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VFD recommendation. Looking for a 5hp single phase input VFD. Good deals out there?

Miguels244

Diamond
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Location
Denver, CO USA
Single phase input.
5hp.
Remote pot speed control.
It would be nice if I could set it up with 0-10v speed control later for CNC interface.
Internal brake resistor, or at least a built in chopper would be nice but not critical.
Oh, application is my SAG 14, so reversing isn't critical.

Good deals?
Bad experiences?
Sketchy vendors?
Good vendors?
 
Single phase input.
5hp.
Remote pot speed control.
It would be nice if I could set it up with 0-10v speed control later for CNC interface.
Internal brake resistor, or at least a built in chopper would be nice but not critical.
Oh, application is my SAG 14, so reversing isn't critical.

Good deals?
Bad experiences?
Sketchy vendors?
Good vendors?

Industrial-grade Yaskawa doesn't seem to make a lot of enemies.

If nothing else, they apparently use a capacitor bank that lasts longer than the average. Perhaps a LOT longer?

Could was that means about double the time 'til replacement day (of the whole drive, usually.. by-then-obsolete speciality caps as drop-in replacement being too costly).

Otherwise, for non-revenue-stream work where unexpected issues won't break your back, go cheap and replace only when you must.

Or use an RPC.
 
Industrial-grade Yaskawa doesn't seem to make a lot of enemies.

If nothing else, they apparently use a capacitor bank that lasts longer than the average. Perhaps a LOT longer?

Could was that means about double the time 'til replacement day (of the whole drive, usually.. by-then-obsolete speciality caps as drop-in replacement being too costly).

Otherwise, for non-revenue-stream work where unexpected issues won't break your back, go cheap and replace only when you must.

Or use an RPC.

Ditching the RPC.
No particular changes in the last 5 years as far as brands? Just pick a color you like and roll with it?
 
Ditching the RPC.
No particular changes in the last 5 years as far as brands? Just pick a color you like and roll with it?

The reverse. CONSTANT changes!

Ever' body chasing the least tiny edge on volume market share to drive down unit costs, so model revisions keep coming, and closeout/discontinued goods abound as have been in the channel for less than a full year.

The "dice roll" part is trying to sort whether a new rev was to shave another two cents times ten thousand units.. or because early field experience saw a model eating slender margins from greater warranty costs than planned.
 
I have installed quite a few Yaskawa VFD's and have not had any issues with them, they are mid-priced venue. They are one of the few that have a native single phase input 5 Hp VFD (CIMR-VUBA0018FAA), but then again you can always get an oversized 3 phase and derate it for single phase use. Most 3 phase VFD manufacturers recommend using a DC choke when run off of single phase, which is an additional expense, and requires additional space to mount it. Yaskawa software is fairly straight forward if yo want to use it to setup the VFD, but requires a funky cable (RJ45->RS232->USB) which I made. They have a number of other models, most are more expensive. Yaskawa V1000 (CIMR-VU2A0040FAA), Hitachi WJ200 ( WJ200-075LF), Fuji Mini, and a few other VFD's are 3 phase VFD's that can be derated for single phase (most of these are 3 phase input 10 Hp VFDs). One needs to be careful as to the VFD derating for single phase, these days I see lots more VFD's that have significant deratings running single phase in ND or HD mode and other derating factors. Depends on the application and load.

As far as dealers, these days it is more if you can find them in stock, as many of the dealers are having inventory issues. Wolf is a good vendor, I also use State Motor and Control Solutions. Prices have gone up 20-30% since a year ago.
 
The derate is silly, bigger rectifiers are cheap.
Just let me feed it DC.

Yaskawa has always been a safe bet.
Looks like $650-$800 regardless of brand.
 
I've got three Toshiba units. TOSVERT Bought used around 20HP running as phase converter/VFD\ They run motors less than 10hp daily. One is a 440 V unit on a step up trXer.

I couldn't be happier with them. I've got the DOS software to program them on a lap top/// (somewhere ;-)

They are always powered and never a glitch even in an unheated New England shop. Winters are COLD here!
 
You need a larger capacitor bank because of the increased ripple current with a single phase input, it is not a limitation of the rectifiers.
VFD Ripple.jpg
 








 
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