Help an electrical illiterate (Clearvue DC plus remote - PICS GALORE)

[Damien Falgoust]

The illiterate in question is, of course, me.

OK, so I ordered up a Clearvue Cyclone (http://clearvuecyclones.com/) and, given that it's been over 100 regularly lately, I figured I'd get the wiring stuff figured out since I could do that in the cool, cool air-conditioned comfort of my living room. I think I grasp the essence of what I need to do, but some of the nuts and bolts escape me. Was hoping some of you folks could tell me if I'm doing this right or if I'm gonna fry myself.

First, wiring the motor. The inside front panel of the Leeson motor that comes with the Clearvue says this:
44755
And opening up the panel reveals this:
44751
Now, I'm pretty sure I get this part: just attach the wires per the diagram with wire nuts, swapping T5 and T8 to get a clockwise rotation. I want to be sure I'm right about the CW rotation; also, there seem to be two wires labeled T1 -- one's just a little pigtail, per the diagram.

So three questions here:

1. Am I correct that I need to wire for CW rotation?

2. L1 and L2 are my red and black "hot" wires coming from the power source, right?

3. What's the story on the T1 wire?

Moving on to the remote. I picked up a contactor so I could use a 110v remote to control the 5hp, 220v DC. Here is a top view of the contactor, with the wiring as I understand it labeled:
44754
So, the fourth question:

4. Is the above diagram correct?

Finally -- and this is the one I'm really embarassed to be asking -- how, exactly, should I be physically connecting the wires to the contactor? There are screws on each 220 sides, but nothing on the 110v side that I can see. Both 110 and 220 sides have these little blades with holes sticking out, though -- am I to use these? How do I do so? Here's a picture:
44753
So, final question:

5. How the heck do I attach these wires to the contactor?


I know these are pretty basic questions, but I have no experience with this stuff at all. Please help me figure it all out.

Thanks,
Damien

[Jim O'Dell]

Damien, I used female crimps for these. I used the yellow ones. Not sure if that is the correct one or not, but the ones I used on the sprinkler pump for the 24 volt trigger work just fine. I'm guessing the ones I put on my contactor for my Leeson/Clear Vue will work too. I don't have power yet to test it though. I'm a little confused on the motor wiring too. Seems there is CW and CCW, but I've seen it mentioned about facing the motor C plate, as opposed to the back of the motor. I wasn't sure the directions on the impeller, and the Leeson site directions were looking at the motor rotation from the same side or not, so I'll be watching to see what the others that have the CV have done. Congrats on the cyclone choice! Jim.

ps I see you're in Dallas. Now there is a CV on each side of the metroplex!Oh, I forgot. The wiring of the contactor looks fine, too.

[Rodney Randal]

I wish that I could help, but I am in the evaluation stage right now.

I am having some wiring done in the garag..., er shop, and would like to have an additional 220v circuit installed for a possible Clearvue installation and would like to have it sized correctly.

Can you tell me, what amp circuit do you need for this DC - 20A, 30A..?

Thanks,
Rodney

[Bruce Wrenn]

Items 4&5 look like standard 1/4" spade terminals. You will neet to crimp on 1/4" female ends to 110 leads, and push onto terminals. Spade terminals can be had at most hardware stores, borgs, and at Autozone. Surprizingly when building the remote sensor for my DC, I was able to find double spade adapters at Autozone, when supply houses had never heard of them.

[Kevin Herber]

I wish that I could help, but I am in the evaluation stage right now.

I am having some wiring done in the garag..., er shop, and would like to have an additional 220v circuit installed for a possible Clearvue installation and would like to have it sized correctly.

Can you tell me, what amp circuit do you need for this DC - 20A, 30A..?

Thanks,
Rodney

Rodney - I see you are in Cedar Park. I'm in Round Rock. If you need a good electrician let me know. I had a guy put in six circuits in my garage including 240. He did an outstanding job. All encased in metal conduit. Very reasonable $$$.

