Thread: 380v -440v speed control

I just bought a FP1 that is 380v and says on the box to use 440v. I have a digital phase convertor and step up transformer in my shop. Is it best to run the mill this way or install a new motor with VFD?
I'm asking out of ignorance and am a Deckel newbie.
TIA,
Steve

Don't know if DD can confirm this but Lance Thrall had shown me a letter from Siemens to him at Deckel, Columbia, MD, stating the warranty on the FPNC series would not be voided if the 380/3/50 machines would be run on 440/3/60.
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Arno

I guess this machine is long out of warranty. Any advice for me on this from someone who has done it?
Steve

Unsure what you mean by "speed control" as voltage has nothing to do with speed. And by "on the box" I'll guess you mean the electrical connection box and not some other "box" ? Anyway, it's entirely possible someone has installed a small step up transformer somewhere in the "box" such that 440 is indeed the correct voltage to run the machine at. My Schaublin 135 lathe and 13 mill are like that..basically 380 volt machines but factory ordered at 460 volts for USA current, small step up transformers are inside the electrical box.

Still, you can never trust that for sure what one reads on the box is reality, since someone may have altered something in the past. So, you just have to root around in there and find out what it really is. Safest thing is to always used the lowest of the voltage possiblities at first, since that can't hurt anything...and just see if it works. Then check magnetic starter contactor magnets to see if they are getting nameplate voltage. If you connect at 380 volts and it works but seems a little "weak" then I would expect your starter contactors to be reading 80 volts instead of the nameplated 115 volt, for example (assuming the contactors are the 115 volt type...some are different from that). So if contactor reading 80 volts then you know it really was configured for 440 volts, and that's what ya need.