Flowbench wiring

[Mousehouse1]

I am trying to wire up a flow bench that I just built. I bought the motors from www.surpluscenter.com part #16-1234. They draw 10-12amps per motor. I bought a set of flow bench plans from Terry at Mercdog. Has anyone else used his plans and if so how did you wire up your flow bench.

I am not that knowledgeable when it comes to 110 or 220 wiring. That is why I am asking.

I can't find a plug/cord that will handle that many amps. Does someone have any idea what to use?

[86rocco]

I'm planning to use something like a clothes dryer or electric range plug they're good for at least 30 amps at 220V, that should be adequate for my needs, if it's not, I'll go with an arc welder plug. These plugs have 4 wires usually red, black, white and green, the red and black wires are hot 110 VAC, the white wire is neutral and the green is ground. The red and black wires are separately fused.

A 110v appliance gets hooked up to either one (not both) of the hot wires and the neutral, a 220v appliance gets hooked up to just the two hot wires and in both cases, the shell of the appliance is hooked up to the ground wire. If you're hooking up several 120v motors, whenever possible try to keep the load balanced for example if you've got 6 motors, hook them up so 3 get power from the red wire and 3 from the black.

[larrycavan]

Here is the schematic from the PH MSD article.
This may help.

[Mousehouse1]

Thanks Larry and 86. I have the hot rod article. I am not using relays. I noticed several people have used the 16-1234 motors from surplus center. It has two posts coming out of it and I don't see a ground. Mainly just need to see how others wired those motors. I thought about using a distribution block and running all of the wires to their different terminals and then run a power plug from there.

[Mouse]

I really don't want to touch this subject with a 10 foot non-conductive pole, but I do want to try to help. I just want to say that there are several types of 220 volt wiring, and that not all types are suitable for splitting into 110 volt circuits if that is the plan. So if you plan to run 110 volt motors by splitting a 220 volt circuit, find out if it is suitable to do so before hand.

Good luck!

John

[Terry_Zakis]

The wiring diagram looks fine to me. You'd have to hard wire this into an electrical box, which I don't like, or use a 4-wire clothes dryer receptacle and plug at the wall junction box. Shame they're a bit expensive, but there should be no problem with how you've laid out the circuit. If you're going to use mostly 110volt motors, then you want to try and balance the loading of the motors between the two 110volt legs.

Best Regards,

Terry Terezakis
Western MA, USA

[Mousehouse1]

I am waiting on an electrician to stop by and tell me how he would wire it. I don't really want to use 4 relays like the ones pictured above. For one they are $25 or so each.

How can I wire each motor into a switch and then use a dryer cord to plug into the 220 wall plug?

[larrycavan]

[Mousehouse1]

Larry that is a great idea. I will look into that.

[2seater]

[Terry_Zakis]

I think some kind of switch is mandatory, as its not good practice to be using the breakers for switching. So my vote is for the switches and the application of circuit breakers or in-line fuses. We can be talking about a lot of amps here, and as previously mentioned, nobody wants to make a 911 call. For those who are less experienced in the wiring department, I think the earlier idea of having an elctrician stop by is very wise!

[cspeier]

I'm not an electrican, in fact light bulbs are as far as I want to go. I do however have a friend, dad's actually, who has spent 40 years owning a appliance store. We used a 2 post 220 VAC block off an old dryer. One side, all same color, to the switch, the other side, all same color, to the switch and from the switches to the motors. That simple. Never had a problem. The switch is rated at 15 amp and a motor will draw 4.8, we checked it. We split the block to 110 for my light and clock. After reading about all the posts on fused and relays I asked him his feelings. I'm leaving it alone. Remember, just his and I guess my opinion.

[Mousehouse1]

Remember Chad is using 230 motors and not 110.

I am having a friend of mine that is an electrician come over and wire up mine or at least give me an idea of how to wire it up.

Thanks for all of the ideas and opinions.