Installing an agitator

[Blind1968]

I am getting agitated trying to install this agitator in my Westinghouse cooler (Just had to say that ), actually I do have a question about hooking the wiring up to the compressor. On my compressor I have a white, Black and Red terminals, when hooking up the agitator will it be as simple as white on white, black on black and red on red or is there a diffrent combo I should be using.  I am not an electrician and wiring is always my weakness.

[collecture]

Which model cooler?
I can scan a cooler specific wiring diagram. May need more info...

[Blind1968]

Sorry I should have included that in my post, It is a 1941 Westinghouse Master cooler. Normally I would just replace 1 wire at a time but the little pieces of wire present didn't have any insulation left on them.
Thanks for the assistance

[MoonDawg]

      The motor should run constantly so it is wired to the same black and white terminals that your power cord uses.

[Blind1968]

Thanks didn't want to just start haphazardly hooking up wires. The agitator also has 3 wires Black, White and Red.

[johnieG]

if it's the original agitator motor, then the white/red should go to a capacitor down on the compressor deck somewhere as it's ( the original motor design) a split-phase motor & needs the cap to run, so black should be "hot"/L1, white is "neutral"/L2, & Red is to the capacitor which should have its other terminal going to "hot"/L1, like I said this type of motor won't run without it ( the capacitor)

[Blind1968]

When I received the compressor unit the agitator wiring had been cut or had rotted to the point it broke. So there was only about 2-3 inches of wire hanging off the 3 posts on the compressor housing and unfortunately all the insulation was gone so I was not able to make a note on what went where.  I do know it was wired direct to the compressor (if this was wrong that may explain the lack of insulation on the wires  ). I didn't see any capacitor. I do believe it to be an original agitator motor.

[collecture]

Hopefully this will help some!

[collecture]

One more...

[johnieG]

If there's no capacitor except for the starting cap for the compressor, then the third lead should go to the start terminal of the compressor, work the same way as a split-phase cap' start motor, but it uses the inductance of the start winding to "split" the phase for it's red lead/wire.

If it had an agitator motor run-cap, it would be inside the rectangular black box shown in your #2 picture of your compressor deck.

[Larry]

What's an agitator?

[Blind1968]

Thanks guys, I hope I am not making this harder than it needs to be. Here is a picture of the compressor and agitator wires hooked up, I now question if any of it was wired correctly. I respect electricity way too much to dare plug it in till I find out for sure

So I guess I need a crash course in compressors too, so I think the start cap johnieG spoke about is the the cap with the two posts located to the left in this picture.  I am guessing the post, from top to bottom would be Black Hot, White Neutral and Red (green wires)2nd Hot.

On the power supply line in I have the white neutral leg going to the start cap, black leg on black terminal  and red leg on red terminal. There is another jumper wire from the second post on the start cap to the white Neutral terminal on the compressor.

The main power line runs into the thermostat control box to a junction board of sorts before heading up to the compressor, looks to be some sort of contact inside that box (other than the thermostat control assembly) probably the capacitor johnieG mentioned before.

Any suggestions or recommendations on how to proceed are welcome   

[Blind1968]

Well I finally worked up the nerve to plug it in and nothing.... not even a spark, pop or small explosion   After a quick voltage check I traced it back to the solenoid (of sorts) on the compressor deck, upon closer inspection there was a broken wire on that solenoid.  So after a little solder we were ready for round two. Plugged it in and she fired up and began cooling, every thing was working correctly to include the agitator.  

Now that I know it all works it's time to get it cleaned up and painted  

Thank you to everyone here for all the assistance

[jholmgren]

Well I finally worked up the nerve to plug it in and nothing.... not even a spark, pop or small explosion   After a quick voltage check I traced it back to the solenoid (of sorts) on the compressor deck, upon closer inspection there was a broken wire on that solenoid.  So after a little solder we were ready for round two. Plugged it in and she fired up and began cooling, every thing was working correctly to include the agitator.  

Now that I know it all works it's time to get it cleaned up and painted  

Thank you to everyone here for all the assistance

Scary as hell plugging it in for the first time, isn't it?   I have a power strip that has an on-off switch.  I use that so I'm not holding the plug in my hand when it contacts electricity for the first time.  I usually have a fire extinguisher standing by and turn my head away as I flip the switch! 

[tkaz]

Nice work!  Yeah plugging in is always sketchy, I definitely get a good adrenaline rush every time I plug in an old machine.  A good quick test is to take a multimeter and check for continuity on the plug terminals to ground, that way you at least know you there isn't a bad ground anywhere.

[Blind1968]

Good ideas for the next one. Yes its always the heart thumping when you fire them up for the first time.