# VFD Fault



## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

What are some of the reasons that a VFD has a fault ? Transients voltage, or noise ?


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

Yes,yes,and yes. They also trip out if they are protecting themselves. I have one set that trips out at certain spot in the process every time. Its managable so no effort has been place on fixing it mechanically.


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

I saw VFD's trip, and had to be reset a lot on a conveyor. The workers knew what to do to, and said it's happens all the time.


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

dronai said:


> I saw VFD's trip, and had to be reset a lot on a conveyor. The workers knew what to do to, and said it's happens all the time.


Bet the conveyor had to much weight on it. They are easy to reset. Turn em off and reboot em clears my faults all the time. My engineer calls it a hard reset lol.


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## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

dronai said:


> What are some of the reasons that a VFD has a fault ? Transients voltage, or noise ?


 We need just a bit more information first.

Does this conveyor run constantly, or does it start and stop a lot?

If it has a verying amount of load on it, and the conveyor stops, the load can actually continue turning the motor even though its off. This is called "over hauling" and the drive will trip out on an "over voltage".

If the conveyor is overloaded, most drives will allow you to run a short amount of time over the current limit, if its programmed that way. Then they trip out.

I have a few with sensors that need to be made, or the drive shuts itself off as an energy saving deal- the timing is done in a PLC.

What you need to do is wait until the drive faults. Most will puke up a fault code. Use the manual or the internet to find what this code means, and that will put you on the track.

You dont remember what the code was do you?


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

Look in the manual under "faults" or fault codes. Here, will be a comprehensive list of every fault the drive can identify and display.
Your question is highly generalized. If you have a fault or a fault code, the user manual will tell you the reason and the corrective actions that can be taken.
Some faults can be phantom and no display is apparent. This is when a check of the fault log would be in order. Should the fault not be listed, I would reset the drive, check the motor and start it back up. Should it fault again with no information present, power monitoring would be my next step.


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## Frank Mc (Nov 7, 2010)

I have seen some stall....vfd single phase 240v supply 3 phase output connected to a 415v motor which was star connected (wye)...Connect motor in Delta and all,s good...

Frank


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

lefleuron said:


> We need just a bit more information first.
> 
> Does this conveyor run constantly, or does it start and stop a lot?
> 
> ...


 
I'll see if I can find a code today. There are hundreds of drives. I found out that there are some that trip out daily. The person that clears the jams, will know the locations


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

dronai said:


> I'll see if I can find a code today. There are hundreds of drives. I found out that there are some that trip out daily. The person that clears the jams, will know the locations


I thought it was an abstract type question. Yes their is a couple three pages of fault codes you could be dealing with. I have a location that I did notr know tripped the VFD . The operaters deal with it well. I wish all my operators dealt with it well. Lol


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

dronai said:


> The person that clears the jams, will know the locations


This indicates an overload fault. If I understand your statement? Since you are unfamiliar with these drives, I would take a look at the fault log on every single drive cabinet you open up. The log is the fault history and will give you an idea of whats happened previously. If the facility will allow it, reset the fault log so you will only see the faults that occur from now on. Do this only after you have taken note of the past fault history.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Depending on the type of conveyor and the nature of the load, I have purposely programmed in Torque Limit trip points in VFDs to prevent damage to the mechanical components. It's a heck of a lot easier to flip a reset on a VFD than it is to change out a shear pin or a broken sheave somewhere.

I would start by downloading or recording ALL of the programmed parameters, then study the manual to try to see exactly what it is programmed to do. It could also be that someone put some feature in for a reason and was unaware of a side effect. I've seen that happen a lot. The "law of unintended consequences" runs rampant in things with lots of programmable features like VFDs.


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## Netree (Sep 3, 2011)

nolabama said:


> Bet the conveyor had to much weight on it. They are easy to reset. Turn em off and reboot em clears my faults all the time. My engineer calls it a hard reset lol.


Most drives have also a reset to program for using with a digital input.


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

More clues, seem to happen more frequently on the long strenches of the belts. I think 
Overload, as John, and JReaf said. I looked at the troubleshooting manual. There is no LCD to view any info on the Drive. There is a usb port, but there are some Politics going on, and no cooperation. 3:00 am ! I have to get some sleep.


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## 636Sparky (Jun 24, 2011)

Get the software and download the faults? It is usually just a matter of going online with drive, then viewing fault history.


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

636Sparky said:


> Get the software and download the faults? It is usually just a matter of going online with drive, then viewing fault history.


Btw if you wire a drive with no ethernet your a turd.


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

nolabama said:


> Btw if you wire a drive with no ethernet your a turd.