-- Kevin

[Frank Hagan]

Motor rotation is stated a couple of different ways, and I'm always confused on it. My Leeson 1/2 HP was exactly the opposite of what some here said, so I was glad that I bench tested it first. There is a FAQ at http://www.emotorstore.com/static/faq.asp that has some information.

The ones I have seen from their table: If the directions say "CCW LE" it means you have the shaft facing away from you and the leads close to your body, and the shaft will turn to the right, counter-clockwise from your position. "OLE" is "opposite lead end" on some motors which is the shaft end. Some labels show "SE" which is shaft end, so "CC SE" would mean, with the shaft facing toward you, the shaft will turn counter clockwise, or to the left.

[Damien Falgoust]

I had my electrician put in a 30A breaker for the cyclone.

Followup question: on the contactor, there are two blades for each 110v lead, but four blades for each 220v lead. What gives?

(You can kinda see this in the pictures -- the first contactor picture is top-down, the second is a side view of one of the 110v sides.)

[Rodney Randal]

Rodney - I see you are in Cedar Park. I'm in Round Rock. If you need a good electrician let me know. I had a guy put in six circuits in my garage including 240. He did an outstanding job. All encased in metal conduit. Very reasonable $$$.

-- Kevin

Kevin, thanks. I have a neighbor who is an electrician that is going to help me do it.

[Jim O'Dell]

I had my electrician put in a 30A breaker for the cyclone.

Followup question: on the contactor, there are two blades for each 110v lead, but four blades for each 220v lead. What gives?

(You can kinda see this in the pictures -- the first contactor picture is top-down, the second is a side view of one of the 110v sides.)

You only need one of the 110 coil connections on each side. Not sure why they give us 2 to choose from...and it doesn't matter which one you pick on each side. Jim.

[Chris Padilla]

Here is a shot of my DC remote/contactor/thingy setup.

Contact ED at ClearVue to be sure about how to wire up the Leeson. I recall mine needing to run CCW but I forget to be honest (I don't have the ClearVue sysem, BTW).

L1 and L2 are Line1 and Line2 and are your red/black hots, 240 V across them.

[Ed Morgano]

The illiterate in question is, of course, me.

OK, so I ordered up a Clearvue Cyclone (http://clearvuecyclones.com/) and, given that it's been over 100 regularly lately, I figured I'd get the wiring stuff figured out since I could do that in the cool, cool air-conditioned comfort of my living room. I think I grasp the essence of what I need to do, but some of the nuts and bolts escape me. Was hoping some of you folks could tell me if I'm doing this right or if I'm gonna fry myself.

First, wiring the motor. The inside front panel of the Leeson motor that comes with the Clearvue says this:
44755
And opening up the panel reveals this:
44751
Now, I'm pretty sure I get this part: just attach the wires per the diagram with wire nuts, swapping T5 and T8 to get a clockwise rotation. I want to be sure I'm right about the CW rotation; also, there seem to be two wires labeled T1 -- one's just a little pigtail, per the diagram.

So three questions here:

1. Am I correct that I need to wire for CW rotation? Yes

2. L1 and L2 are my red and black "hot" wires coming from the power source, right?

3. What's the story on the T1 wire?

Moving on to the remote. I picked up a contactor so I could use a 110v remote to control the 5hp, 220v DC. Here is a top view of the contactor, with the wiring as I understand it labeled:
44754
So, the fourth question:

4. Is the above diagram correct? Yes it is.

Finally -- and this is the one I'm really embarassed to be asking -- how, exactly, should I be physically connecting the wires to the contactor? There are screws on each 220 sides, but nothing on the 110v side that I can see. Both 110 and 220 sides have these little blades with holes sticking out, though -- am I to use these? How do I do so? Here's a picture:
44753
So, final question:

5. How the heck do I attach these wires to the contactor? The relay connections are made for the crimp type spade terminals that several other have mentioned.


