Washing machine motor low power. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Saull
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2020, 09:28:12 am
content: Hi,I have washing machine motor that I wired for low speed. The motor is turning but there is no power on output shaft. I can stall it with my hand.What power can I expect from that motor on low speed?I used guide below to wire the motor:http://www.ingdemurtas.it/en/automation/washing-machine-motor/Thanks.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2020, 01:00:01 pm
content: Firstly are you sure you have the same type of motor as in the article? It's describing a 2-speed, capacitor-run induction motor, is that definitely what you have? Some washing machines have more than two speeds, some have other motor types including brushed universal motors (most common type in the UK), and "brushless DC" which are really polyphase synchronous motors plus an inverter.The motor may not be optimised for torque in the low-speed mode, because in the washing machine the mechanical load at low speed is very low. Expect to get considerably less power out of it than when connected for high-speed.

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2020, 10:42:41 pm
content: What capacitor are you using? You may get better results with a different value. The capacitor is supposed to shift the phase 90 degrees but its value determines the phase shift.

author: Saull
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 04:32:44 pm
content: Hi,Quote from: richard.cs on December 30, 2020, 01:00:01 pmI don't know what type of motor it is, if you could help identify it would be great. The motor has 5 wires and coil resistance is similar to what is described in article. If I connect it by the article I can get low and high speed from the motor the only problem is that in low speed there is no torque on start up. The motor definitely has brushes.The capacitor is 16 uF and it is the same as it was used in washing machine.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 06:20:46 pm
content: As the motor has brushes it is almost certainly not a capacitor-run induction motor (induction motors with brushes do exist but are rare and I wouldn't expect to find one in a washing machine). Instead it is probably a universal motor, do the brushes bear on a segmented commutator?Can you trace through your five connections? You probably have two connected to the brushes, 2 or 3 to the field windings (stationary windings around the outside). Alternately the fifth may be an earth connection to the frame or a tachometer connection.Often these motors run with both windings in series for high speed (beware, in this configuration it can overspeed to destruction without load) and with the windings in parallel for low speed. If the motor has got two sections in the field winding then these could offer two or three speed settings for the each winding configuration for a total of four or six. Capacitors are not used with universal motors. Reversing one winding but not both will reverse the motor.These motors will turn at low speed and torque on 12V dc from a car battery or similar - you could use that to safely test out all the combinations of windings and note their speed. The motor will run around 10-15x faster on 230V ac than on 12V dc.