Air Conditioning - broken thermostat wires

my neighber was weed wacking and tore red and white wires in half running to outside unit.i put wires back together and unit does not run.i have 240volts at unit and if i push contactor switch fan and compressor run .i have no voltage at all in t/stat wire.it is 90 degrees in nj today and these are an elderly couple ,I would sure appreciate any help.he cant get a/c service out till tommorow afternoos .thank you very much

Assuming the wires are low voltage and were only broken there, try to reconnect them properly by soldering and heat shrinking or using crimp connectors if soldering is not available. Check the rest of the connections to make sure the wires did not get pulled loose somewhere else (follow them from the damage all the way to where they enter the condensor). They may have been pulled loose somewhere else by that amount of force. Be careful messing around inside the condensor as high voltages are present. Shutting off power at the designated point should be the first step.

thank you rick .i did reconnect with wire nuts .did not have any luck

If you are not getting power at the thermostat, you've lost 24 volts. Check the furnace or air handler for a circuit board. Often there is a small plug-in automotive type fuse on the board. This fuse is usually either 3 or 5 amps. If there is no fuse, the transformer is probably burned out.

thanks GRADY .put new trasformer in today and unit works great thanks again

Glad we could help & you got it back up & running fairly easily & inexpensively.
Should you have any more DIY jobs around the house we are here & glad to help where we can.