for all you experts.
Can a DC motor be ran on AC current? I’m talking 120/240 volts.
Thanks for any information…
Rick
Absolutely NOT! You would have quite a melt down and blown fuses/breakers…
Mike,
Welcome aboard!
This site encourages precisely what you accomplished in your response: Answers!
Wendell
In lovely La Mirada
Rick,
Try it.
Make sure you video it so we can all see the results.
Heck, it will go viral on Utube…
I can see smoke in your future if you try it!
nice, dark, smoke of high density. better than any smokegenerator on the market.
Thanks all,
I will pass along your replys.
Rick
Rick:
The answer is actually a qualified yes. Just plugging a D.C. motor into an A.C. source will certainly produce the disastrous results that other responders have indicated, but with a properly designed A.C. to D.C. rectifier, the motor will run just fine.
Typical off the shelf rectifiers are limited to something in the neighborhood of 50 VAC inputs, but there are companies that specialize in higher voltage systems.
Try Googling something like “240VAC to DC rectifier” or “240VAC to (Insert motor voltage value) DC power supply”. I got something over 600,000 hits for the first try. Several ‘name brand’ companies make this stuff, and there are lots of do it your self solutions available.
The main problem is going to be cost, but if the motor in question is either relatively low power or something special, it might be cost effective.
If you provide me with the the voltage, current, horsepower and any other pertinent data from the D.C. motor, along with the intended use (Example: variable speed, constant speed, etc), I will be happy to assist in finding some potential solutions.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Hi Jerry,
Thank you for the offer of help.
To shed a little light on the situation;
I was up at the saw mill yesterday talking to Gary about something else entirely when we walked by a shed and he said something like “tell me, can you hook a DC motor up to AC and have it run?” I told him I didn’t think so because AC current changed directions and DC ran one way only but I would check on it and let him know.
I posted the question here and then went for Google. I copied off a couple of sheets of information and mailed off to him today.
The more I thought about it the more curious I became. The motors he pointed at had to be from 1920 something, there is no electrical power on the property except what is made by solar, gas/diesel generator or steam generator. I am going to have to question him further to find more information.
Then again, it could have been a purely idle question on his part.
Again thanks for the offer, I will try to find out more.
Rick
Rick , perhaps your friend wants to blow the sawmill up for the insurance money .
Don’t get involved .
Ditto… stay out of it… you need an engineer/electrician to tell you what/how to do…
Googling will not turn anyone into an electrical engineer…
Most cases, cheaper to just buy an AC motor.
Of course, if there is no electrical power on the property, what is he doing? Thinking of taking a generator system up there?
If the motors are from 1920 and DC they would have brushes, and doubtful they are in good working order.
Regards, Greg
Korm Kormsen said:That, Sir, is simply the electricity leaking. It is well-known that electricity manifests itself in the appearance of dark and acrid smoke, Lord knows, I've seen enough of it leaking from various British motorcycles over the years.
nice, dark, smoke of high density. better than any smokegenerator on the market.
tac
Ahh, Lucas (electrics), the Prince of Darkness… worked on many a BSA, Triumph… seem to remember a large finned heat sink under the headlight attached to the front forks…
Greg
Lucas Electrics… izzat why the Brits drink warm beer? 
ducks and runs for cover…
Yes, working on Lucas electrics can drive a man to drink… quickly… in fact I think it’s in the manual!
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Yes, working on Lucas electrics can drive a man to drink... quickly... in fact I think it's in the manual!Greg
I know. I have a '58 MGA
“How to Repair your Foreign Car” By Dick O’Kane, Doubleday Copyright - 1968 - Chapter 3 - “Tools, Ratchets and Wrenches and Spanners and Things That Go Clank in the Night” or Chapter 10 - “Why, When Britannia Rules the Waves, Will Her Cars Not Go Through a Puddle?”, Chapter 11 - “Generators, Batteries and Other Electrical Novelties”, Chapter 13 - “Carburetor” Is a French Word Meaning “Leave It Alone”.
I still have nightmares.
Now THAT is funny!
Yep, had a 1960 Mini Cooper, and the distributor is right on the front of the transverse engine… since the radiator is in the wheel wheel, rain comes right into the front grill and soaks the distributor and the car stops… also the generator and starter were nice and exposed too…
You know you are in trouble when stock, the end of the starter motor shaft is exposed, and squared off, AND you get a spanner in the owners kit to unjam the starter!
Greg
I had, ar different times, an original Austin Healy Sprite, then the “New” MG Midget (Spriget), then a 64 MGB. I am/was quite “Befriended by Lucas The Master of Darkness”, and learned how to avoid puddles, and other “Fiends” of the master.
In spite of Lucas; I enjoyed every one of them, and still would have the “B”, if I had wanted to make automobiles my hobby. I decided to avoid automobiles and stick just with Large Scale Model Railroading…so far a wise choice, for me.