I know these are pretty basic questions, but I have no experience with this stuff at all. Please help me figure it all out.

Thanks,
Damien

Damien,
You use the CW wiring diagram from the motor plate. L1 - P1, L2 - (T4,T8) and T1 & T5 get wire nutted together. That will give you a clock wise rotation from the fan end and a CCW from the shaft end. The ground wire goes to a green screw inside the motor connection box. Please note that the motors are supposed to be prewired at the factory for the correct rotation for our application.
The relay connections are made for the crimp type spade terminals that several other have mentioned.

Ed Morgano
Clear Vue Cyclones.

[Damien Falgoust]

That's some good service there, folks.

[Damien Falgoust]

WISE FROM YOUR GWAVE!

Finally got back to working this, and have another completely idiotic question:

There's round spots around the place on the motor where the wiring goes that appears to be designed to be removed to thread your electrical cable into the motor. The spots are of various sizes, presumably to accomodate various cable sizes. They each look like they should be removable.

Thing is, I'm not sure how to remove them. There isn't anywhere that I can see to wedge a pry bar or screwdriver or anything to work that thing loose, and they each seem to be attached pretty firmly.

So how do I thread the cable into the motor's electrical box? Is there some trick to removing those round spots? Am I a complete moron, or only a partial one?

[Larry Cooke]

If you look carefully at these (knock-outs) you'll see where the metal has been cut almost 360 degrees. There will be one spot that isn't cut, take a drift punch and tap on the knock-out 180 degrees (oposite of the uncut section) gently. The knock-out should fold or bend on the uncut section. Generally, all you need to do is fold it in so it's bent about 90 degrees from its original starting point. Then bend it back and forth a few times with your hand until the uncut section breaks.

Make sense? Hard to describe this, a picture would be worth 1,000 words. If my first attempt at a pic works, you'll notice an electrical box with knock-outs. If you look closely at the bottom of the knock-outs there is the tab (or uncut) section I'm referring to. Just tap on the upper portion of the knock-out to get it to fold inwards, then fold it back and forth until it breaks off.

Larry

[Damien Falgoust]

Thanks, that's exactly what they looked like.

I tried tapping them last night with a small hammer. Guess I just need to tap harder. Hooray, I'm a wimp, not a moron!

Well, OK, I could be both.

[Jim O'Dell]

Damien, the next thing you will need is one of these. Don't know what it is called. Insert piece on right into hole from the outside of the box, screw collar, on left, onto shaft from the inside-tighten. Place wire through contraption and tighten screws snug onto wire to keep it from pulling out. Make your wiring connections and you're good to go. Got mine at Home Depot. Usually 4 or 5 to a bag. Make sure of the size knock-out you knocked out:rolleyes: and purchase the right size. This one is a 3/4". Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm going to post here for those interested in the Leeson wiring on something I found today.
I had my motor wired, so I thought, according to what I found on Leeson's site. When this thread came up and Ed sent a clear message (I never knew where CCW and CW were viewed from for sure, it was just a little muddy) on how the motor was to be wired, I made a mental note to check mine.
I wasn't making heads or tails about the wiring I had done, so I unhooked everything and started over. Got the T1 and T5 wired together, then wired the L2 to the T4 and T8. Going smoothly. Grab the L1 and go to grab P1......where is it at??? I didn't have real good lighting, so went after a flashlight. Found the P1 bare wires pinched between the motor's electrical box and motor housing!!!! Somehow when the electrical box was installed at Leeson's factory, it got caught there, and QC didn't catch it. A short tug and it came out (box has an insulation membrane between it and the motor housing) and I was able to wire it to L1. Ed, if you see this (I'll probably post this on the Clear Vue forum also), know that this is not your fault or problem!! But someone upstairs was watching out for me that I didn't get the power turned on until after this thread came out! :eek: :eek: It has possibly saved me a motor replacement! I'm indebted to Damien for starting this thread also. I might have checked it before I turned it on, might not have. L1 was wired to something, just not the right thing, and definately the wrong thing!!! (probably wired to T1 and T5 since that was the only other available bare wire(s) in sight) If you have a motor that you haven't used yet, please check the factory wiring before plugging it in. Jim.

