Anyone familar with Yaskawa F7 drive?

I'm an electrician with just about zero experience on VFD's. A customer of ours purchased the f7, remote and motor, it was supposed to be already programmed. After hooking everything up, I can start the motor from the remote but I cannot adjust the speed, the speed stays constant at what I would think to be about 5hz no matter which way I turn the speed adjustment.

I called the company who sold it, they insisted it was programmed and that it was a wiring issue, I was not the one who initially wired it so I double checked, everythings wire correctly. I called Yaskawa tech support, they said that it sounded like a programming issue. I had the manual printed out and called tech support again, due to my inexperience with VFD's they pretty much told me I was on my own. I reccomended our client call someone else who has experience on this drive, they called around and we did also, neither of us could find someone locally.

Does anyone have any idea what I need to do to get this drive functioning? I'm reading the manual now but could obviously use some help.

Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can give.

Brian

I have worked on a couple of these drives, and I would have to agree it is a programming issue. From what you are explaining you are trying to control the VFD from the key pad. If this is so, simply change the correct parameter to do so. You Have a couple of options, and they should be listed in the manual.

Thank you for replying. I'm trying to control the VFD from a remote not the keypad. From the remote I can start and stop the motor but cannot adjust the speed,speed stays at what I estimate to be around 5hz. Theres no keypad on the remote just and on button, off button and the speed control knob which does nothing when I turn it.

I can adjust the speed up and down from the keypad on the outside of the drive with no problem.

Can you post a wiring diagram of your setup? I may be able to help you, I am looking at the manual right now. Also let,s call the speed control a speed pot and not remote. Remote emplies keypad

I don't have the diagrams with me, I don't think they'd help much even if I did. The speed pot came with detailed wiring instructions that were very basic. Im pretty sure there are two 4 pair cat 5's that run from the speed pot to the VFD, the terminal blocks are numbered and according to the instructions they are just number to number (1 on the speed pot is connected to 1 in the VFD)

Thanks for the correct name of the speed pot.

I can of course just tell the customer that I can't work on the drive, I just hate not being able to figure something out. The company I work for is going to send me to school for VFD's and PLC's (we dont have anyone who can work on them)so I'm trying to learn as much as I can now.

You can download the software HERE then see if you can up load and repair the program? maybe...

With out knowing more details on the wiring of the drive it is impossible for me to help you. There are many different setups and without all the info I cannot help you. The manual is pretty straight forward and will give you all the direction you will need. I assume that you are using 10vdc signal and as long as the speed pot is wired correctly it should be just a matter of changing the parameters to reflect the proper control method. Look at your manual and don't give up, some of the best lessons that I ever learned was the ones that kicked the **** out of me. Good luck and welcome to the forum, this place is an excellent source for info and generally you will find someone here to help you. It has been a good place for me and I have learned alot from these guy's.

If you are cerain that the 'remote' is wired correctly, then check this setting:

b1-01 Frequency Reference Source Selection

Since the start and stop buttons are working on the remote, i'd use the same settings as:

b1-02 Run Command Source Selection

Most likely they both will be set at the factory default = 1, but without more info, that is only an assumption.

I pulled this from:

http://partner.yaskawa.com/site/DMDrive.nsf/(DocID)/AHUG-5K3LNL/$File/TM.F7.01.pdf

Edited to add:

Page 47 of the .pdf file linked below shows the terminal connections:

http://partner.yaskawa.com/site/DMDrive.nsf/(DocID)/AHUG-5K3LNL/$File/TM.F7.01.pdf

Oh hell, I'm sucked into your problem now...

You should be seeing the 'REMOTE' indicator and 'REF' indicator on the operator interface of the drive when it is running. This means that the drive is running in the remote mode and using the remote speed refrence.

If you see both these indicator lights turned on, then you've most likely got a wiring problem and that is why it is not responding to the potentiometer on the remote.

If you don't see them turned on, or you see the 'REMOTE' indicator and the 'SEQ' indicator, you've got a parameter problem and you should check the two settings I listed above.

See section 3-2 (rougly pg. 75) of the second document I linked above.

I love these drives, have worked with several and they are simple as pie to setup. I just bought two of them a 150 and a 200 Hp and am trying to get management to buy two more. But I digress.

Pin one on the pot should be to Fc on the drive
Pin three on the pot should be to Fs on the drive
Pin two should be on Fr on the drive.

Measure between pin one and three. There should be 10 VDC there
Measure between pin one and two with the pot in its mid-position. You should get 5 VDC there (approx.)

Normally in simple installations the Start button is NO contact wired between Sc and S1 and the Stop button is a NC contact wired between S2 and and Sc.

If the start button is wired to one of the other terminals by chance, (S3 for example), and S3 was configured for JOG rather than RUN you might also see what you describe.

You must have the REF and SEQ led's on to run from the remote or terminal position. The display on the F7 drive shows Reference hertz on the first line. If when you adjust the external/remote speed setting, it should track it.

When you initialize the drive to run, does the run light come on and the stop light blink? This indicates a run condition and NO reference.

Parameter B1-01 should be set to "1" for terminal/remote reference.

Parameter B1-02 should be set to "1" for terminal/remote start/stop.

You have not mentioned if you are using a 3 wire pot, 2 wire voltage or 2 wire 4-20ma signal. The H3 parameters allow you to select what signal is your speed reference. If you do use the 4-20ma signal you have to set S1-2 to on and use the A2 terminal with AC for the common. H3-09 must be then set to "2".

Hope this helps.

it could be a problem with the A1-03 parameter, the only tricky parameter i found on this drive.instead of 3 wire init could be 2 wire init. however we cannot see it when you look at it and also if you want to change it you will reset ALL your other parameters to factory default. if you want to play with it i suggest upload all parameters with the DriveWizard ( you have the link above, also you if you have the CD is in there)

anyway as pointed we need the wiring info also some parameters to be able to help you.

when we deliver a machine we always give a parameter sheet to customers to know what to change if the drive is reset.

come back with it and we'll see.
my opinion F7 is one of the easiest drive to work with, just read the manual

0-10 volt

Do you have a manual,if you do find the parameter for what type of speed refrence you are going to be using It could be set to 4-20ma
If your using a pot it must be 0-10 volts.all your control wiring
could be right,

Thanks for all the help, I finally figured it out. It was a wiring issue, a very large issue. Our customer purchased the VFD,motor ETC as a package. Inside the enclosure was supposed to be already wired except for my company running two cables from the remote speed pot to a terminal block in the enclosure. Whomever drew the print used "1" where a "2" should have been so there were two sets on 12,13,14 ETC. I guess whoever assembled everything in the enclsure randomly picked with same numbered wire he wanted to use. I didnt check the wiring in the actual drive until yesterday afternoon when I couldnt figure out what else to try.

As I said, the unit was supposed to be ready to go so I had no reason to check the wiring inside the drive.

Long story short, its most of the way working now after rewiring everything. I still have an S3 fault, I probably miswired a relay.

It sucks for our customer but it was great experience for me.

Hello Everyone,
I just joined this forum and came across this posting. I myself just came across this problem. I've been given the task to build a 10hp test stand. A fellow before me who quit, bought the PLC and the F7 drive. And my job is to finish it. I'm very green with PLC's and never touched a VFD. So after crying in my milk, I hope you folks can help me.

I'm looking at the manual quick setting parameters on page 4-12. Can someone help direct me into how I would enter the frequncy to 4 pre-determined RPM's?

Also, can someone give me direction in calculating the hz for a specified RPM?

Thank you,
Tim