What is this thing?

I picked up a nice little vert. band saw today, and the guy gave me what he thought was a phase coverter. It has on the front of it.....Vision 3 Digital AC Drive. Model CDLE 10 H.P. It has never been hooked up. Not that that means anything, other than he wasn;t sure what the thing is. Anyone know what it is, and could it possibly replace my old homebuilt 10 hp rotory converter? thanks......Louis

Sounds like a VFD.

Post some pictures and we can tell you how to hook it up.

-Joe

Vision was an old product name from Emerson Drives, now bought out by Control Techniques from the UK. I don't know if Control Techniques still supports those drives though, probably over 10 years old. If it hasn't been operating for more than a year, don't expect it to last too long.

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"If it hasn't been operating for more than a year, don't expect it to last too long."
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shelf life on vfd's ?

wippin' boy said:

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"If it hasn't been operating for more than a year, don't expect it to last too long."
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shelf life on vfd's ?

Click to expand...

Capacitors can go bad when left un-energized for long periods of time. Once the caps go, the rest follows quickly. There is a procedure called "reforming" that can revive some of them, but it involves having equipment that most people don't have access to and the cost to buy it usually would exceed the cost of a new VFD. That's not to say it can't be done, but it is often not worth the trouble for an old VFD.

hmmm.....yes, I'd guess it to be 10 yrs or so. It came from a plant that has been closed for about 8 or 9 years. It has never been used though, if that would make a difference. Even if it were good, I don;t know if it would serve me any purpose. I have a 7.5 hp Colchester lathe, a 1 and a half horse Bridgeport mill, and now a band saw that I have not checked out close enough to know how many hp it is, but I'm guessing 2 or less....it's a fairly small saw. I am currently running these machines on a RPC that I built with plans obtained through this website, along with input from the knowledgable individuals here. I haven't taken any pics yet to post, but here is the info from the tag on the cabinet.
Model..CDLE
AC Input....240 V AC Amp...25 PH...3

Max Output 230 V AC Amp...28 10 HP

Vision 3 Digital AC Drive


Assuming my lathe, mill, and this saw are all varible speed, or in the case of the lathe, speed selective; would there be a reason to run them on a VFD anyway?
thanks again for any input or info.