Originally posted by: Rubycon
Never heard of a Baldwin motor brand before.
You sure it's not Baldor?
If it's 230V single phase it has to have at least one capacitor. Most of these smaller motors may also have the capability to be wired to run on either 120 or 240VAC. Don't expect it to run off a normal 15A "house plug" on 120V though. :laugh:
In the U.S. red and black are strapped across the line transformer's 240V winding in single phase systems. These are commonly called L1 and L2. Going from either one of these to the white wire (called a neutral) will give you 120VAC. (electrically the neutral could be considered the center tap and at the service entrance this is normally bonded to the bare grounding wire which may be green at the junction box).
Two black wires are OK as well - black denotes hot and in a lot of cases where THNN is pulled through EMT a pair of black wires will be seen but it's generally considered correct to have a red and black. Where common 12/2 with ground is used, the wireman will tape over the white wire so the circuit is not confused with 120V!
Just be certain these are indeed wires belonging to L1 and L2 of your motor and (of course!) do not forget to ground the frame of the motor! If this is confusing you may want to seek help from someone familiar with line voltages as mistakes are often shocking.