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View Full Version : DC motor on a Dart pump for CL?


stugray
04/16/2008, 12:33 PM
I was just thinking about all this talk of using 3 phase motors & VFDs for driving Dart pumps on a closed loop.

Since these pumps have only 1/8 HP motors on them, coudnt I use a DC motor easily?

I have two 2 HP electric motors that came from a treadmill. They are rated at ~90 VDC. I could probably ramp them up to 1/8 HP at something like 12-24 VDC. I could easily control the speed with the PWM LED dimmer/ Hood Fan speed controller that I am already building.

I could even drive TWO Dart wetheads off of just one motor since it has a dual ended shaft ;-)

Anyone have any ideas why this wouldnt work?

Two problems that come to mind are:

1 - The motors I have are not sealed, so I would have to be careful about salt creep ( But being low voltage DC, they are inherently safer than AC around Salt ).

2 - I dont know how long the motors would last, but running them long term at 1/16 their rated HP should stress them very little.

Stu

Pbrown3701
04/16/2008, 01:24 PM
What is the speed rating on your tredmill motors?

Also, do the shafts rotate in opposite directions? If not, then you couldn't use one to control 2 wet heads (not sure if you were really considering that or not...)