[TowerTalk] Another Tailtwister question

[Jim Lux]

At 07:39 PM 11/29/2004 -0500, Roger D Johnson wrote:
>Jim Lux wrote:
>>At 04:31 PM 11/29/2004 -0600, Bill Aycock wrote:
>>
>>>Barry- I think the Cap is really a phase control in the reversing 
>>>circuit, not a starting Cap.. The value may be more critical than for 
>>>starting. Check the manual.
>>>Bill
>>>
>>>At 06:49 PM 11/29/2004 +0000, Barry wrote:
>>>
>>>>Tnx for all the responses about my stuck rotor.  Of course, today, it
>>>>is working just fine! However, I thought I'd replace the motor
>>>>starting cap anyway, as it is 14 years old.
>>>>
>>>>The original cap is rated 130-156 mfd.  Is the value critical?  I
>>>>have a motor starting cap here that's 88-108 mfd.  Is that close
>>>>emough?
>>>>Tnx,
>>>>Barry W2UP--
>>>>Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up at mindspring.com
>>>>Newtown, PA                     Frankford Radio Club
>
>Hi Barry....
>
>Many TailTwister users mount the capacitor at the rotor end. Electrical
>supply houses carry the caps, mounting bracket and weatherproof cover.
>This frees up two wires in the control cable which may be paralled with
>other wires to increase voltage to motor or brake.
>BTW the motor is a 2 phase unit and the capacitor is switched from one
>phase to the other to provide phase shift for CW or CCW rotation.
>
>73, Roger

Judging from the schematic I found at hy-gain's site, and the photo I saw 
at another site, that's a motor start capacitor, being used in a motor run 
kind of application (i.e. a reversible split phase motor).  However, since 
an antenna rotator is normally a low duty cycle kind of operation, it's 
probably ok.