MODBUS info for a cost effective VFD?

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onepointbrewing

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I am building software for a demo brewery and need to get my hands on a very cost effective 1ph VFD (it wont be hooked up to a motor as its a demo only) that has proper Modbus documentation. My production brewery uses Delta VFD's exclusively and they work great and as stated here the documentation is unparalleled - I just cannot use the existing ones while Im in alpha stage of the software and I dot want tto have to pay an arm and a leg for a VFD that will only be used for development/testing.

So far what Ive researched, a lot of the cheap China VFD's dont document the modbus addresses and ID's in the manuals.

Can anyone recommend a cheap china VFD that has a manual with the modbus documentation?

Thanks
 
onepointbrewing said:
I am building software for a demo brewery and need to get my hands on a very cost effective 1ph VFD (it wont be hooked up to a motor as its a demo only) that has proper Modbus documentation. My production brewery uses Delta VFD's exclusively and they work great and as stated here the documentation is unparalleled - I just cannot use the existing ones while Im in alpha stage of the software and I dot want tto have to pay an arm and a leg for a VFD that will only be used for development/testing.

So far what Ive researched, a lot of the cheap China VFD's dont document the modbus addresses and ID's in the manuals.

Can anyone recommend a cheap china VFD that has a manual with the modbus documentation?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Could you build an emulation of the VFD on an arduino or similar ?

circuitdigest.com

RS-485 MODBUS Serial Communication using Arduino UNO as Slave

What is MODBUS? Modbus is a software protocol and not a hardware protocol. It is divided into two parts such as Modbus Master and Modbus Slave. In RS-485 Modbus network there is one Master and 127 Slaves each with unique address from 1 to 127.
circuitdigest.com circuitdigest.com
 
I'd suggest just buying a name brand, used, on eBay. Then re sell.

Why Modbus??? Man that's an OLD protocol. Many of the new VFD's have an ethernet connection for programming. I have not checked, but I'd bet there's a way to give them each a unique ID and communicate over a modern ethernet net work. I know the Hitachi manual has a huge section on interfacing to other controllers

www.ebay.com

DELTA VFD007S43A | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for DELTA VFD007S43A at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
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I'm thinking it's penny wise and pound foolish to try to build and program a demo setup on cheap VFDs if you're eventually going to make a running configuration on Delta VFDs. Just buy the Delta VFDs now. Even if it means going with @Karl_T's suggestion of getting used units. Otherwise the seemingly minor annoying nuances of the behaviour of different brands means you're going to be doing all the work twice. Once for a demo and once for a working setup. When you start getting into chaining and remote controlling several VFDs, those remote command sets and VFD behaviour are going to get more brand specific. Writing software should be done to the brand you're interested in actually using. Even if the demo VFD is not the exact model, you will get much better consistency if you use the same brand.
 
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The brewery needs a spare VFD; there's exactly a 100% chance that one will fail at some point.

Buy what the brewery uses, and have it as a spare. Buy another one as soon as yours is moved to the production environment.
 
He stated he wants a 1 phase VFD, presumably small so the power requirement is low. Using a production size VFD, most likely requires three phase and enough power to charge the capacitors, so that quickly becomes much more involved than a bench test of the process controls.

Automation Direct has all the Modbus info you should need in their manuals.

 
Ischgl99 said:
He stated he wants a 1 phase VFD, presumably small so the power requirement is low. Using a production size VFD, most likely requires three phase and enough power to charge the capacitors, so that quickly becomes much more involved than a bench test of the process controls.

Automation Direct has all the Modbus info you should need in their manuals.

Click to expand...
Ahh, I missed that part. Oh well.
 
That is correct. I dont have 3phase in my test environment BUT the brewery is 100% 3phase. Purchasing a unit that used as a test bed anbd then redeployed in the brewery is obviously not hwta i want to do. Hence why I need to have a cost effective unit for the test environment.

Im not concerned about the differences between manufacturers as far as programming is concerned as I have a bit of experience. already with our existing units (not all are the same models)

Modbus is within the brewery as TCP but get serilazed using a eth to 485 converter - but I still need the registers etc as some of the register values are set at the bit level.
 
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