Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:59 pm
This is a biphase motor with white being the neutral and red and black the two phases. The reason there are no polarity markings on the capacitor is because it is not a polarized capacitor i.e. not an electrolytic.
The black wire from the motor should be connected to one side of the switch and one side of the resistor. The red wire from the motor should be connected to the other side of the switch and one side of the capacitor. The remaining terminal of the capacitor should be connected to the remaining side of the resistor.
You should check, with an ohmeter, the resistances between white wire and red wire and between white wire and black wire. These should be about the same. If one winding is open the motor won't run. You should also check that the resistor measures about 150 ohms. If it is open, the motor won't run.
If both windings measure about the same and if the resistor is about the right resistance then suspicion focuses on the capacitor. They do fail. If people knew how often they could fix their own air conditioners by replacing a run capacitor the pros would be out of business. You can try energizing the circuit and then spinning the motor by hand. If it runs, even briefly, that again focuses attention on the capacitor. If your meter has a capacitor check function measure the capacitance (remove it from the circuit first) to be sure that it is about 10 ufd. If not, measure the resistance of the capacitor. If it reads low instantaneously and then climbs to a very high or open circuit reading then all is well (this is hard to see on modern digital meters - the important thing is that it does not show any resistance other than a very high one). Short the terminals of the capacitor and then get a 9 volt battery and connect across the capacitor terminals. Then disconnect and quickly meausure the voltage. If you see some retention of voltage, however brief, then the cap is probably OK. If you pass all these checks and it still doesn't run then it's gremlins.