Electric motor spinning the wrong way

[Justme]

I have just had to replace the spin motor on our twin tub.

Bit of a faff to actually fit it & worse still as the wire diagram had dif colours to the machine & the machine was wired dif to the diagram to start with. PLUS the new motor came with dif colour wires fitted to it. Never mind the terrible crimps they had used to join it all up stuffed in a plastic bag.

So after working out the entire machines wires & made an educated guess to the colours to match the new motor nit all works fine. BUT the spin is going the wrong way so the fast safety stop when you open the lid does not work as the pad is pushed off the rotor not pulled onto it.

The motor has 3 wires plus a screwed on earth.
2 are for live & neutral & one for the capacitor start. The capacitor also goes to the live.

I thought that AC motors would always run in the same direction no matter which way you put the L & N. So can having the cap on wrong cause the motor to run the wrong way?

[Alan]

If you measure the resistance of the windings with a digital meter on the lowest Ohms range.
The run winding will be the lowest reading ( Example say 80 Ohms )
The start winding will be ( Example say 140 Ohms )
Reversing the connections to the start winding will make the motor spin in the reverse direction.
Reversing the run winding connections will make no difference
Reversing the capacitor connections will make no difference.
Reversing the live and neutral supply will make no difference.

Regards

Alan

[Justme]

Not quite sure that its possible to change the start windings. I dont have two wire for the start windings.

3 wires in total from the motor. L N & Start.

The cap is connected on one end to the live feed & the other to the start windings. Unless I connect the cap to the neutral but that cant be right can it?

The cap goes across the L & Start.

So I must have the motors 3 wires wrong.
Time to get the meter back out.

[pottsiwebber]

There are some wiring diagrams at the bottom of this page http://www.applianceaid.com/generalwash.html#sample_diagrams might not be your model but may be of some use to you. The Inglis, Whirlpool, Kenmore belt drive washer diagram appears to have three wire motor.

[johnrae]

Ignoring the earth wire (since it plays no part in operating the motor - it's only there for safety) the capacitor is probably for power factor correction or electrical noise suppression.  In all probability your motor is a commutator unit, from my memory of twin-tubs.   It also appears that whoever supplied the motor has sold you the wrong model (with respect to rotation direction).  However all is not lost, if you are willing to strip it apart and reconfigure some of the internal wiring.   Your choice is to either reverse the field windings (that's those on the coils) or those on the commutator brush terminals.   However the alignment of the brushes on the commutator may not suit motor reversal since that are sometimes inclined to produce a trailing effect as the rotor rotates.  Best bet is get back onto your supplier for a correct motor.
jack

[johnrae]

Have just reread your original message and realise that I've written a load of mashed potatoes, since your motor has 3 terminal plus an earth.

How many wire ends are there coming out of the motor, 3 or 4.  If only three then I suggest simply reversing live and capacitor terminals may do your reversing.  If 4 then you will need to identify the start winding and reverse its pair of wires.

jack

[Alan]

Is the capacitor new.
Is it the correct value for the motor.
Lots of motors are replaced because the capacitor has dried out and the value has changed. The motor will sometimes not start, or spin sometimes in the wrong direction, depending on the temperature of the windings.

Regards

Alan

[Justme]

Cap is the old one. Its a 4 wire cap as the other two wire do the wash motor. I have swapped it over & both motors still work the same (but as the wash motor changes diirection that does not really help)

Motor has 3 wires plus earth
Motor has no brushes (coils / windings are on the outer)
Motor changed as it would not run at all. Might try to run it with a manual spin start.
Will try reversing the live & start wires & see what happens. The N I am sure as it is the right colour (blue).
Motor is correct one down to the same part number as old one.
Will check those diagrams out cheers