toggle switch to turn off VFD?

[danielbuck]

I just put a 3 phase motor and VFD on my drill press with 220v single phase input. Everything works good, except the VFD's display and fans stays on while it's plugged into the wall even while the motor isn't running. As far as I can tell, there is no "off" switch for the VFD.

So my thought is to put a double pole 30 amp light switch on the 220 line right before it enters the VFD.

I'm sure this will work, but what's the typical setup for doing this when working with a VFD?

 

[ycgoat]

The fan control may be programable in the VFD. I would not leave the VFD powered of for long periods of time to maintain programing and internal battery maintenance.

I am no drive system expert but It sounded like you were using a 3 phase VFD on a single phase device. Even if it works it is likely to be hard on the motor. Is the motor rated for use with a VFD?


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[danielbuck]

I don't think there's any way to turn the fan and display off, no buttons to do so, and I don't see anything in the instruction manual. As soon as you plug the VFD in to power, it turns on, and stays on until you unplug it. I've not really programmed anything in the VFD, it just worked right out of the box after it was wired up.

The motor is a 3 phase motor, I was under the assumption that most (all?) 3 phase AC motors can be run with a VFD. The motor isn't having problems though, has good power at low and high RPMs, and as far as I can tell it's not getting hot. Although to be honest, I don't run the drill press for more than a few minutes at a time.

 

[vavet]

I use Leeson VFDs at work for some equipment. The display always stay on.

 

[ycgoat]

To answer you question the typical set up is to leave it powered up all the time and the programming/ inputs dictate when the device is powered.

It may be it is set up for across the line starting out of the box. Which means it is not being used to control the power. What is the brand / model I would be interested in reading the manual.


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[teamextreme]

If there is no menu-driven option to do so on the VFD, then the only way to turn the display/fans off is by killing the 240V power to the VFD. Using a double pole switch as you suggested will work fine. As someone mentioned, I would confirm what effect leaving it unpowered would have on programming settings. Likely it will likely go months, if not years with no issue though.

 

[like2wheel]

I recently saw a mod for a vfd where they wired in a temperature sensor to control the fan so it would only run when needed.

 

[danielbuck]

I did see way deep in the menus something about dormant and wakeup functions, but I couldn't seem to get them to do anything. And the manual doesn't really explain what alot of these functions actually do. I'll do some research though. What might the fan and display functions be called? dormant and wakeup didn't seem to do anything.

I did some tests, changed some of the parameters (acceleration and deceleration), pulled the plug and after a few minutes plugged it back in, and it remembered the settings. So I think I'm going to just go that route, at least temporarily. It's working nicely, and once I get the double pole switch wired up, I won't have to plug it back in every time I want to use it.

Wow, there's alot of things you can change. I would have never guessed, haha! After tweaking the acceleration/deceleration a bit, I think that's all I'm probably going to change for now though.

 

[ycgoat]

LOL, Its a lot for a drill press.


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[wyliesdiesels]

How about posting the make and model so others can look into it?

 

[matt_i]

I have a Reliance that does the same thing. Fan always runs and its irritating.

I was going to setup the maintained contact switches (the original run/stop) on the drill press to switch power to the input L1,L2,L3 side of the VFD as opposed to their original function of sending AC direct to the motor.

But not there yet, its low on the list . I just unplug its twistlock for sanity.

In industry they "run" 24x7x365 inside of control panels unless the equipment is locked out. But Reliance is not a drive I've ever seen in a plant, its OK but I'm not super impressed by it.

 

[danielbuck]

How about posting the make and model so others can look into it?

Motor is a Dayton 1.5hp motor, VFD is about the cheapest one I could find, LAPOND SVD-ES

 

[ycgoat]

Why did you buy a VFD for a drill press


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[danielbuck]

Why did you buy a VFD for a drill press


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because I was tired of opening up the top to change speeds.

I've only had the VFD running for two days now, and I already wish I would have done it sooner.

 

[ycgoat]

Oh OK, So now you use the key pad.


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[danielbuck]

Oh OK, So now you use the key pad.


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just twist the dial to the desired HZ.

if I can figure out how to get it to read RPM, I will.

Otherwise, I have a cheap hand held tachometer and I'll tach the spindle and figure out what the rough RPMs are at regular intervals, and make a cheat sheet for reference. Right now I have 60hz at roughtly 750rpm (if the online pulley calculator is correct). And I have the VFD to drive from 12-90hz.

 

[ycgoat]

Yeh typically we would enter the motor specs and then set the speed presets using % of full power.


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[danielbuck]

Yeh typically we would enter the motor specs and then set the speed presets using % of full power.


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I'm going to be studying the manual and reading up, there's more to this than I expected, haha! But at least it's working nicely without really doing anything other than hooking up the wires.

 

[txvwnut]

I have a contactor before my VFD and use it for switching the power on and off to the VFD.

 

[Robbie B]

I don't think there's any way to turn the fan and display off, no buttons to do so, and I don't see anything in the instruction manual. As soon as you plug the VFD in to power, it turns on, and stays on until you unplug it. I've not really programmed anything in the VFD, it just worked right out of the box after it was wired up.

The motor is a 3 phase motor, I was under the assumption that most (all?) 3 phase AC motors can be run with a VFD. The motor isn't having problems though, has good power at low and high RPMs, and as far as I can tell it's not getting hot. Although to be honest, I don't run the drill press for more than a few minutes at a time.

Not all 3 phase motors can be ran reliably from a VFD. A motor designed for a VFD is more robust than a standard motor. Make sure you have a VFD motor first. We have older VFD’s at work that we leave on all the time and they’re fine. I’d leave it on if I were you.


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[Falcon67]

I used a motor rated lockout switch. Same on the 240V lathe, I keep the machine power off. Have grandkids that like to grab knobs and push buttons.