So the UPS guy decided to send me my motor before my lathe. I guess I'll get a jump start and wire up the motor, however there seems to be very little info out there on this. (or more likely I am missing a useful keyword)
Anyway I've got my 3 prong cord, hot neutral, and ground, I've got ground all squared away with my switch on the hot side. Now my motor needs me to connect "ungrounded line" and "line"
From what I've found it looks like hot(black)[switched] would go to ungrounded line, while "line" would be connected to neutral(white)[unswitched].
Have I got this right? This is only my second time working with mains power(a few weeks ago my grandfather showed me how to wire up an outlet), so I'd like to get some confirmation before moving ahead.
I am
assuming here that you have a single-phase capacitor-start induction motor. The wiring diagrams are usually printed on the inside of the cover where the wires go into the motor (hint).
If the motor is reversible (spin-direction-wise), then screwing up which power lead (as opposed to the ground lead) to connect to which terminal will only mean that your motor will turn in the "wrong" direction. If you have it wrong, then wait for it to stop spinning, turn off the power, and swap the leads.
WARNING: There are (usually identified as "compressor") motors out there that will ONLY spin in one direction. They -CAN- (but not necessarily WILL) make a very deep hum, heat up very quickly, and draw huge amounts of current when powered up with swapped leads. IF your motor spins freely by hand (turning the end of the shaft -- which it should) yet does NOT start spinning very shortly after power is applied,
SHUT IT DOWN IMMEDIATELY.
Electrical devices run on "magic smoke." If you let any of it escape, the magic is gone and it will no longer work. Try to not let any of the magic smoke escape!