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 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:
label.jpg
And opening up the panel reveals this:
motorlabels.jpg
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:
topviewlabels.jpg
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:
sideviewtext.jpg
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 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:
label.jpg
And opening up the panel reveals this:
motorlabels.jpg
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:
topviewlabels.jpg
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:
sideviewtext.jpg
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.