Mar 31 - Booo, bad cap

So I tried to get my new air compressor up and operational.  I made a cable to power it from my generator.  Plugged it all in and fired up the generator.  Gave it a lil bit to warm and turned on the compressor.  It pulled my genny down to where it was struggling to keep up.  Sounds like a lot of amps were being pulled from the AC motor on the compressor.  While I was looking back and forth between the two to try and decide what I was going to do about it, the compressor's start cap on the motor popped... about the same time I was switching the power off on the compressor switch.

So reading up on this topic, I've decided two things, one being an inductive load I'll probably need a larger generator than one that says it can handle the load from a watt rating standpoint.  And two I may make a cord to run it off of the dryer plug in my wall at the house for a test prior to trying the generator again.  But I suspect I may burn another cap in the testing and trying to get back to being generator powered.

It also sounds like I need to check the centrifugal switch on the motor.  It may be why the cap stayed in effect for too long which also causes the generator and AC motor to fight with one another.

Here's pics of my blown cap.

Blew the lid off of it!  :-D