I came across your article when I was going to build a phase converter myself. I came to the conclusion that I’m not the guy to build one, but I could at least save some bucks by buying a used 3-phase motor, and I talked to American Rotary (one of your links, so thank you for that!) about getting one of their control panels for it, and after talking with them (Dave, I think), I decided to buy both their idler and control panel. They have “worked the bugs out” of many issues you mention. Since they use an idler instead of a motor, it doesn’t have a shaft (big plus for grandpa), it only costs about 6 cents an hour to run, and it’s amazingly quiet, and the starter has an “on” indicator light, which is good because I look at it all the time to see if it is really on. My voltage balances within 1% line to line, and the control panel has a digital controller to protect the starting circuit. You certainly know what you are talking about, as I have personally benefited from several of your articles, and I hope more folks find out through you that there are some economical ways to go if ya can’t stomach building a phase converter from scratch. Thanks again.

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I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost.
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