Thanks, odd that it was blowing the breaker. Did you have other items attached to the circuit? Didn’t you also have to add a new dedicated circuit/plug to accept the 220?

 

No it was a dedicated circuit for the lift. You need a 25A-30A breaker and 10awg to the motor (which is what I ran). By the time you rub that, a disconnect etc to be to code, you’ve spent a lot of $. The original motor was wired with a plug not rated for 20A+ and wiring that was too thin. I’m not sure how they actually get away with it. You’re certainly not lifting 6,000#+ with that setup. Not sure if other 120V motors from other companies suffer the same problem. Save yourself the headache and get the 220 motor.

 

Anyone else running into this issue as it's the first time I'm hearing it mentioned? I actually ran a separate sub panel to my garage for my Tesla, so at least if I do have to run a dedicated circuit it is much easier and just the cost of the wiring and plug (well, and pvc pipe that I'll run the wire through).

Another guy I'm dealing with said the DL has a different hydraulic pump (a "better" one) than the Atlas, but checking if the motor is also upgraded or not.

BTW, anyone hear of Smart Lifting Systems out of Milton, Ontario?

 

My lift runs on regular 120v 15a and I've never blown a breaker, dedicated circuit, just a hydraulic pump it's running, under a minute to full rise.

 

I ran 220.

I was told the lift would go up faster. Not sure how true that is.

Tripping the breaker is definitely not normal. I had that issue in the beginning because the wiring was not connected perfectly. No problem now since it was fixed.

I have this.

 

You need to look at the specs on the motor. Others may be different. Mine is 2.5w at 120V = 2500/120 = ~21amps (ps this is from my rudimentary understanding, I’m no electrician) and likely higher for the initial in-rush. If it’s 14awg cable with a plug, it’s not rated for that.

I thought mine would be ‘plug and play’. I’ve banished from my mind how much the electrical fix was.

If you’re unsure - and intend to use a 120V motor that is wired with a plug vs a pigtail- send a pic of the motor capacity plate to an electrician and ask them. I had the guys that wired my shop come and have a look and they immediately identified this as a problem (safety and operational). You can see the 10awg run on the ceiling, disconnect, etc.

If it’s a smaller lift, it may not be an issue. But if you get an 8000lb lift and intend to lift anything substantial, it could be a problem - eg I couldn’t lift my 6,000# truck.

regardless, they are great, I wish I had bought one 10 years ago!

 

Right, but you have a 220 motor and wiring, I’m talking about a 120v with a standard plug and something like 14awg wiring. Avoid these

 

Mine plugs into a standard 120 outlet. Not dedicated line. Same line that runs my garage door opener and central vac. 2 different lifts over 18 years. Never had an issue. Never tripped a breaker. Don't over think it.

 

Okay, now I am overthinking it. Genuinely curious, have you run your lift to prop up a car while the central vac was also running? Spoke with a guy from Auto Loft yesterday who seems to know what he's doing, he did say having the central vac and lift on the same breaker can cause an issue. Would be interesting to measure how many watts the lift uses vs a central vac! E.g., if you assume an 80% load on the 15 amp/120v breaker (1440 watts), a central vac might be around 500-800? Wonder if the motors for the lifts have stated watt requirement/usage.

 

I don't recall ever running the lift at the same time as the central vac. It very well may cause an issue (tripped breaker) but easy to avoid running them both at the same time.

 

Central vac's generally require dedicated circuits, odds are just because they're in the garage doesn't mean they are on the same circuit.

Next time I lift a vehicle, I'll throw a meter on the lift circuit to see what it draws.

 

If that’s what your motor is showing (1440 watts at 120v) then you’ve answered your own question. 1440/120 = 12 amps = you are likely fine with a 15 amp breaker

 

Back to the lift. Assuming a catastrophe, is it the house insurance that would cover if say the lift were to fail and basically destroy two cars? CAA (my auto insurer) said their underwriters are saying it wouldn't be covered by them.

 

Saying a standard 15 amp/120v outlet would, at 80%, allow for 1440 watts. Though I would imagine it can take more before the circuit were to go. Not sure what the motors are rated at.

 

I think most 4 post lifts have multiple redundancies to prevent failure. On the bendpak lifts, the locks need air pressure to open and default to the locked position without sufficient pressure. There are also slack cable locks in addition to the air locks and then finally the cables and hydraulics can hold the car independently. It's not impossible to have everything fail at the same time, but it is pretty unlikely.

In terms of the 120v motor. My bendpak one is very slow to raise, but I'm never really in a hurry to get the car up. The locks clacking are loud as hell, but also give you confidence that they are engaged.