Two speed Electric motor question

[grsthegreat]

most spa pump 2 speed motors are like this




personally, ive never run one form an intermatic timer before.


but i found this online.....worth a shot

How To Wire a PE153 Digital Timer to a 2-Speed 23V Motor - INYOPools.com

 

[beowulf]

Well, the saga continues. While working outside for about 3 hours I let it run on low. Just before coming in I turned it off. Low speed would not start up again, but high speed would. Then, neither would start. Breakers are on, but nothing on either speed - not even a humming.

I will take the motor back to the pool shop (where bearings were replaced) as they offered to check out the motor. Assuming that checks out, I will then go with a new timer as Roy suggests.

grsthegreat, thanks for the post and for your research - much appreciated. The wiring diagram you show is how it is now wired - I rechecked it after the pool shop told me that was the correct wiring scheme.

 

[grsthegreat]

Before throwing out the timer, just test it. Unhook both loads out to pump and test between common and each load as you turn that load on. Should get 240 on each test.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't think it has solid state switching, so if it has contact issues, using a high impedence meter might not reveal messed up contacts. I never heard if in fact the timer was on MODE 2, preventing both speeds being energized at the same time..

 

[RoyKing]

The intermatic uses cheap little relays, not really good for motor starting and they are expensive, so I setup a sealed box and used 20 amp rated 110v coils to start my pump and other water valves etc. Those relays are cheap like $10.00, that way the intermatic doesn't have a load on it. Consider it

 

[kenmbz]

Agree with RoyKing, relay contacts not being pulled in would make the motor not get enough current.

 

[radios1]

pool pump motors don't use a capacitor for starting, it's not needed because the load at startup is very low, unlike a saw or compressor load. what is happening here is the start winding for the low speed is not working, that's why it just hums. maybe a bad centrifugal switch..

 

[RoyKing]

I don't think so, there is not two separate start windings for low and high, the best way to test is bring two hot lines from a breaker and wire up and test. Or get in the control box and install some jumpers.

 

[beowulf]

Okay - more information - learning as I go. As mentioned yesterday - I could not get the motor to start on either high or low by using the timer switches. So this morning: 1) I bypassed the timer all together and hooked up the high speed black wire directly to the energized hot wire coming in - the pump started on high.
2) I bypassed the timer all together and hooked up the low speed red wire directly to the energized hot wire coming in and the pump did not start on low - only had the same moderate humming sound. To make sure, I tried hooking this red wire to each hot lead coming in with same results. What is a but puzzling though is that yesterday I had it going on low and ran it for about 3 hours on low. But after turning it off it would not restart.

So, now I am thinking I may have a bad timer/control unit and a bad motor on low?

If so, and because the timers are expensive as are the two speed motors, I may have to go to (reluctantly) a new motor which has the timer built in to the motor (rather than buying a timer and a motor separately). These are variable speed motors - expensive. They say they save energy, but that is not a big factor for me as we have solar and generate more power than we use each year.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That is what troubleshooting is all about. Makes you wonder if it's jus bad luck or there was a sequence of events.

Did you take the motor back to the shop?

I never like combined things.