Wiring 5 HP motor without relay

[shepdog]

Is there anything incredibly wrong with wiring the motor directly to the 30 amp breaker in my shop's subpanel, and just using the breaker itself as the switch for my DC? This is what i did with my old 2HP craftex DC and it worked fine....

thx!

 

[Jim O'Dell]

It will work, just that breakers aren't designed to be used as switches. Not sure how long one would last. And may not be convenient for turning it on and off unless you turn it on when you enter the shop, and off when you leave. The relay with the 110 trigger can be used with a single light switch, or you could get fancy and use multiple switches (ie: 3 way, 4 way etc). It would also allow you to wire in a cheap remote if you would rather use a remote. I have one light switch mounted in the ceiling. It is within 5 steps of any tool I use that is hooked up to the cyclone. Makes it very easy. Jim.

 

[reprosser]

I temporarily wired my cyclone direct to the breaker when I first installed the unit - and it will work. But as Jim said, breakers are not designed to be used as a switch.

I added the relay switch after my initial testing showed the cyclone would work correctly.

 

[shepdog]

Thank you...I will be sure to wire in a relay asap after we're past testing phase.

Another question: bought my motor from Princess Auto, it was listed as reversible...however, I'm not quite sure it is...under the two power leads (I know reversing these won't change the direction), there appear to be two paddle connectors, one with a red wire, the other with a white...should switching these do it, or should I be seeing more wires? I tried to locate the motor on the manufacturer's website, and the closest one I could see listed as "non reversible"...here's the side panel.