help w/electric motor wiring

[SLEDDER23]

All:

Lots of smart folks here, so I'm hoping someone can help me. I have an old Westinghouse electric motor that I want to use for a polishing/grinding wheel.

I've seen it done, but am not sure on the wiring. I want to wire this to a typical wall switch, which is how I've seen in the past.

There are 4 wires coming out, one each; red, yellow, brown, and black.

Any suggestions, can this be done?

Thank you in advance folks (I hope....)

John

[pl259]

There should be a plate on the motor that lists the model number and specs. Post everything it says and we should be able to help.

[tkromer]

Normally an electric motor with 4 wires is 3-phase but I'm going to guess if it's small enough you're thinking about making a grinder out of it it's not 3-phase. Probably a neutral and 3 speeds for that motor, but it's hard to tell what voltage and/or amperage it's looking for. Post the model # and we'll figure it out no problem.

[SLEDDER23]

Thanks all. Yes, it is a smaller motor, housing about 8 inches long and about the diameter of a 2 liter pop bottle, slightly bigger. It is a Westinghouse, which I hear is hard to find the info for, but here are the details on the nomenclature plate.

Style 316p55b-b
serial: NG
Frame: a48

HP: 1/4
ph: 1 (seems to fit what I have found online)
type FHT
RPM: 1725
cycles: 60
Volts: 115
amp: 52
deg c: 50

Thx for the help, any info appreciated. I hate to throw out a good (?) motor or good money!

[tkromer]

Well I'm not familiar with too many 4-wire single-phase motors unless it has a starter coil. Do the leads have labels L1 L2 etc? I would guess that red and yellow are + and - respectively, black is ground, but what is brown??? Regular 3-prong wall outlet should do the trick.
I honestly wouldn't be too afraid to wire it using just those three wires and see how it runs, if it won't start then you'll need the brown for the starter coil, and I'm not remembering how to do that

EDIT: If it doesn't start IMMEDIATELY unplug it

[pl259]

The specs look good for your application. Although the 52amps is probably missing a decimal point. Now it's just a matter of figuring out the wiring. I couldn't locate any direct info on that motor. The safest way to figure it out would be to look up an electric motor repair place in the phone book, and go over and ask them. Usually if a motor requires a starting cap, the value of the cap is listed on the housing. The ones that I've wired up only had three wires though.

[SLEDDER23]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I think I'm gonna do a bit more searching and check out the one my mom has that someone set up for her. It's a different motor, but also a compressor motor so maybe the wiring will be similar. Worse case, I'll hook the thing up and see if I can figure it out. Can't imagine I'll do worse than trip a breaker or blow a motor that isn't worth anything sitting around anyway!