Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
OT Motor Wiring
howgor
I have a 1 amp vdc motor on a conveyor belt that I want to attach to ac power in the shop. I can put a plug on the lead from the motor and then plug it into one of the variable speed controllers like the ones for a router. Will this work, and if not, I want to find a solution where this can be powered independently. Thanks for your help
Re: OT Motor Wiring
Chuck
If it's a D.C. motor you will need a D C. power supply. If you hook up to A C you will burn your motor upJust saying.
Re: OT Motor Wiring
Walter Ahlgrim
Some of the router controls say AC/DC but do not say if the output is AC or DC and if the motors says DC feeding it AC could damage it.
Something like this eBay item could work if your motor is rated for 90 volts.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/400W-Motor-Speed-Controller-AC-DC-51-1-3-phase-Variable-Adjust-Board-For-DC-90V/383297346623?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225508%26meid%3Df40b08d13be1421d88c2ffadec499af8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dco%26sd%3D223679274537%26itm%3D383297346623%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseRecallReductionWeb&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Walta
You still don't have that sander running?
Dick Coers
You get exactly what you pay for on those cheap universal AC motor controllers. They have very little range, and low capacity. You'll need to figure out how many volts DC that motor is, then buy a real DC controller on Amazon. I don't think you've ever told us what size that DC motor is when you've asked in the past either.
Re: OT Motor Wiring
Bill Howatt
The router speed controllers are listed AC/DC because they are made to control what are called universal motors which will run on either AC or DC because they have brushes which will commute the DC.
The controller output is chopped up AC and the amount of chopping determines the average voltage which sets the motor speed. So they output AC, not DC and you don't want this for your motor. The router speed controllers are very similar to incandescent light dimmers in their operation.
You need a DC motor controller.
Bill
Just ordered the switch Walter Recommended
howgor
I'll report back if it works
Re: Just ordered the switch Walter Recommended
Walter Ahlgrim
Is your motor labeled as 90 volts?
Walta
That's a question many of us have asked! LOL
How about a photo?
John in NM
Picture of the motor's spec plate would clear things up nicely and enable people here to help you more effectively.
Something like this:
The plate says the following -
howgor
vdc 180
amp 1
watt130
rpm 2000
Re: The plate says the following -
John in NM
Interesting.... I've not run across a 180 VDC motor before, though I'm sure they are common enough for use with 220 AC input controllers.
If the motor is designed for 0-180VDC input, it will probably work with that controller you ordered on ebay - but you will only get up to half the rpm on the nameplate. There is some chance that it could burn up the motor if for some reason the half speed draws more current than the windings are rated for. That would be pretty unusual with a DC motor though - more just a disclaimer from my electronics tech at work who I asked for you 
Given the cost of that 0-90 VDC controller, I would bet if anything fails it will be that.
We use KB Controllers at work, they make several excellent drivers for DC motors, but you need a little knowledge to set them up. I could do it if I read the directions 3-4 times, but I just leave them to the techs here usually. You could also use a variac with a bridge rectifier to make something pretty close to 0-180 VDC, but the cost of that would a hundred I bet, though still cheaper than a KB. Hard to kill a variac too