Most every drive manufacturer sells expansion boards for any protocol connection you can think of. Some have a USB port and an Ethernet port as standard. 
Do you mean to drop a cable at each location for networking capabilities?


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

If found the modules in the supply room, for viewing the codes, and programming. 

These are all linked to the PLC, and to each other I think.


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

John Valdes said:


> Most every drive manufacturer sells expansion boards for any protocol connection you can think of. Some have a USB port and an Ethernet port as standard.
> Do you mean to drop a cable at each location for networking capabilities?


My drives have no cables communication csbles ran to then, just plc i can only see the faults by witnessing them on the screen


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

nolabama said:


> My drives have no cables communication cables ran to them, just a PLC. I can only see the faults by witnessing them on the screen


Then you have no network and I can understand your frustration. In a perfect world, I would be able to view the process from home in every circumstance. (Highly unlikely). I have been able to do this with some smart companies that are not technophobes.
So you have no remote access to anything? Right?


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## joethemechanic (Sep 21, 2011)

John Valdes said:


> Then you have no network and I can understand your frustration. In a perfect world, I would be able to view the process from home in every circumstance. (Highly unlikely). I have been able to do this with some smart companies that are not technophobes.
> So you have no remote access to anything? Right?


I would think that sometimes there may not be remote access due to security issues


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

joethemechanic said:


> I would think that sometimes there may not be remote access due to security issues


Nope just forgot to add it. Lol i will live with it.


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## jmsmith (Sep 10, 2011)

nolabama said:


> My drives have no cables communication csbles ran to then, just plc i can only see the faults by witnessing them on the screen


Is your PLC stand-alone, or does it network to Operations?

Sent from my iPhone using ET Forum


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

jmsmith said:


> Is your PLC stand-alone, or does it network to Operations?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ET Forum


It can communicate via celluar comunication back to the mothership.


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## jmsmith (Sep 10, 2011)

nolabama said:


> It can communicate via celluar comunication back to the mothership.


One more silly question here... Are you reading the faults from the screen on the VFDs, or the PLC?

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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

they are read off the VFD
the HMI gives an interpretation of the fault, ie a radio fault appears as all fault codes, a certain breaker trip shows up as e stop pushed so an so forth

are you trying to tell me the vfd faults can be read from the plc?
:blink:


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## jmsmith (Sep 10, 2011)

nolabama said:


> they are read off the VFD
> the HMI gives an interpretation of the fault, ie a radio fault appears as all fault codes, a certain breaker trip shows up as e stop pushed so an so forth
> 
> are you trying to tell me the vfd faults can be read from the plc?
> :blink:


Sent from my iPhone using ET Forum


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## jmsmith (Sep 10, 2011)

nolabama said:


> they are read off the VFD
> the HMI gives an interpretation of the fault, ie a radio fault appears as all fault codes, a certain breaker trip shows up as e stop pushed so an so forth
> 
> are you trying to tell me the vfd faults can be read from the plc?
> :blink:


Not if your radio fault is just looking at the fault contact (digital out) that signals on ALL faults. That is why I asked which screen, because I was at a loss as to how you could not see it remotely if you could see it on the PLC screen. Have seen it done Ethernet over radio, though.

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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

if i remember the hmi displays a vfd fault as such - VFD #x fault, no description as to the fault 

the radio could support the ethernet communication hmmm - I may have something to do wends when i get back

it would really be nice to know what exactly faulted the drives instead of a generic fault - sorry to have hijacked this thread but thanks for the help jr


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

nolabama said:


> they are read off the VFD
> the HMI gives an interpretation of the fault, ie a radio fault appears as all fault codes, a certain breaker trip shows up as e stop pushed so an so forth
> 
> are you trying to tell me the vfd faults can be read from the plc?
> :blink:


VFD faults at our place are read from the control room, via Scada, and interpeted by the PLC. They then show up on the MCC's pilot, as a fault, where there is a reset. All E stops, OL's, as well.


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## jmsmith (Sep 10, 2011)

nolabama said:


> if i remember the hmi displays a vfd fault as such - VFD #x fault, no description as to the fault
> 
> the radio could support the ethernet communication hmmm - I may have something to do wends when i get back
> 
> it would really be nice to know what exactly faulted the drives instead of a generic fault - sorry to have hijacked this thread but thanks for the help jr


If you can see a fault number, your HMI in most cases could have a table programmed into it so that when the number comes up, the associated fault with that number could be seen on the HMI, much like the traditional alarm table would be done. If this table can be programmed into the HMI and HMI can be read remotely.... you know the rest! :thumbsup:
-Jim

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