In article ,
John Rumm writes:
geoff wrote:

100uF sounds quite high, are you sure that's right?

Well it is what is written on the side of it:
http://www.internode.co.uk/SIP/DSCN5328.JPG

I just checked a Clarke induction motor I have here.
That's got a 75uF start capacitor, for a 510W motor.
That's probably OTT for starting the drill press which
isn't going to have any significant starting load, but
I suspect the motor is probably more general purpose
and may also be used on machinary which does have a
starting load. (Clarke do also sell just the motors.)

I had to replace the capacitor in my lawn mower a few years
back. That's a 1200W or 1600W motor (can't recall), but I
think the capacitor was a lot less than above, so you can't
necessarily tell just from the motor power. (OTOH, I
suspect that might be a run capacitor rather than just a
start capacitor.) The capcitor died slowly in that case,
it gradually got less and less starting torque (less able
to start with any grass around the blade), and finally
had to be started by hand (not brilliant for a lawn mower;-)
and would happily run in either direction. When I got inside
to the capacitor, it had spewed it's contents out (slowly
I guess), which had set solid again as it cooled outside
the case.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]