Brown & Blue Wires On Electric Motor Which Is Hot??

I've got a Thomas air compressor model number 2619ce42-925b

It has 4 wires comming out of the side. 2 black wires hooked up to the starter cap a brown wire and a blue wire..

This is a 115vac 60hz motor..

Which wire is hot? I'd rather not guess and burn the motor up.

Thanks,

-Mike

Reply to
Michael Kennedy
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There's no polarity or consequence of connecting either wire to Line or Neutral (your brown or blue wires that is).

Reply to
G

If it's based on European colours, it's Brown=Live (Hot for those in North Am) and Blue=Neutral.

However this is AC, there is no polarity.

Dave

Reply to
Dave D

oh okay.. thought it might make some kind of difference, but now I think about it I should have known that from when I was a kid and wired ac equipment up however I guessed at it and it worked..

Reply to
Michael Kennedy

In general I would disagree.

Whilst in some countries the plug can be inserted into the wall socket either way around, at least in the UK, Australia and a few others, there is definitely a right way to connect them.

Generally inside the appliance only the brown Active (Live, Hot) wire has a fuse in it, and so it is possible that if you wire it the wrong way around, there might be a greater risk of fire due to the circuit no longer being protected against for example faulty insulation between a motor winding and the earthed ironwork of the motor.

Also if there are switches (such as the pressure switch of the OP's compressor) then they will only be in the Active conductor in at least some countries, which can make it more exciting if a circuit is switched OFF in the neutral wire and then you start working on the equipment.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Jones

Well I wired the pressure switch so I'm sure that it is wired correctly.. ;-) and for the compressor motor itself it is working good..

BTY I agree with your point about the fues, but ther isn't one and if I were to put one on it I'd definately put it on the hot wire.

I just had a motor and didn't know if it made any differecne with ac motors wich way you wire them up.

I guess it is time I need to read up about ac motors.. I've build small dc motors for projects and understand how they work.. I'd guess an ac motor works by replacing the magnets with electro magnetic coils.. I think that makes sense... hmm.. but why wouldnt't a dc motor work on ac? does the polarity change as the current alternates?

- Mike

Reply to
Michael Kennedy

I don't think G was advocating swapping the L and N wires at the plug, or implying it was a safe thing to do. The point was that AC motors do not really have a live or neutral, just AC in. It makes no difference to its performance and will not cause damage, nor should swapping the mains connections at the motor have any safety implications, provided any safety devices are not swapped to the N side in the process.

I agree with the gist of what you say though, and it is certainly essential that the fuse is on the live side. As far as compromised safety on reversed mains connected devices with SPST pressure switches goes- anyone daft enough to rely on that to isolate equipment will have a very short life anyway, regardless of whether the L and N are crossed!

Dave

Reply to
Dave D

Think of AC supplies as a 50/60Hz sinewave, with one conductor 180 deg out of phase with the other. When the Live/Hot is swinging positive, the N is swinging negative and vice versa.

Dave

Reply to
Dave D

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