likely intended this unit to be used with an optional motor starter.

If you look you will likely find that the amperage draw of the motor is very close to the maximum current rating of the pressure switch.
It might be possible to wire the pressure control to directly switch the motor but you might wind up wearing out the switch contacts fairly quickly if you do.
Anyone here would be able to help you connect the starter.

Princess Auto which is similar to Harbor Freight in the US offers very good service and if you call them they would bend over backwards to help you.

( Have to come out of there with a cart full every time I visit my home city. )
 
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Old 03-10-07, 07:33 AM
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It is thermally protected, and is 208-230 volts. where does the hot go L1 or L2 or does it matter. I guess i should buy a starter for it sounds like the plan. little more money now save later.
 
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Old 03-10-07, 07:54 AM
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At that voltage you'll have 2 hots and a ground. It don't matter which hot goes on which leg.
 
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Old 03-10-07, 07:59 AM
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one hot leg will go to L1 and the other hot leg will go to L2.


if the pressure switch is rated for the current, you would gain nothing from utilizing a motor starter. a pressure switch that is rated for the current would use the same power contacts as a motor starter so there is no conservation of equipment there. a pressure switch of proper ating is simply a pressure activated switch where a "motor starter" is an electrically or mechanically activated switch.

You do need to have a disconnect for the compressor though. It can be the breaker if it is within site. If not, you would need to have a local disconnect.

I would suggest a local disconnect in any case. It's simple nice to have one close to the compressor.

back to the thermal protection. If it must be reset, you could utilize that. If it automatically resets, code allows no additional thermal protection IF the motor restarting automatically (when the thermals cool down and reset) does not cause a hazardous condition. Otherwise you would need a thermal protection that must be manually reset and if that the case, a combination starter would be the best route to go (integral motor contactor and thermal protection). As well, if a starter magnetic starter is used, you could integrate the pressure switch to contol the starter thereby reducing the load on the switch to the control circuit only. This would extend the life of the pressure switch contacts.
 
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Old 03-10-07, 08:09 AM
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The moter has a manual reset on it. and the electrical box is across from the compressor with in arm length.
 

Last edited by GregH; 03-10-07 at 08:20 AM. Reason: Remove quote. Makes posts hard to read.
 

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