by Tony » Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:23 pm
Just make absolutely sure that an American sourced drive is not limited to running off the American 120v supply system, with an American 120v three phase motor.
If you plan to run it in the UK, 50Hz/60Hz makes no difference, but the rather large voltage difference sure might be a very big problem.
You will need a lot more than just a capacitor to run a three phase motor off single phase, it just is not going to work.
In Australia we have 240 volts between each phase and neutral, and 415 volts between each of the three individual phases (ignoring the neutral). I believe the UK and Europe is similar, except it is 230/400 volts instead of 240/415 ?
Anyhow, if you only have single phase coming into your home, all you get is neutral, and one 230 volt phase. The motor requires three phases of around 400 volts between each. No neutral is used with these motors, only three supply wires. So you are just not going to have enough voltage to run even one of the three motor windings.
Honestly, unless you are renting, enquire about getting all three phases hooked up to your home. They are probably right there out in the street. It cost me nothing to get my electricity meter upgraded and all three phases connected to my power board. From there, I only had to get a qualified electrician to run a three phase feed from the power board to my garage/workshop. That did cost me, but it was peanuts.
Also known as the infamous "Warpspeed" on some other Forums.