stan-mcdonald
Plastic
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2013
- Location
- toronto canada
I have a Milltronics Milling machine which I was told by Milltronics could be run from single phase provided I put the 220 lines on L1 and L3. Well needless to say the VFD did not last to long.
When I contacted the drive manufacture they told me that the Drive was not rated to have single phase input and that the drive could only be used for a motor of 1/2 of what it was rated for if three phase power was supplied. They even gave me a technical manual to explain why, which I forwarded to Milltronics General Manager along with a letter to explain what happened.
The manual states that because of the added ripple from converting single phase power to DC there is a line ripple of 120 HZ instead of 300 or whatever HZ and the fact that you are now asking two diode pares to do what three used to the drive will fail. Yaskawa tells me that when they make single phase drives they use a larger bus cap to fix the ripple issue and they oversize the diode bridge used to convert the AC to DC so they can re modulate it.
Milltronics still states that the VFDs they use can be used on single or three phase and they do not comprehend the fact that you need to use a larger drive because of the added total harmonic distortion and the fact you are asking two diode pars to do the work of what three used to if the machine is supplied with single phase power VS Three phase power.
Milltronics thinks that the drive will just deliver less HP even though the technical manual provided gives 7 references to why the idea held by Milltronics will not work.
Long story short you can not put single phase power in to any VFD rated for three phase input and expect the VFD to provide the same rated HP or Current output when you only supply single phase input.
With the now fried and obsolete VFD as a guide I purchased a replacement V1000 single phase drive from Yaskawa at 1/3 the cost of what Milltronics wanted for an obsolete F7 drive rated for three phase input. When the drive arrived last week I noted that the HP of the motor was 7.5 and the AMPS was 19 not the 17.5 on the now fried VFD. Well it appears that Milltronics company did not size the drive correctly in the first place even if three phase power was to be used which is NOT the case here as they do not have three phase power on my street. No worries as I will use it anyway as I never take large cuts or have big face mills....
Now the fun begins
When I connect the wires all up to the new drive and with a phone call to Yaskawa as the new drive terminals are not marked or named the same as the old ones I think I have things wired correctly.
I power the drive and it comes to life or so I thought
With the belts removed from the motor to the spindle I do the auto tune as noted in the V1000 quick start book. All seems well and the drive does operate the motor when run in local mode and I control things from the keypad located in the back of the machine.
I restart the machine by using the large switch at the back of the machine.
I note the computer seems to be DEAD no screen or anything but did note a flash on the computer screen at power up so the screen got power for a short time and the lights did the normal flash....However the cnc machine is in Estop as normal startup and the computer screen is black.
I press the reset button and the machine goes from Estop back to Estop with only a micro second in between. Still no computer and no temporary flash on the screen.
I go to the back of the machine and note EF3 on the drive readout and the lights on the computer acroloop cards (green light) is light up so things look normal from the back and at least I know the computer is getting power.
I opted to use the V1000 drive as it is available in single phase input.
Typically the machine starts up with the machine in E-stop but we have video on the computer.
How do I fix this???
Milltronics is of no use as they have stated they do not have any experience with the V1000 and only when I advised the general manager in June of this year that the f7 drive was no longer in production and that the drive they would have sold me was not rated for single phase input did they now state that they where converting to the A1000 drive as i had recommended in a letter i wrote to him 1 month prior.
The machine in question is a partner 1h bed mill serial m3165
the machine had a Safetronics PC3 drive in it
Tried removing the SC terminal and re-power to see if the computer would come to life <nope however no EF3 code on drive> therefore reconnected SC connection
Tried to remove the AC terminal and re-power to see if the computer would come to life <nope but had EF3 Error> Therefore reconnected AC connection
Tried to remove the s3 terminal and re-power to see of the computer would come back to life <nope> but no EF3 Error
in all cases The lights flash on the operator terminal the lights on the computer acroloop cards (green light) is light up so the computer has partial power.
The V1000 drive is a replacement for the PC3 safetronics that died because of single phase input and the drive was rated 5hp from the factory even though the machine has a 7.5 hp motor in it.
I have now advised Milltronics that the V1000 drive would be a better and less expensive option then the A1000 drive and further told them that the machine should be supplied either in two versions, one for single phase and another for three phase or simply use the single phase version in all machines that are 5hp or less.
If anyone has a v1000 machine and could tell me where the control wires are connected on the v1000 that may help or if they had to change any of the parameters in order to get the drive to function under remote control settings???
