Get Your Motor Running: Testing A Start Capacitor

best video i've seen tells me what i need to know without all of the technical mumbo jumbo THANK YOU

The capacitor is connected by a centrifugal switch on the rotor shaft. It that isn't closed when you apply power, the motor won't start and will probably trip the power . If there is a wiring diagram in the motor terminal block, look for a direct short across the terminals to the centrifugal switch. in my experience, these contacts cause more start failures than failed capacitors particularly if the machine has only intermittent use. The most common reason capacitors fail is prolonged exposure to high temperatures. This rarely happens in workshop machinery which isn't running continuously. Use a resistor to discharge not a screwdriver. That prevents a very high current discharge which could damage the component.

Best explanation on capacitors I've ever watched 👏

best video regarding capacitor testing , god bless u

Hi I really like your videos especially tiles and bathrooms this is a good vid well presented and accurate I should have been a electrician your doing well thankyou

Very informative video. Now I know what’s wrong with my wood lathe. Thank you very much for the video.

Great job. Thanks for taking the time to share this info.

Excellent tutorial video !!!!! Thanks

Great information 🖖. Thank you very much for this great info video.

for my vacuum it was the centrifugal switch , i tested the capacitors the old fashioned way by loading and discharging

Great useful video - i have that dust collector as well and i’m guessing i’ll need that cap replacement someday.

another problem with trying to start fans in cold air is just that...cold air....cold air is denser and needs more energy to move it, try placing a damper (if only temporary for start up) on the fan inlet for cold starts. Also if the motor drops out (after starting) on overload in cold weather you may need to restrict the flow rate with an inlet damper, probably not much.

Thank you for a great vid. Just a question though, at 6:37 you said that you can switch polaritys without a problem. But i've learned that switching polaritys on a capacitor can make the capacitor explode, is that only on DC-powered ones and since this one is AC it doesnt really matter?

There is a fourth way that will allow to determine capacitance but I can’t recall how to do it

Sir, if I may ask. What is the value of your capacitor if you have 5hp induction motor with dual capacitors respectively? Some say you need to use 50 to 100mfd in every horse power on your starting capacitor and 12 to 16mfd per horse power for the corresponding running capacitor. I wonder if someone like you have a certain table chart 📊 for that effect. Just curious here. 👍

My workshop isn't very warm and I can usually get the temperature around 50, my dust collector struggles getting started and I don't want to keep throwing the breaker to warm up the Cap so I thought about hooking up a hair dryer near it. Do you think that would help?

I have a hot tub. House power to it is borderline low. This is a power company failing and not the house wiring. Anyway, sometimes when I turn the tub on the pump motor will just buzz. This motor is fed by one red wire from a mother board and has no capacitor. Can I add a start up cap. to this set up?

on a 80 uf, I test 77.2 uf but doing ohm test only shows 7 m ohm and slowly reaches to 9 in 60seconds with my Fluke 116 multiple times tested. Is my cap bad?

What are the comanley tools you have in your trailer

My air compressor (single phase motor) starts and runs fine, but..... I have multimeter with capacitance reading and run capacitor is in the tolerance (nominally 40uF +-5% and i measured 40,2uF) . My start capacitor dont have tolerance labeled and is 100uF nominally but i measure 186uF. Is it something to be concerned about? It looks like new, no swelling, discoloration, smell etc.