Washing machine motor... - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

brentonw2004 · 16th May 2006, 05:01 AM

Hello. I recently aquired a 1/2hp GE washing machine motor that I plan on using for a robotics project. It has 5 wires coming out of it and I believe it is from a mid 1980s washing machine. I hooked it up to a tester and it appears that 2 wires are connected together and the other three are also connected together. Does anyone know of where I can find a wiring diagram for it? Anyone know how these motors generally hook up? I want to be able to hook it up to normal 110V wall power. Any advice at all about converting a washing machine motor would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Brenton

Someone Electro · 16th May 2006, 06:04 AM

Google will help.

You also need a capacitor to run this motor.I know one wire goes to neutral and one to live,there is a nother wire conected to live trough a capacitor.If you swap the capacitator betwen the two you should be able to change the direction the motor thurns.

The capacitor is needed to make the phase shift.

Try difrent wires until the motor starts thurning.(Unplug the mains while doing that ufcurse)You should have 2 speeds and each being reversable

brentonw2004 · 16th May 2006, 09:40 PM

I've tried searching Google, but I have had little luck finding any kind of wiring diagram. What size capacitor would I need? How could I test to see what wires need to go to what? Thanks!

**Nigel Goodwin** · 16th May 2006, 10:37 PM

Washer motors are quite complicated, because they have to be reverseable, and speed controlled - I suggest you try drawing out the original circuit from the washing machine!. Some do have starting capacitors, but most don't, they probably reverse by changing the polarity of the field coil?.

I would suggest it's not a very useful motor to use in a robot?.

zevon8 · 17th May 2006, 12:33 AM

You may be in luck and have a simple 2 direction motor with a starter winding. If so, what you may have is a common run winding wire, and one wire for each direction ( thats 3 of the wires that are related .) The other 2 wires will be the starter windings, that would need to be powered in the direction you want the motor to run in. On simpler machines, the transmission/pump does the agitation in one direction of the motor and spin/pump in the other.

I had a old washer back in my college days that was dumped because the control timer was wrecked, I got it for free since the timer control was too expensive. I wired it up with a DPDT switch and a momentary push button for the starter windings. I used a 2 dollar kitchen timer for timing how long the machine had run.

If you know the model of the machine it came from, the maker may have wiring daigrams available on the net. Often they were on a piece of paper glued to the inside of the amchine also.

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16th May 2006, 05:01 AM	(permalink)
brentonw2004	Washing machine motor... Hello. I recently aquired a 1/2hp GE washing machine motor that I plan on using for a robotics project. It has 5 wires coming out of it and I believe it is from a mid 1980s washing machine. I hooked it up to a tester and it appears that 2 wires are connected together and the other three are also connected together. Does anyone know of where I can find a wiring diagram for it? Anyone know how these motors generally hook up? I want to be able to hook it up to normal 110V wall power. Any advice at all about converting a washing machine motor would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Brenton

16th May 2006, 06:04 AM	(permalink)
Someone Electro	Google will help. You also need a capacitor to run this motor.I know one wire goes to neutral and one to live,there is a nother wire conected to live trough a capacitor.If you swap the capacitator betwen the two you should be able to change the direction the motor thurns. The capacitor is needed to make the phase shift. Try difrent wires until the motor starts thurning.(Unplug the mains while doing that ufcurse)You should have 2 speeds and each being reversable __________________ Il give you shocking experience.

16th May 2006, 09:40 PM	(permalink)
brentonw2004	I've tried searching Google, but I have had little luck finding any kind of wiring diagram. What size capacitor would I need? How could I test to see what wires need to go to what? Thanks!

16th May 2006, 10:37 PM	(permalink)
Nigel Goodwin	Washer motors are quite complicated, because they have to be reverseable, and speed controlled - I suggest you try drawing out the original circuit from the washing machine!. Some do have starting capacitors, but most don't, they probably reverse by changing the polarity of the field coil?. I would suggest it's not a very useful motor to use in a robot?. __________________ PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at: http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

17th May 2006, 12:33 AM	(permalink)
zevon8	You may be in luck and have a simple 2 direction motor with a starter winding. If so, what you may have is a common run winding wire, and one wire for each direction ( thats 3 of the wires that are related .) The other 2 wires will be the starter windings, that would need to be powered in the direction you want the motor to run in. On simpler machines, the transmission/pump does the agitation in one direction of the motor and spin/pump in the other. I had a old washer back in my college days that was dumped because the control timer was wrecked, I got it for free since the timer control was too expensive. I wired it up with a DPDT switch and a momentary push button for the starter windings. I used a 2 dollar kitchen timer for timing how long the machine had run. If you know the model of the machine it came from, the maker may have wiring daigrams available on the net. Often they were on a piece of paper glued to the inside of the amchine also.