Thanks to everyone for help in advance
Stan
When I contacted the drive manufacture they told me that the Drive was not rated to have single phase input and that the drive could only be used for a motor of 1/2 of what it was rated for if three phase power was supplied. They even gave me a technical manual to explain why, which I forwarded to Milltronics General Manager along with a letter to explain what happened.
The manual states that because of the added ripple from converting single phase power to DC there is a line ripple of 120 HZ instead of 300 or whatever HZ and the fact that you are now asking two diode pares to do what three used to the drive will fail. Yaskawa tells me that when they make single phase drives they use a larger bus cap to fix the ripple issue and they oversize the diode bridge used to convert the AC to DC so they can re modulate it.
Milltronics still states that the VFDs they use can be used on single or three phase and they do not comprehend the fact that you need to use a larger drive because of the added total harmonic distortion and the fact you are asking two diode pars to do the work of what three used to if the machine is supplied with single phase power VS Three phase power.
Milltronics thinks that the drive will just deliver less HP even though the technical manual provided gives 7 references to why the idea held by Milltronics will not work.
Long story short you can not put single phase power in to any VFD rated for three phase input and expect the VFD to provide the same rated HP or Current output when you only supply single phase input.
With the now fried and obsolete VFD as a guide I purchased a replacement V1000 single phase drive from Yaskawa at 1/3 the cost of what Milltronics wanted for an obsolete F7 drive rated for three phase input. When the drive arrived last week I noted that the HP of the motor was 7.5 and the AMPS was 19 not the 17.5 on the now fried VFD. Well it appears that Milltronics company did not size the drive correctly in the first place even if three phase power was to be used which is NOT the case here as they do not have three phase power on my street. No worries as I will use it anyway as I never take large cuts or have big face mills....
Now the fun begins
When I connect the wires all up to the new drive and with a phone call to Yaskawa as the new drive terminals are not marked or named the same as the old ones I think I have things wired correctly.
I power the drive and it comes to life or so I thought
With the belts removed from the motor to the spindle I do the auto tune as noted in the V1000 quick start book. All seems well and the drive does operate the motor when run in local mode and I control things from the keypad located in the back of the machine.
I restart the machine by using the large switch at the back of the machine.
I note the computer seems to be DEAD no screen or anything but did note a flash on the computer screen at power up so the screen got power for a short time and the lights did the normal flash....However the cnc machine is in Estop as normal startup and the computer screen is black.
I press the reset button and the machine goes from Estop back to Estop with only a micro second in between. Still no computer and no temporary flash on the screen.
I go to the back of the machine and note EF3 on the drive readout and the lights on the computer acroloop cards (green light) is light up so things look normal from the back and at least I know the computer is getting power.
I opted to use the V1000 drive as it is available in single phase input.
Typically the machine starts up with the machine in E-stop but we have video on the computer.
How do I fix this???
Milltronics is of no use as they have stated they do not have any experience with the V1000 and only when I advised the general manager in June of this year that the f7 drive was no longer in production and that the drive they would have sold me was not rated for single phase input did they now state that they where converting to the A1000 drive as i had recommended in a letter i wrote to him 1 month prior.
The machine in question is a partner 1h bed mill serial m3165
the machine had a Safetronics PC3 drive in it
Tried removing the SC terminal and re-power to see if the computer would come to life <nope however no EF3 code on drive> therefore reconnected SC connection
Tried to remove the AC terminal and re-power to see if the computer would come to life <nope but had EF3 Error> Therefore reconnected AC connection
Tried to remove the s3 terminal and re-power to see of the computer would come back to life <nope> but no EF3 Error
in all cases The lights flash on the operator terminal the lights on the computer acroloop cards (green light) is light up so the computer has partial power.
The V1000 drive is a replacement for the PC3 safetronics that died because of single phase input and the drive was rated 5hp from the factory even though the machine has a 7.5 hp motor in it.
I have now advised Milltronics that the V1000 drive would be a better and less expensive option then the A1000 drive and further told them that the machine should be supplied either in two versions, one for single phase and another for three phase or simply use the single phase version in all machines that are 5hp or less.
If anyone has a v1000 machine and could tell me where the control wires are connected on the v1000 that may help or if they had to change any of the parameters in order to get the drive to function under remote control settings???
Thanks to everyone for help in advance
Stan
