Washing machine motor

[Jameswood]

Hi guys, so I've got a washing machine motor that I need to wire to a 13 amp plug, and electronics is my kryptonite, I was wondering if you could help me out? Thanks. The white and black are the brushes. And the little blue wire is for the earth(I think)

 

[rtbcomp]

I would suggest green is the earth, check it out with a meter, and the yellow & brown wires are the field coil connections.

If so you need to connect the field and the brushes in series, either

1) White - Yellow and connect mains to Black & Brown

OR

2) White - Brown and connect mains to Black & Yellow

Which way you choose determines which way the motor rotates.

Be careful, some washing motors spin up to 20,000 rpm under no load, this can cause them to self-destruct.

 

[rikrobson]

there is a pair of wired to the rotor via brushed and commutator. there are also wires to the stator, depending on the number of coils. (i think this depends on how many speeds the motor has)

the rotor and stator can be wired in series or parallel again influencing the speed.

the black pair are for the brush leads and the rest for the stator windings.

You'd need to buzz out the resistances on the coils to confirm the way they are wired. it should all be the same gauge, therefore the resistances will be proportional.

 

[rtbcomp]

If you connect the armature and field coil in parallel you'll likely blow the fuse. All the washing machine motors I've played with are series connected.

 

[ford34/2]

I spent ages and ages getting a one to run, when it did go it must have been doing 20,000 rpm, nearly took off. Well it did in the end into the bin. Be interesting project, whats it gonna power??
Washing machine owner in the street scrapped a M/C couple of weeks back, the owner knows I tinker about -said do you want the motor-- ME, no thanks!!!

Stan

 

[rikrobson]

The gearing is done via its spindle pull your and the drum pulley. They are normally very small and very large so 50:1 ratio or more

I have read up on them before and apparently series is possible. Don't forget the faster the motor is the greater the back emf
You may need to series then parallel. Like star delta start.

 

[rikrobson]

I've got one sitting in the store some where

 

[ford34/2]

Yeah , I looked at the pulley on the drum about 2 feet diam, fed off the motor one, about 1 1/2" canny reduction.

Stan

 

[rikrobson]

The Motor will need the speed to generate its torque.

1 1/2" to 2' is 1:16 reduction

 

[rikrobson]

You should be able to run off DC too.

here is an old thread aboasut the same subject

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/wiring-electric-motor.22620/

 

[rtbcomp]

Keep it in series, the field coils draw too much in parallel, most of the back emf is generated by the armature, so the field current won't be limited as the motor speeds up.

Speed control on washing machines these days is done electronically.

The motor will be safe as long as there's a mechanical load on it.

I've heard, but never tried it, that you can run them off a car battery with the field & armature connected in parallel.

 

[rikrobson]

So in theory, this motor should have a centre tapped field coil to give two speeds. Bk & Wh are the brushed and then the Yl Gr Br are the filed coil.

Therefore connect wh to Live. Bk to Gr and Br to Neutral and it should spin. swapping Bk and Wh should make it bo in reverse. swapping Yl for Br or Gr should give a different speed.

I'd connect it up on the bench with a circuit breaker then use choc block to test the theory/wiring after confirming the field windings with a meter.

If this is for the lathe then it would probably eisier to get a 1ph induction motor and cap or a 3ph 240 and a cheap VFD

 

[rtbcomp]

I'd use a meter as per post #3 to ascertain the field coil wiring first.

 

[Jameswood]

I spent ages and ages getting a one to run, when it did go it must have been doing 20,000 rpm, nearly took off. Well it did in the end into the bin. Be interesting project, whats it gonna power??
Washing machine owner in the street scrapped a M/C couple of weeks back, the owner knows I tinker about -said do you want the motor-- ME, no thanks!!!

Stan

Thanks guys, i've got it bolted down really securely, so i'll try it out again tomorrow. by the way it's powering a 2 x 60 belt grinder

 

[rtbcomp]

I hope you've geared it down!

 

[Seadog]

by the way it's powering a 2 x 60 belt grinder

You might find the load is enough to control the speed. As already stated, series wound motors just accelerate until they self destruct. Typically you could find them in cylinder vacuum cleaners. The fan provided a constant load which regulated the speed. A long, long time ago in a galaxy etc. etc. ... I decided to make a bench grinder using a vacuum cleaner motor and an old wheel I found somewhere. It didn't end well, but it taught me thing or two about grinding wheels, guards and motors

 

[Jameswood]

Thanks for the warning, I tried method 1 and got nothing, then tried method 2. I got about 2 and a half revolutions, then the RCD tripped. Should I be connecting the earth (from the plug) to the green wire? As I said, I know virtually nothing about electronics, so you guys have been very helpful thanks

 

[rikrobson]

Id buzz out the green yellow and brown wires to find out what is attached.

you want the Ohms for the following

Yl - Gn
Yl - Bn
Yl - Gnd
Gn - Yl
Gn - Bn
Gn - Gnd
Bn - Yl
Bn - Gn
Bn - Gnd

From that you should be able to workout which wire is which.

the motor should have couple of wires on the end of the motor (red). these are a tacho signal so the now defunct controller can regulate the speed.

 

[rtbcomp]

Id buzz out the green yellow and brown wires to find out what is attached.

you want the Ohms for the following

Yl - Gn
Yl - Bn
Yl - Gnd
Gn - Yl
Gn - Bn
Gn - Gnd
Bn - Yl
Bn - Gn
Bn - Gnd

From that you should be able to workout which wire is which.

...

Yl - Gn
Yl - Bn
Yl - Gnd

Gn - Bn
Gn - Gnd


Bn - Gnd

 

[rikrobson]

Yup. Was doing sometjing else at the time. Thought it was wrong/duplicated.