I'm building an art installation and found a cheap but strong AC Motor with capacitor. So by my understanding it is a one-phase capacitor run motor. The shield with the specs is very old and hardly readable but it definitely says 1600W and maybe it says 8A. The motor comes out of a lawnmower. I attached a wielded arm which is going to spin around to occasionally kick a football. Because the rpm, once reached are far to high I used a time switch to turn it on 3 sec and then off for 4sec and repeat. For me that works but the motor started to get very hot..! I learned that for the startup it may consume up to 7 times the power it runs on which is why the high on-off frequency is a huge problem for an ac motor. So now I'm trying to get a VFD which i can speed control to a rpm that is low enough so it can just stay on. But apparently these VFD's are very expansive and also not so easy to find. I found a couple second hand VFD's that come close to what I need. Although they have single phase 230V input they all have three-phase output.
Now, can i still run my motor with it? Can I just wire the two cables that go from the capacitor to the motor to the second phase of the VFD and leave the third phase unused? I read something in a forum from 20 years ago that someone did that but it is not described how they did it.
My plan B would be to get a easier to find start-up current limiter to reduce the heat when i still turn on and off repeatedly. Although I feel that could lower the starting torque, which could cause a problem.
Then complete other field would be to get a direct current Motor, but this would be a huge gamble because i have no iead how that would work with the weight of the arm and the kicking and I only have two weeks left.
I ll attach fotos of the motor I am currently using and the arm which is attached.
Thanks for helping!
Sebastian
-UPDATE- I found a VFD that works. It's a Invertek Optidrive E3 - IP20. It came pre configured. Just picked it up today. I will post more details, when I know more.