[Damien Falgoust]

Thanks Jim, your posts have been helpful too.

I'd like to check to be sure I've got the motor wired properly before I put it in the DC housing and haul it all the way up onto the DC mounting bracket. I'd also like to do it before building the remote box, so if there's a problem with the RC I can eliminate the motor wiring as a possibility.

Is it safe to just temporarily add a twist-lock plug to the other end of the power cable and just plug it in to be sure it spins up? Or is that a road to certain death?

Come to think of it, it sounds like a road to certain death, anyway, and even if it isn't it scares the bejeezus out of me. Is there another way to accomplish this without worrying about soiling myself?

[Jim O'Dell]

You're asking me?? I still don't have electricity to the shop!!:D :D I have my motor wired to the contactor, the contactor trigger is wired to a 110 volt plug that is plugged into a electrical outlet. The outlet is switched on by a light switch 18 feet away!! It is also about 6 feet from a 10' wide by 7' tall door. I can hit the switch and make a hasty retreat if I need to. :eek:
If you are using a remote, go ahead and wire it in. Turn the breaker off for the cyclone. You can operate the remote to turn the contactor on and off. You'll hear it click. Once you are comfortable there, turn the breaker on to the cyclone and go for it. I figure if nothing else, something goes wrong, I have to continue my shop rehab/remodel! Jim.

[Jan Williamson]

If I did it over, I'd would have added the wire to the motor and tested it on the bench without the impeller to get the CWW assurance before HEEVing that heavy motor/impeller up on the bracket. But I didn't , but lucked out that it was wired in the right direction. My husband wired it according to the factory set-up it came with. I put a pile of sawdust under the TS DC hood and crouched down behind the table (I am really chicken), and when he turned it on I looked up and saw the pile disappear real quick. I was of course jumping up and down.:D Now that I have the time delay fuses in it, it's running flawlessly.
You won't be disappointed!!!!!

[Jim O'Dell]

Jan, I went about mine about as backward as one could. The motor was mounted on a stand, 10' in the air, with the cyclone attached, before I bought the wire to hook it up with! My shop ceiling is 7"7", so that makes it up in what one would call the attic. Except this space is only about 30" tall at the peak. Luckily the closet I'm building is open, so I can stand on a ladder and reach the motor. There is no emoticom to the right that stands for dumb. I need one with a dunce cap on it! :p There's even an open space for it in the bottom right!:D Jim.

[Jan Williamson]

Jim, Now that is backward:eek: !!!!

But not as backward as mine, I also built a closet , with a double door opening to the front, only I added all the wall,soundboard, trashcan,muffler/filterstack. THEN...... I asked my husband to do the wiring, and he found the motor in the bracket with the wiring box sideways ( and I was not going to take the cylcone/impeller down for a third time, so he had to use a mirror and used the deep parts of his opposite brain to wire the ground, 48570, (Don't get too jealous of my foosball/workbench:D )

[Jim O'Dell]

That is one of the most unique, no THE MOST UNIQUE work bench I've ever seen!! I guess ou looked around for something that was at the right height and chose the foose ball table?:D Sometimes we have to make our shops do double duty, don't we!
And you're right, your husband had it worse than I did, and I still didn't see the wire that was hung under the electrical box!. Jim.

