On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:39:24 GMT, clare @ snyder.on .ca wrote:



Some of the treadmill motors are universal motors. The one I have
is. Just look for brushes: if the motor has brushes it's almost
certainly a universal motor.

Actually, that is not accurate. If it has brushes it will run on DC.
A universal motor is specially designed to reduce eddie current loss
in the iron. IF the motor has a laminated feild "core" and a laminated
armature it MAY be a universal motor.
Solid pole peices or armature most definitely is not, and permanent
magnet motors have brushes, but absolutely can NOT be run on AC.

Absolutely right. Essentially all universal motors have brushes, but
not all brush motors are universal. Thanks for catching that, Clare.

A better discriminator might be whether or not the motor is spec'd
to operate on either AC or DC. I think that might even be where the
term "universal" originated.