Quote Originally Posted by MHT862 View Post
thanks hk, oz and luke. much appreciated
thats enough bad press to walk away. 2:1 odds and im not a betting man.. haha
has anyone converted a 3 phase to a single phase motor on a molner hoist? might have to do some research on motors. 3hp 10amp plug single phase seams to be the norm on all my saws etc (available and cheap) and pretty sure hoist is 4 hp 3 phase, but im assuming with 15 or 20 amp outlet i should be able to get a 4hp 1 phase. maybe....
(cant get 3 phase at home for under 50k, maybe more, and thats a lot of mechanics bills or a diesel genset for hoist and a new toy....

appreciate the feedback in advance.
A 4hp (3kW) 240V motor will pull somewhere between 13-15A at 240V single phase, so you will get away with it but at startup the voltage drop will be possibly a bit high so you might see a dip on your system. One of these motors will be around $500 for a new one. Here is a flange connected 240V 1 phase for reference:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-2KW-4-P...item48406936f1


I just had a look at my Molnar, it is 2.2kW 3phase flange motor, I forget to look at the number of poles though but it is STAR connected which is good news. Have a look at the one you are looking at getting and see if the motor is connected in STAR or DELTA. If it is STAR, you can reconfigure the connection to DELTA and use one of these:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-2KW-VSD...item41697d8e51

You just set it up as a dumb drive. Once the motor is connected in DELTA it will be a 240V 3 phase motor (they are 415V in STAR normally). The VSD will also ramp up the voltage to the motor, not DOL it, so the shock on your 240V system won't be as high.

Here is an even dumber one:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Single-th...item3cc9733cf8

Also watch the shaft power once they are in DELTA 240V, as they are limited to 75%.

If you have to change the motor, just check the speed on the current one. 2 pole is approx 3000rpm, 4 pole is approx 1500rpm, 6 pole is 1000rpm. Go to a few motor repair places, they might be able to fix you up with a good secondhand one. You should still be able to use the same controller on the hoist, I think all the controls are 240V anyway, you'd have to check. They may be 415V single phase too but I don't think so. From memory it is just a contactor in a box and you press a button on the front which operates the contactor manually. It'd just need a check as to the top and bottom limits and how they are setup to stop the pump.