Posted by Kevin in Ohio on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 at 11:53PM :
In Reply to: OT - Single Phase to Three Phase RPC's posted by jack cain on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 at 2:46PM :
I just went through this. I ended up making 2 phase converters, one 1 HP and one 10HP unit. Check out this page:
http://home.att.net/%7Ewaterfront-woods/Articles/phaseconverter.htm
You need to get both legs basically the same voltage as the incoming voltage and you do this by adding capacitors till you get it close to equal, probably 240.
On starting I used starter capacitors and kick them out of the circuit with a timer switch. The 10 HP only needs about 1/3 of a second before it's up.
I got both of my motors free from two different sources. Check with maintinence guys at factorys as a lot of stuff gets pitched their when machinery changes. Not many people want 3 phase stuff. I have about $200.00 in both of them. Capicators came from local surplus store. I'll send you a couple pics, Kevin