# Treadmill Motor Control



## Riff_JunkieSFR (Jul 11, 2011)

I was looking at purchasing a treadmill motor to power a vortex tunnel, and I was suprised at how inexpensive they are. Do I need to buy the controls for one or could I use a rotary switch of some sort to control the speed it rotates? I noticed the amps run between 14-18 on the few that I looked at.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I have one I set up to run from a rheostat switch. You just have to figure out a way to put a safety stop on it.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

A rheostat will certainly work if you don't need to make the speed too low. Though if you get too wild, you either have to burn a bunch of power in the rheostat, or the low voltage can cause the motor to stall and/or overheat.

Several other ways:

Choose a gear ratio which allows things to run at the proper speed when the motor is also running at rated speed
Choose a different power supply voltage and/or variable voltage power supply
If you need a very slow speed, a PWM motor speed controller will give you nearly full torque across a 5 - 95% band of motor speed. Plus act as a current limit to keep things running cooler.


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## Riff_JunkieSFR (Jul 11, 2011)

Thanks for the input guys. I'm not sure about the speed just yet I think I am going to go with Toktorill's design for shear simplicity, but I will have to experiment with the speed to find what will work best. I found the motors sold with the controls still attached, but I figured it might be more cost effective to wire another control to it. However I haven't had much luck finding a decently priced control that could handle the amps that these motors draw.


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## RandalB (Jun 8, 2009)

I've got a brand new treadmill motor sitting in the basement still in the box. If you want it, It's yours for the cost of shipping it to you...

RandalB


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## Riff_JunkieSFR (Jul 11, 2011)

I'll take it! Where are you located?


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## RandalB (Jun 8, 2009)

Cedar Lake Indiana

PM me your address and we'll take it from there..

RandalB


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