Rotary Phase Converter

[nisse]

After looking in the cabinet, it appears that the ground has come loose and needs to be reconnected. Also, my generated leg is the black wire, thinking it should be line 3 coming into the machine, but didn't have anymore time to look at it. I have attached the wiring schematic if anyone is interested.
Thanks,
John

 

[m16ty]

After looking in the cabinet, it appears that the ground has come loose and needs to be reconnected. Also, my generated leg is the black wire, thinking it should be line 3 coming into the machine, but didn't have anymore time to look at it. I have attached the wiring schematic if anyone is interested.
Thanks,
John

Looking at that wiring diagram, it appears the receptacle and other 120v loads are picking up their “neutral” through the ground. If I’m reading the print right, you might want to look into changing that to a neutral wire to be safe.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I've built several phase converters out of old 3 phase motors. What you do in that case is you have L1, L2, L3 wires going to the motor. You hook up your single phase to L1 and L2, and your 3 phase motor you are trying to power to L1, L2, L3. L3 is your generated leg.

Then you have to either rig up a single phase pony motor or start capacitors to get the whole thing started. I've seen people just use a pull rope to get it started but I've never tried that. Your 3 phase converter motor will run fine on single phase, it just needs something to start it.

My guess is all the start capators are in the enclosure box that sits on top of the motor. No need to rope start.