On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 21:31:31 GMT, "Bob Swinney" wrote:
Jeffrey sez: "Adding more capacitance accross the compressor motor would be
no different
than having them in the phase converter as far as the compressor is
concerned, right? But other connected loads on the converter wouldn't see
the high voltage, so I guess that may be an good option."

Adding capacitance directly across the compressor motor would be anagalous
to adding enough capacitance to the idler motor - except - that amount of
capacitance would not contribute to excessive voltage on the idler motor as
it would if it was placed there. Your symptoms, I believe, indicate there
is insufficient total capacitance to facilitate starting a heavily loaded
compressor. However, we cannot add enough capacitance to the idler motor to
handle the heavy load without excessive (over 15%) voltage across the idler
motor during standby. Placing the caps directly on the compressor motor
would (should) be a way of overcoming the excessive starting load, while not
causing excessive strain on the idler's insulation during standby.

For wires short (less than 1/20th wavelength for practical purposes) with
respect to a wavelength (5,000 km for 60 Hz), the voltage will be the same
all along the wire (ignoring for the moment IR drop). So it doesn't matter
which end of the wires has the capacitor.

Gary