[Gerald Shultz]

Damien
What you have is a 220v AC motor. With an 110v AC power contactor. I clicked on your Clearvue Cyclone hot spot and there is a schmatic of how to attach it all. Just click on installation instructions.
Good Luck
Jerry Shultz

[Damien Falgoust]

Damien
What you have is a 220v AC motor. With an 110v AC power contactor. I clicked on your Clearvue Cyclone hot spot and there is a schmatic of how to attach it all. Just click on installation instructions.
Good Luck
Jerry Shultz Yes, I know. I printed them out long before I started this thread. My questions were requests for clarification on things that weren't abundantly clear (at least to me) in the installation instructions.

[Damien Falgoust]

ARRRGH.

OK, I got the motor wired, the electrical box and contactor done, all the wiring in there taken care of, a power line wired from the contactor box to a twist-lock plug to plug into the 220 circuit, and a 110 line from the contactor to a regular old three-prong 110 plug.

The contactor works, I think: when I plug the 110 line into a wall outlet, I can hear it click.

But nothing happens with the motor. Zip. Nada. I've triple-checked my connections and they all look alright. But when I plug in the 110, I hear the contactor click but get nothing out of the motor.

[Damien Falgoust]

Dunno if this will help, but here are some photos:

Wired Leeson engine (plus my toe) --

49043

Contactor box --

49044

[Damien Falgoust]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

:D

Also, if anyone's in the Dallas area who's made one of these things work, I'd love to buy you a beer and let you take a first-hand gander at my incompetence and tell me what foolish thing I've done incorrectly.

[Ed Morgano]

Damien,
Can you spread the leads out in the motor box and take another picture? The relay wiring looks fine. I can't tell from the photo exactly what wires go to where in the motor box and I really don't want to have to drive to Dallas to fix this thing. :-)

Ed

[Doug Shepard]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

:D

Also, if anyone's in the Dallas area who's made one of these things work, I'd love to buy you a beer and let you take a first-hand gander at my incompetence and tell me what foolish thing I've done incorrectly.

Well if you UPS me a 6-pack I'll be happy to tell you how foolish you are.:D
Seriously - I'm sure Ed or one of the electrical experts here will be able to help you, but have you actually had 220 hooked straight to the motor and confirmed the motor does work without the contactor in-between?

[Jim O'Dell]

The other thing I would ask is do you hear the contactor click when 110 power is applied to it? I did accidently break one of the wires on one of my contactors, don't remember if it was the 110 trigger for the Clear Vue, or if it was the 24 volt trigger unit for the sprinkler system. Had to repair it (resolder) before it woud trigger :rolleyes: the contactor. You might make sure the wires are intact, especially if you don't hear the contactor click with voltage applied. Looks like you bought the same box I did. It's a little tight, but seems to work ok. But like I said in my PM to you, mines not up and running yet either. (Please Ed, just look the other way:D ) Look at the wires and let us know. Oh, and do you have a volt ohm/meter that does A/C or one of the little light testers (A/C) and feel confident in checking to see if you have voltage on the wires? I had a break in a wire at a juction box on one of my 110 circuits. Had voltage, but wouldn't light a night light bulb in the outlet. Took a while to find it. Jim.

[Damien Falgoust]

There is a valuable lesson I learned today. Well, two lessons, really.

One is that I'm an even bigger idiot than I previously gave myself credit for.

The other is to never assume your electrician has all of the plugs he installed powered up.

I went out and checked the breaker box and apparently the electrician forgot to flip the breakers to "on" for each of the 220v outlets he installed. Flipped them on and bango, the motor spins up fine.

If anyone needs me, I'll be beneath this rock I just crawled under for a little while.

[Doug Shepard]

..
If anyone needs me, I'll be beneath this rock I just crawled under for a little while.

There's no way you're gonna fit. There's too many of us under that rock already.:cool:

[Jim O'Dell]

Darn, and I just about figured out a way to come by next weekend!!:D Think about it this way, how many of us suggested you look at the breakers??? Glad you're up and running! So, how is it performing??? Jim.

[Ed Morgano]

Damien,
You have just past the Certified Amature Electricans Test....or the CAET for short. :eek: Welcome to the club. Glad it's up and running.

Ed