[Newbie] Vfd..the Noise!!

[cs900]

And I'm not talking about the typical high frequency noise you can hear when running the motor. I'm fine with that, but my goodness the noise the cooling fan makes is like a F18 on takeoff.

So back story, it's a Hitachi NES1 running on 220VAC 1ph input. As soon as I apply power to it, the cooling fan takes off and makes a horrendous whistling noise. currently It is not installed in an enclosure, but is just wall mounted in my shop. No where that i can find anyone else has this problem.

Has anyone here used this VFD? Am I missing a setting in the VFD to control the fan speed? I don't think the fan should be running full bore when the motor is not running.

 

[mksj]

You need to give more specifics on the motor model/type. Is this controlling a fan, a motor with a blower fan or are you talking about the fan in the VFD. Also, have you programmed the VFD for the motor specifications H003 which is the Kw and H004 which is the poles, have you adjusted the other program parameters such as speed? If the latter is not set correctly, the motor speed will be incorrect. The fan in the VFD can be programmed to only come on when the VFD is running, or better yet based on the heat sink temperature. I use the latter.

 

[cs900]

it's the fan in the VFD. I'm at work right now, but i'm 90% sure it's the 022SB. It's running a baldor 3hp motor which is the drive motor for my Mill.

I have not touched H003 or H004 as I was under the impression they were preset from the factory.

How do you go about setting the fan on temperature? I'm fairly new with VFDs, but I don't see anything in the manual about fan controls.

Thanks for the help as well!

 

[mksj]

It should be B092, I would use "02" setting
02: Fan is temperature controlled.
Otherwise
01: Fan is ON during run, OFF during stop (5 minute delay from ON to OFF)).

If you manually program the WJ200 (should also apply to yours) via the keypad you must first:
1. Change B037 to "00" for full display of all functions. You must press both the up and down arrows to access single-digit edit mode since this feature is not accessible in the default basic display. You must change B037 before you can change B031.
AND THEN
2. Change B031 to "10". This unlocks all the high level program functions for editing. Then make the following program changes that are highlighted.

You need to set the motor parameters, such as motor operating voltage and poles, the latter default is 200V and I believe 4 poles are the default. The motor voltage should be the nameplate value, most likely 230V. If programing from the front panel, you need to unlock the VFD controls to get access to a lot of the higher level functions. If you send me a PM with your email address I can put together a recommended programing parameter file for you. Once working, you should auto-tune the VFD to your motor, it will run more smoothly.
Mark

 

[cs900]

well I guess that explains it. My little cheat sheet doesn't even have B092 as an option.

I do have the OP panel, so making these adjustments should be pretty easy.

Thanks again, you're an ear saver!

 

[Dave Paine]

I downloaded the Quick Guide for your VFD. I was not able to find any reference to controlling the fan. Perhaps on this model it is always on. Sounds like the controller chip for the fan speed is bad.

I have worked on two installations using Hitachi WJ200 VFDs. These did allow setting the fan to only operate when the heat sink warmed to an unspecified temperature. The default was for the fan to run when the unit operates and continue for 5 minutes after stopping operation. The fan noise was not loud, and did not sound to be operating too fast.

 

[cs900]

Digging into the manual a bit I see that B031 calls you to look at appendix C for all the variables that you can edit....There is no appendix C in the basic manual. I'm going to call them up and see if I can get appendix C info.

 

[mksj]

Hitachi VFD manuals are some of the worst in the industry, and they are very resistant to change or anything new. Had some issues with installing their software and spoke to the head of tech in the US, the bottom line is the Japanese branch didn't want to change anything. The software will not work with a USB 3.0 machine and the install/user interface is like the old DOS programming Good solid VFD, but the written support is abysmal. Try tech support, may also see if you can unlock it and get access to the other command controls, they use the same parameter files in most of their VFDs. Looks like a new model and may not have the full manual yet, or may be a dumbed down version of the WJ200. The stock VFD fan can be pretty loud, I found mine pretty annoying.