I recently found myself the proud new owner of a salvaged electric motor: 1/7 HP, 3450RPM, 115v, 2amp, 60hz, single phase
The problem is the cord has no ground wire, just a black and white (poer and ..other/negative?). I think it was “grounded“ by being fixed to the machine it was powering.
How do I go about grounding this motor if its no longer part of said machine? i.e. I want it to stand alone and power a small pump designed to operate at 3450RPM.
Put the power cord's third (ground) wire on a bolt/screw attached to the motor case (scrape paint off first). If something starts smoking, you probably shouldn't-a-been messing with that thing anyway.
does the big aluminum mounting base of the motor count, or do I need to use the steel housing? I know Im asking pretty generic questions.
The best place would be to the steel motor housing. The ground is there to protect you incase something inside accidentally connects with the motor housing. Now, the aluminum mounting base is probably pretty well connected to the steel motor housing, but if it was my life on the line, I'd find a way to connect it to the motor housing. Look inside the connector plate thingie. There's usually a screw into the housing for just such a connection.
indeed there is! thanks sir
Sorry about the humongous picture, but preferably look for something with the ground symbol:
GENERALLY the black indicate hot, the white indicates neutral. Never trust that though. At an outlet with black and white wires, you should read zero volts from white to ground, 120 vac from black to ground. But I have seen way too many wired backwards. Just think that if you touch the black wire, your burned finger will be crusty black. The older the house, the more likely it will be backwards.
cwh wrote: Just think that if you touch the black wire, your burned finger will be crusty black.
Another mnemonic is that the neutral color (white) is the neutral wire.
However, as others have noted, that's just an opening assumption. Don't bet anything you can't afford to lose on it.
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