Bodine NCI 12R wiring/control help!

[Patman]

Hello all,
I just picked up a ~20 year old Bodine Fractional Horsepower Gearmotor Type NCI 12R (No. D03950106) that was used on a vibraphone. The motor and the instrument have both been and I want to try and restore the control panel for the on/off and speed of the fans as well as the motor mount.

So, there are 5 wires coming out of the motor: yellow, yellow, red, blue, and black. Upon opening the housing I found that the red and blue wires were each connected to a yellow wire (and each pair measured 0Ω on a multimeter), so now I'm left with Red/Yellow1, Blue/Yellow2, and Black.
Resistances are as follows:
black - red: 90.1Ω
red - blue: 156Ω
black - blue: 246.3Ω

Looks like I'll be needing a capacitor to get this thing started? I don't think I saw any centrifugal clutch though, why else would it say CAP? I've tried wiring the three wire sets in every possible way to wall power, nothing's working. What am I missing? I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to anything but simple motor circuits. :S

Here's the ID plate:

Bodine Electric Company
Chicago ILL U S A
FRACTIONAL HORSEPOWER GEARMOTOR

TYPE: NCI 12R
NO: D03950106
VOLTS: 115 PH: 1
AMP: 28 HZ: 60
HP: 1/140
RPM: 1600
CAP: 2.5 MFD
DUTY: CONT
INS: A1

TORQ:
RPM: 160
RATIO: 10:1 C

Thanks to all who could help out!

 

[Patman]

What if it was wired something like this? Excuse the 10 second MSPaint rendering

 

[Patman]

Sorry, here it is.

 

[Patman]

Would the capacitor, assuming 2.5mf @ say, 200v(?) go between the two yellow wires? I'm thinking, could they possibly have been wired like this before? All the original wiring is lost, so all I have to work with is this.

 

[Patman]

anybody? :S

 

[Reloadron]

Bodine has pretty good support you can try starting here if the nameplate has a serial number. That failing Bodine has excellent support and you can give them a call.

Customer Service
Customer service hours are 7:15am to 5:00pm CST Monday through Friday.

Tel: 773-478-3515
Fax: 773-478-3232

Hope that helps...

Ron

 

[Patman]

I already ran the number across the site, didn't come up with anything. I think at this point this is a Permanent Split Capacitor motor.
Permanent Split-Capacitor Motors
If anyone could help me out to design a variable speed controller or basic hookup, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Patman]

All right, well I hooked up an old 1 mf (2100v tee hee) cap from a microwave between the black and blue leads. Ive included the updated schematic. The above site REALLY helped. I figured the coil with greatest impedance was the secondary. I'm gonna experiment with what happens when the coils are swapped. I'll look around to find a cap of the correct value. I'm also assuming that a variable resistor between the yellow wires (on the secondary coil) would control the speed?

 

[Patman]

Reversing the configuration (cap between blue and black, but hot going to blue this time) just leads to lower RPMs and torque, as well as slower starting. Hmm, learn something new every day. Any input would be appreciated!

 

[Patman]

Really, no more replies??

 

[Reloadron]

I still use plenty of the Bodine motors at work but they are all the fractional HP geared DC versions with their DC supplies. Beyond a call to Bodine I don't know what to tell you, Sorry.

Ron

 

[Patman]

Well, thanks again for the help, Ron. I was hoping for more community input, I guess.

 

[Ed-Bodine-Chicago]

Hi Patman,

I work at Bodine, and I can confirm that this is an old, custom made right-angle gearmotor. The serial number "D03950106" is too old to come up in our online search tool and database. This grmtr was manufactured in the late 1970s. Yes, this is a permanent split capacitor gearmotor and it requires a 2.5mfd "run" cap at all times. Our service manager just told me that he answered a support request for a vibraphone gearmotor last week -- not sure if that was you. Most of our standard PSC mtrs/grmtrs have four wires (the old stock version of the NCI-12R had two black and two blue), the different colors are another hint that this is a "custom". We have stopped making these grmtr types more than ten years ago, and there is no direct drop-in. You might want to check if our Auth Distributors in CA has any old records on this grmtr:

Electric Motor Service
• Authorized Service Center 43331 Osgood Rd.
Fremont CA 94538 Phone: 888/517-2455
Fax: 510/651-1725
E-mail: leesza@emotor.com

Regards, Ed

 

[Patman]

Hey Ed,
Thanks so much for the info. I was able to get it running, surprisingly the grease is still good, along with everything else. I'm starting work on another control panel and mounting bracket. I'm ordering a 2.5mfd 600v cap online, I'm wiring this from the hot side of the primary coil to the secondary. It seems to be workin' like a charm.

 

[Patman]

Wait, how would I go about wiring a speed limiter? Would a variable resistor work? or something more complex?

 

[Patman]

Would a variable resistor placed here work?

 

[mneary]

It's a synchronous motor. Its speed is dependent solely on the input frequency unless it is overloaded.

Since a resistor is a bad way to control a synchronous motor, there is no correct place to hook it up.

 

[Patman]

When the coil is shorted completely (through yellow wires) the motor stops. Wouldn't placing a variable resistor between the yellow wires work?

 

[Patman]

I really need an answer for this, could someone help me out?

 

[Patman]

Nobody? mneary, what would you recommend then?