HVAC repair

[clel miller]

Oh Boy.....
Any of you guys know about outside AC units.?
Our AC quit working. PG&E said I need a new fan motor and capacitor. So I got both of those and installed them.
The new parts (especially the cap) were a little different from the old parts. But that is what the guys gave me, and they had my old motor and cap to look at when I ordered the new parts.
Anyway......I think I may have installed something wrong. I got it all in,turn on the breaker, and the fan started to spin. I thought that was weird, so I went inside to make sure I had not turned it on from the thermostat. That was off, so I went back outside, just in time to see the fan stop spinning and a pop noise from the cap.
There were only two wires from the motor to the cap. I connected those colors per the diagram om the motor.
That left me with a Blue and Yellow from the AC controls to the cap. Is it possible to get those two wires "back-wards".?
Did I FRY my brand new cap and motor.? Any help is much appreciated.
Thank You
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[tunedwolf]

The mains supply doesn't go across the cap. These motors usually have either 1 or 2 capacitor tappings that go to the capacitor. If the motor has 4 or more wires you need to identify which wire is which. Usually the brown wires are capacitor. If there are 2 of them, they go to the cap and the other two go to the mains. If the motor has 3 wires, the brown goes to the cap, one of the other wires goes to the other side of the cap forming a common connection, usually white, and the third wire will be your "hot", usually black. Look at the motor rating plate, get the details of the manufacturer and motor type and post them here. You should also be able to go to their website for a wiring diagram. Without knowing which motor, how many wires it has etc nobody here can help you with it. Look up the compressor manufacturers site, they may well have an internal wiring diagram too.

 

[clel miller]

Sorry.....I was really upset about blowing up the new parts, I forgot the specifics.
Per the motor:
Black and Yellow - Line.....I have those wires going to the bottom of the contactor is it.? Where the mains comes in with the 240 VAC. That is where I have the Black and Yellow connected. On the underside of that contactor.

Brown and Brown White - Cap.....I have each of those colors going to one side of the cap. The cap has 2 lugs, with 4 connections per lug. So As far as I know, I have that correct.
What I was not sure about was the 2 existing wires.... Blue and Yellow
The yellow was on the contactor and I put that other end on the cap. It is a fairly short yellow wire.
The Blue wire is quite long and comes from the compressor. I put the other end of that Blue wire on the other side of the cap.
That is what I was trying to show in my pictures. Do I have those last 2 wires installed correctly.?
Thank You

 

[cr0sh]

Sorry.....I was really upset about blowing up the new parts, I forgot the specifics.
Per the motor:
Black and Yellow - Line.....I have those wires going to the bottom of the contactor is it.? Where the mains comes in with the 240 VAC. That is where I have the Black and Yellow connected. On the underside of that contactor.

Brown and Brown White - Cap.....I have each of those colors going to one side of the cap. The cap has 2 lugs, with 4 connections per lug. So As far as I know, I have that correct.
What I was not sure about was the 2 existing wires.... Blue and Yellow
The yellow was on the contactor and I put that other end on the cap. It is a fairly short yellow wire.
The Blue wire is quite long and comes from the compressor. I put the other end of that Blue wire on the other side of the cap.
That is what I was trying to show in my pictures. Do I have those last 2 wires installed correctly.?
Thank You

How was it hooked up originally? Did you take pictures of everything before you removed the motor and cap? Do you have a wiring diagram anywhere on the unit that we could see to follow? You're asking us questions that we can't honestly answer, because we have no frame of reference.

 

[clel miller]

The color coded diagram from the motor is in my post above.
That is how I have it hooked up.
I understand that part.
My question is about the two wires I asked about that are on the unit, The Blue and Yellow........
Thank You

 

[cr0sh]

The color coded diagram from the motor is in my post above.
That is how I have it hooked up.
I understand that part.
My question is about the two wires I asked about that are on the unit, The Blue and Yellow........
Thank You

All I see is two pictures of your new capacitor and the wires - I don't see any form of schematic anywhere - I'll take another look [looking] - nope, no schematic.

