# Washing Machine Motor Wiring



## ddawg16 (Aug 15, 2011)

An ohm meter will tell you which ones are the motor windings....chances are it's a multi-speed motor

You just need to find the manual on the washer to be sure.


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## coopermor (Mar 23, 2013)

So I just need to apply 110 volts of current to the 2 motor windings?


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## eastcoastsparky (Nov 28, 2012)

You just posted this exact question on electriciantalk.com


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## bobelectric (Mar 3, 2007)

eastcoastsparky said:


> You just posted this exact question on electriciantalk.com


 And they sed..."Dis Site is for professionals only,Jack.


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## eastcoastsparky (Nov 28, 2012)

bobelectric said:


> And they sed..."Dis Site is for professionals only,Jack.


It moved to this site so quick he didnt even get busted by the mods


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## micromind (Mar 9, 2008)

coopermor said:


> I have a Maytag 1/2 H.P. 120 Volt 60 HZ 8 Amp motor. It has 6 wires, red yellow, white, purple, orange, and black. It is model S68PXMBP-1043. I am going to use it in a project not in a washing machine. Does anybody know how to wire this or what the different wires are for?


I'm guessing here more than anything else, but I'd say that red and black are start windings, the other 4 are run windings of two different speeds. 

This can be verified with a simple ohm meter. 

If there's a capacitor, red and black will likely show resistance, but only for a second or so. This is because the capacitor has charged up to the output voltage of the meter. If you can short the capacitor, you'll read a constant resistance across red and black. 

Measure resistance on the other 4. There should be two pairs; two wires that have resistance across them but no others. And the other two wires should also have resistance. 

If the above is true, splice red to one wire of a pair, black to the other. Apply 120 volts to this connection. Insulate the two unused wires.

This will result in a speed (usually 1725 or 1140 RPM) and a direction of rotation. If the rotation is wrong, swap the red and black and it'll turn the other way. 

To get the other speed, splice red to one wire of the other pair, black to the other wire of that pair. 

If you can post the resistance readings of each pair of wires before you start, it'd be helpful. 

Once again, this is a guess based on my knowledge of motors in general.

Rob


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## coopermor (Mar 23, 2013)

I measured the resistance of the wires and this is what I got.

Red & Black 4.0

Purple & Yellow 3.8

White & Orange .7

Yellow & Orange 2.2


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## micromind (Mar 9, 2008)

coopermor said:


> I measured the resistance of the wires and this is what I got.
> 
> Red & Black 4.0
> 
> ...


This looks more like a consequential pole rather than a two-winding motor. If so, low speed will be 1/2 of high speed. 

Connect the incoming hot to white. This is most likely one side of the thermal overload. 

Connect black to orange. Orange is the other side of the thermal and black is one side of the start winding. 

For high speed (most likely 1725 RPM), connect red and the incoming neutral to yellow. Insulate purple. 

For low speed, connect red to yellow and the incoming neutral to purple. If it doesn't start well (or maybe not at all....), connect red and neutral to purple and insulate yellow. 

If it turns the wrong way, swap black and red. 

Rob


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## coopermor (Mar 23, 2013)

Ok thanks. What about grounding the motor? Do I need a ground wire, does it just attach to the motor frame or any specific wire?


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## micromind (Mar 9, 2008)

coopermor said:


> Ok thanks. What about grounding the motor? Do I need a ground wire, does it just attach to the motor frame or any specific wire?


Anywhere on the frame is good if there's not a specific place to connect the ground.


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## coopermor (Mar 23, 2013)

I spliced red to one the neutral and black to the hot wire. I started spinning it by hand, I then turned on the motor and it turned at a very low speed while smoking.


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## micromind (Mar 9, 2008)

coopermor said:


> I spliced red to one the neutral and black to the hot wire. I started spinning it by hand, I then turned on the motor and it turned at a very low speed while smoking.


That's because only the start winding was energized. In order to operate properly, both the start and a run winding must be energized at the same time. 

Connect the incoming hot to white. Yes, white is hot, not neutral. This is normal for a motor. 

Connect orange to black, nothing else.

Connect the incoming neutral to both red and yellow. 3 wires in this splice. 

Insulate the purple. It will be energized, so don't let it touch anything.


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## coopermor (Mar 23, 2013)

I wired it as you said but when I turned it on it started smoking and popping. Do you know why this might be happening?


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## micromind (Mar 9, 2008)

coopermor said:


> I wired it as you said but when I turned it on it started smoking and popping. Do you know why this might be happening?


It's possible that when the red and black were connected and started smoking that the motor was damaged enough to cause it to fail in this way. 

Smoke coming from a motor is caused by the insulation in the windings overheating. It's almost always bad, and often results in shorted windings.


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## bgreen2299 (Jul 29, 2014)

*It works!*

to get the rotation right i did have to reverse the red and black. it did start smoking a little and i unplugged it immediately. so it's the start circuit staying energized because the time relay to cut it off isn't present (the motor's sitting on my bench) SO, you either have to unplug the orange from the little black box and spin it to start OR get a little time relay (haven't found where it's at in the washer wiring yet) and put it between the orange and little black device and then it'll start and run fine (mine is high speed).

Thanks Micro for taking the effort to post instructions.


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## Jump-start (Sep 26, 2012)

I need the wiring diagram. Machines vary a lot from model to model. ie, motor might be 1,2 or 3 speed.


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