power lift motor overloads

[Popeye]

I recently bought two motors for the power lift locally. The only problem is that they have automatic overloads on them. I want to get a motor control circuit breaker to run them on. My question is, what size breaker should I get? How much more should it be than the motor amp rating? Has anyone done this before?

[brentman1]

Motors with auto resets can be a very dangerous situation, they will restart when they are ready and someone not knowing this could have their hand in the wrong spot and will be making a possible trip to the emergency room. I highly recommend not using auto overload motors!

[bwhite757]

My lifts pull 7.2 amps and I have a 10 amp circuit breaker on them. I've tested it out, seized motor trips breaker in a second, jammed balls in power lift trips beaker in about 2 seconds. Just look on the plate and see what load your motor pulls and get a breaker rated about 3 amps higher than that so it doesn't trip on startup.

[Mechanick]

My lifts pull 7.2 amps and I have a 10 amp circuit breaker on them. I've tested it out, seized motor trips breaker in a second, jammed balls in power lift trips beaker in about 2 seconds. Just look on the plate and see what load your motor pulls and get a breaker rated about 3 amps higher than that so it doesn't trip on startup.

How do you sieze your motor to test for how long it will take to trip?

[Popeye]

I would put three balls in it with the power off and turn it back on. That should do the trick.

[Popeye]

My lifts pull 7.2 amps and I have a 10 amp circuit breaker on them. I've tested it out, seized motor trips breaker in a second, jammed balls in power lift trips beaker in about 2 seconds. Just look on the plate and see what load your motor pulls and get a breaker rated about 3 amps higher than that so it doesn't trip on startup.

Thank you!

[Mechanick]

I would put three balls in it with the power off and turn it back on. That should do the trick.

If your lift is opperating optimally, it will still spit those balls out even when you do this! And in my lifts if the balls get jamed with 3 balls in them, the motor still turns the lower wheel still turns and damages the last ball until the motor overheats. Years ago I shimmed my frames apart and this has not happened in a looong time though. Or the belt pops off. Rarely get issues in my lifts.

[Popeye]

If your lift is opperating optimally, it will still spit those balls out even when you do this! And in my lifts if the balls get jamed with 3 balls in them, the motor still turns the lower wheel still turns and damages the last ball until the motor overheats. Years ago I shimmed my frames apart and this has not happened in a looong time though. Or the belt pops off. Rarely get issues in my lifts.

Well I guess if your lifts will pump out three balls from a dead stop then you would probably never have an overload. I know you are using urethane foam tracks. What wheels are you using? I also have been shimming the frame wider.

[bwhite757]

How do you sieze your motor to test for how long it will take to trip?

I actually had a seized motor in the back that I used to test. For jammed balls, 3 balls plus my foot holding them in place. Not the safest, but I wanted to make sure these breakers would pop if something else inside the lift was preventing the balls from coming up.

My lifts have no problems pulling up 3 balls from a dead stop startup even with the breaker. Something else has to jam the balls for them to not come up. I use the red urethane V wheels for both bottoms/tops I think they're from Quality??? Not sure, bought a couple on sale from Classic one time and realized they work good in combination with the urethane C-rails I was using, so I just kept ordering them from then on.