Give us a manufacturer's schematic (clear photos of any and all schematics found on the unit and/or in the owner's manual - ideally, also photos showing all of wiring would be helpful, but may not be practical) - it will help greatly (do they even put these on A/C units anymore? I know they exist on the units on my house, but they aren't new units, either - and not split systems, as your unit seems to be)...

 

[clel miller]

Sorry (again) -
I thought you were talking about a schem from the motor. Entirely my fault.
I will shoot some pics of the schem from the AC unit and post them the best I can.
Stand By.....
Thank You

 

[clel miller]

Not sure how well you can see/enlarge these, but here are the schems......
Thank You
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[pfofit]

Do you have a picture of the old cap? Does it have three sets of contacts?
From the diagram, the old cap looks like a dual run cap with a common yellow lead and blue lead for the compressor cap and brown lead for the fan cap.
Your new cap is not a dual cap and the way it is now hooked up is the capacitor is being shared between the comp and the fan. The new cap for the fan is 5uF. Who knows what value of uF the compressor required.

Your Original fan was a three wire. It appears that you have connected it as a 4 wire.

If your original cap is as per the schema. you need to undo what is done and reconnect as per the wiring diagram.

"Perhaps" what the buddiess sold you was a cap that was required for the fan only (met specs of new fan) and they assumed you would use that portion of the old cap for the compressor run capacitor.
IE. you would have two cap cans instead of one can with two caps.

We need to see or know what was written on the old cap.

 

[tunedwolf]

On the Motor: Black=Hot(Live), Yellow=Return(Neutral), Brown=Cap(Hot), Brown/ White=Cap Return

So Yellow and Black on the Motor go to the 220V supply and the Brown wires go to the cap.
I think the reason you are getting confused is that the Condenser unit shows a three wire fan motor and a dual cap being used. They are using the common terminal of the cap to make further connections.

In your case it appears that Yellow is the L2 Connection, that being the incomming Return or Neutral side of the contactor and the motor yellow wire is also connected at that point. The black wire from the motor is connected to the contactor at the opposite side of the incomming L1 connection where all the other black wires are.

The blue wire you have is meant to go to one side of the thermal click start, shown on your diagram as ST, the yellow goes to the other side of it and joins another at the contactor for the compressor(acroos the contactor from L2, Neutral/ Return).

I'm now wondering if you dumped the dual cap when you replaced the cap with a single one, in whch case you need to get the right one. Inside it there are two capacitors, one for the fan, one for the compressor.

 

[clel miller]

Yeah, you are right, I am definitely confused.
I work on TUBE guitar amps. So this stuff is real foreign to me.
I just assumed whatever the parts guy gave me was correct.....things/parts change over time.
Anyway......the original cap was a:
3 post
55uf 5uf 440 VAC
So....I'm sorry.....what are you guys suggesting I do.?
Why did the fan motor start to spin at low speed when I turned the breaker on.?
Did I burn up the motor by any chance.?
What do you think I should do.?
Thank You

 

[pfofit]

So....I'm sorry.....what are you guys suggesting I do.?

The buddy repair guy said your fan motor and cap were gone, but perhaps it was just the motor and he likes to replace them together to save a recall.
Or when he said bad cap, did he mean the the compressor part of the cap was bad or the fan cap or both. We don't know.
Do you have a cap meter. Find someone who does or try an ohmmeter if not. don't use if you get a short.
I would rewire and use the old cap and try it with the new fan motor.

Why did the fan motor start to spin at low speed when I turned the breaker on.?

Cause it was hooked up wrong

Did I burn up the motor by any chance.?

Maybe the new cap is toast. Do you have a capacitance meter?
Not to scare you but I'd be more worried about the compressor but fortunately it has a thermal overload in it.

cheers