On 2013-11-17, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Ignoramus26083 fired this volley in
:

But can this motor somehow excite itself to generate electricity?

Short answer, "No." Not unless it was a permanent-magnet motor or had a
wound armature fed through slip rings or a commutator. There has to be
something to excite the fields initially. Common AC motors use reverse-
EMF in the armature to repel the fields, but the armature gets its
excitation from the field windings.

So-called "universal" motors can act as generators, so long as they
either retain some residual magnetism in their fields, or have a DC
supply to provide excitation until they can supply their own through a
rectifier.

And what if I excite one leg with DC (supply DC to L1-L2)?

i