Selecting a Starter

1) Identify the driven load and if possible, obtain the starting requirements of this load.
If this load has not been used in earlier calculations, you will need to enter the speed / torque data into the table, otherwise the data can be recalled.

2) Identify a potential motor and if possible, obtain the starting characteristics of the motor. Of particular interest are the speed / torque curve and the speed current curve for that particular motor. If this motor has not been used in earlier calculations, you will need to enter the speed / torque and speed / current data into the table, otherwise the data can be recalled from disk.

3) Open the "Motor Starting" section of the program and fill in all the data on the motor and load. Where the full data is not available, enter in the locked rotor characteristics only. Make sure that the correct units are selected. When the units are changed, you are given the option of changing the values or leaving the values as entered. For specific load and motor data, it is preferable to save them as absolute units to avoid confusion. Much of the data available is quoted in percentage only. This refers back to the motor rating. If the data has been previously entered and saved, use the "File" "Open Motor" and/or "Open Load" menu options to select and open the relevant data file.
When the data is correctly displayed in the table, the starter options are shown in a results panel at the bottom of the page. This panel includes the minimum starter setting, i.e. auto transformer on the 80% tap, of soft starter at 380% current.

4) Save the data for future usage using the "File" "Save ...." menu options. Use a file name that is very descriptive to make it easy to identify this information next time. Save the data in absolute units, (NM or lbft) unless you wish to save the data as a generic curve that can be applied indicatively across a range of KW sizes. NB using generic curves, particularly for motors can be very erroneous due to the massive variation between motor designs.

5) The starting current and starting torque curves for a range of starter and starting conditions can be displayed using the "Graph" menu option.