My VFD works, 10 years later

[Mark Denovich]

I bought a VFD off ebay many moons ago. It's an EMS branded Yaskawa, good for 17.5 amps continuous (a bit more than 5HP.) Got it for $75.

Helpfully, it came with the instruction manual... info about VFDs and using them with single phase input was pretty thin on the interwebs way back when. I was pleased as punch when it powered up. But it reported "External Fault 3"... The trouble shooting section of the manual said "External Fault 3, indicates there is an external fault at terminal 3. Remedy: fix the source of the fault at terminal 3." Oh, thank you very little. I drilled through every menu, searched everything I could... stared intently at circuit boards looking for some sort of clue. Eventually, I chalked it up to a dud ebay purchase, and put it somewhere out of the way.

Fast forward to yesterday. I happen across this VFD as I rearranged a storage closet. "I need to take another shot at this, or trash it..." Yaskawa now has all kinds of manuals on line. I poured over them but still failed to find anything that helped. Then I stumbled across a menu item I never noticed. The behavior of Terminal 3 is setting dependent. I drill down into the parameter... find some code... look up code: "this setting reports an External Fault for Terminal 3, default NC."

Ah ha! I changed the setting for Terminal 3 to "not used"... Voila. No more fault reported.

An hour later I retrieved a 5HP US made Dayton 3 phase 5HP, 1740rpm compressor duty motor with cast iron pulleys, for the sum of $40 via Craigslist.

Wired it up, input the motor settings... everything works as sweet as can be. Love the soft start, DC injection braking, FWD/REV... and I also love seeing just how many amps/volts are being used. Very nifty.

Problem is, the reason I really wanted a VFD controlled motor is long gone... but I think I might just need to upgrade a bandsaw for the hell of it.

[Carroll Courtney]

Alot of VFD's manufactors also have help desk that you can call and as a tech questions and guidence.----Carroll

[david brum]

That's a great story. It reminds me of a similar (but not as spectacular) find in my shop. I was recently rummaging in my crate of random machine components and found a small router baseplate, brand new. It was a smaller than usual diameter, black, and recessed for a template guide. Huh, wonder what that came from? I left it out, thinking that I might be able to adapt it to a cutout tool or similar. Then last week, I dug out my 20 yr old Skil plunge router to use as a backup. The baseplate on these old Skil routers have a big hole in the middle, making them somewhat unstable. I puzzled over making an auxiliary base, then saw the little baseplate. It humorously snapped right into place inside the Skil baseplate, obviously made for it. That little baseplate had somehow survived multiple house moves, merciless shop clean outs, etc, without me knowing what it was for or even that I had it. A tiny triumph against Murphy and the forces of entropy.