VFD on/off?

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gr8life

Cast Iron

Joined

Dec 9, 2007

Location

Las Vegas Nevada

• Dec 10, 2009

• #1

Only have my VFD a week or so I turn it on when I start to do my first milling job of the day and leave it on all day. Should I do this or turn it off? I know this sounds silly to the pros.
thanks
ed

 

motion guru

Diamond

Joined

Dec 8, 2003

Location

Yacolt, WA

• Dec 10, 2009

• #2

We have found that leaving them on 24 hrs a day provides the longest life - but if they have a fan, this can be irritating with respect to noise.

 

rklopp

Diamond

Joined

Feb 27, 2001

Location

Redwood City, CA USA

• Dec 10, 2009

• #3

I've turned mine on and off for a decade with no problems other than replacing the fan in one unit when the bearings died.

 

JunkyardJ

Titanium

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

Howell Mi

• Dec 10, 2009

• #4

You can program them to turn the fan off.

They really don't need the fan until they get warm. They don't get warm until you put a load on them. Mine has a setting that only runs the fan when you run the motor, and it stays on for 2 minutes afterwords. Just long enough to cool it back down after it warms up. That way you can leave them on, and it won't make any noise. My friend leaves his on all the time, and it seems to be OK with the fan set to turn off. I turn mine off when not in use though.

 

J

J Lauffer

Hot Rolled

Joined

Feb 9, 2004

Location

Attleboro, MA, USA

• Dec 10, 2009

• #5

I would say leave it on during the day while it's being used, but turn it off at night. This will limit its exposure to power line spikes, surges, etc.

If you plan on leaving it on all the time, I would recommend adding a reactor to the line side of the VFD, to protect from said spikes, surges, etc.

Actually, reactors are a good idea in either case.

 

Last edited: Dec 10, 2009

G

gr8life

Cast Iron

Joined

Dec 9, 2007

Location

Las Vegas Nevada

• Dec 10, 2009

• #6

OK the on's win for days - the off's win for nights - holiday's to be decided at the next board of directors meeting.
thanks
ed

 

precisionworks

Diamond

Joined

Apr 20, 2005

Location

Benton, IL USA

• Dec 10, 2009

• #7

leave it on during the day while it's being used, but turn it off at night.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I do with all of mine ... except that I sometimes forget to switch off one or a few. The NEMA-4X drives from ACTech are nearly dead quiet, having only a tiny internal scrubber fan to make any noise ... and that runs inside a sealed enclosure.

-------------
Barry Milton

 

A

atomarc

Diamond

Joined

Mar 16, 2009

Location

Eureka, CA

• Dec 10, 2009

• #8

Ed,

When your wife is finished cooking brownies on the stove does she have you run out and flip the breaker OFF until she needs to fry bacon in the morning. The same would hold true for a drive..........

Stuart

 

G

gr8life

Cast Iron

Joined

Dec 9, 2007

Location

Las Vegas Nevada

• Dec 10, 2009

• #9

Ok I get it now. As far as the stove is concerned don't be silly. My wife uses a wood fire (she has to chop the wood herself ), but I am thinking of getting her a box (read as 1) of strike anywhere matches for Christmas. Should she ever read this and find out that your wife actually has a stove there will be hell to pay and then she will want a washboard to replace that nice flat rock she does laundry on.
ed