Dust Collector Rewire from 110V to 220V

[Stuart Gardner]

I’ve had my Delta 50-760 Dust Collector for almost three years. I bought it at the same time that I bought my new Unisaw. I wanted to convert it from 110 to 220 when I first got it, because I have two 220V circuits, and one would just go unused, but I’m no electrical guru, and the directions were just not making sense to me, so I gave up pretty quickly. But a friend of mine came to visit this past weekend and he said he could help me figure it out. So we set out to conquer the rewiring. As it turns out, it wasn’t too hard after all. But before we got going, I decided to take some base measurements to see if the rewire would have any real effect. Through my job, I have access to pitot tubes, manometers, air flow meters, precision temperature gages, and sound meters. To me, the results were pretty impressive. After the rewire was done, I measured a gain of 9% in airflow, a 2db reduction in operating noise, and the motor is running 13 degrees cooler. These raw numbers may not seem overly impressive, but they represent a very real and measurable increase in performance. The rewire job was totally worth the effort. I only wish I hadn’t waited so long. I have all the data, I just need to get it put together in a presentable format, and I’ll post it here or on Youtube later this week. :-)

[Wade Lippman]

On the one hand it is impressive that you took actual measurements before and after. Most people say "it seems so much better" which means nothing at all.


On the other hand
How many amps is it?
What wire was in the 120v circuit?
How long was the circuit?

The only reason you should show an improvement is that there was excessive voltage drop on the 120v. Otherwise the motor can't tell the difference; it is just a matter of whether the windings are 240v in series or 120v in parallel, which amounts to the same thing.

[Lornie McCullough]

. After the rewire was done, I measured a gain of 9% in airflow, a 2db reduction in operating noise, and the motor is running 13 degrees cooler. These raw numbers may not seem overly impressive, but they represent a very real and measurable increase in performance. The rewire job was totally worth the effort. I only wish I hadn’t waited so long. :-)

Thank you for sharing the measured data. I have always 'felt' (subjectively) that it was worth the effort to run everything at 220v that could be changed over.

Lornie

[Michael Dunn]

Pretty cool. I've been wanting to wire my DC for 220V as well. At the moment my 110V Long Ranger is the only thing holding me back. Time to order one and make my own comparison. Although, SPL is the only measurement I'm equipped to take. If I can drop any tool noise by a few dB or so is be grateful.

[Ole Anderson]

Did you do any motor amperage draw measurements, or voltage drop measurements? I would think that with properly sized wire, there would be no difference in performance, so I would conclude that you are now supplying more than twice the voltage, under load, than previously. Stated another way, you are getting a lot less voltage drop at 220 volts than at 110 volts due to half the amperage in the same size wire. Now that I said it, I guess that is pretty obvious. Good info though.

[Stuart Gardner]

Actually, this is an April Fool story. I thought I was going to get a big blowout from the anti-220V crowd, but maybe they didn't get on the site today. The bulk of my story is true, I did wait for three years to rewire it because I couldn't figure it out, and the main reason is because I have a 220 circuit simply sitting there unused, but I didn't do any measurements, and I don't notice the slightest bit of difference in the way it runs. I'm just glad it ran without exploding! Wade is exactly right. If the 110 circuit is "underwired" or deficient in some way, then there would be an improvement. (it has a 12 gage wire) But otherwise, there shouldn't be any improvement. I talked with a co-worker last week about this, and he said he rewired his irrigation pump to 220 and it not only runs better, he saves $90 a month on his electric bill. I believe it runs better, because when I pressed him, he said he also ran a new, larger wire to the pump! And it's about an 80 foot run. He probably replaced a 14 gage with a 12 gage. Which would be exactly what Wade is saying. I don't believe the $90 a month savings any farther than I can throw the guy. And he's a BIG guy! So - Happy April 1st! Hope nobody got their boxers in a wad over this.

[Paul Stoops]

Darn! And here I thought you had discovered one of those elusive "miracle" fixes for all of our electric motor woes and electric utility bills.....................:-) I run as many of my tools on 220VAC as possible because it is practical to run smaller wire since you are only carrying half the current -- "smaller" meaning #12 instead of #10 for a 3HP motor circuit, for example. At today's prices for copper wire, that is a significant savings!! However, I did notice that my 1 1/2HP Ridgid R4511 tablesaw motor spins up to operating speed much faster since I changed it over. Guess I will still have to be looking for that "miracle"................. :-)

Paul

[Keith Pitman]

Good one! Don't try this on a "regular" day!

[Wade Lippman]

However, I did notice that my 1 1/2HP Ridgid R4511 tablesaw motor spins up to operating speed much faster since I changed it over. Guess I will still have to be looking for that "miracle"................. :-)

Paul

Although I was skeptical of the OP, your claim might well be valid; though the electrical types deny it. There is substantial voltage drop on startup, but much less on 240v than on 120v. It makes sense that 240v is better for startup.

[Michael Dunn]

Although I was skeptical of the OP, your claim might well be valid; though the electrical types deny it. There is substantial voltage drop on startup, but much less on 240v than on 120v. It makes sense that 240v is better for startup.

Actually, this claim may be valid. Since its drawing 1/2 the current. I suppose the smaller current draw could result in an faster startup time for demanding tools. Maybe...

[Michael W. Clark]

Actually, this is an April Fool story.

Good one! I was suspicious of the 9% flow increase!

[David L Morse]

If during the rewiring from 110 to 220 the starter winding were left connected across the input instead of one side returned to the center point of the series connected run windings then the starter winding would be getting 220V instead of it's intended 110V. The motor would then start a lot faster. Of course the starter winding is getting a lot of extra stress but should be OK if the motor's not started too often. Maybe. Of course, a jam that stalls the motor leaves about half a second to hit the off switch before the start winding lets out it's smoke.

[Michael Dunn]

I just rewired my Delta 50-850 for 220V. It took about 6 minutes including putting a new plug on. Call me crazy, but it sure seems to start up faster.

I know one thing is certain. My light used to dim slightly. (BTW, I well aware of the 1/2 amperage draw benefit of 220V) Now they don't. Even though they were always on different circuits. I have only a 40A sub panel in my shop since I'm a one man show and I'll never have more than one power tool, a DC, shop lights, intermittent air compressor use, and some peripheral stuff like my laptop and battery chargers.

When I list it all like that it sounds like a lot. However, there will never be more than 2 or 3 big current hogs.

So what do you guys think? Is this 'fast start' thing all in my head?

[Paul Stoops]

No, I don't think it is just in your head. I had the same experience when I changed my 1 1/2HP table saw over to 220VAC -- it definitely spins up to full speed faster.

Paul