Perferred Inverters.

I know this isn't really plc related but I was wondering what kind of Motor inverters do you like to use.
We use 3 Phase 230 volt here in my plant.
The Reliance MD60 (1hp to 5hp [I think]) were what we used primarily. I loved them. The simplicity to set up was the main reason. Also they were DIN rail mountable.

Recently Baldor bought Reliance and unfortunately the MD60 is no longer available. Our sales rep who deals in baldor/reliance and ABB, sent me a VS1MD. I DO NOT LIKE IT. It is not DIN rail and really is a pain to program comapred to the previous I had to work with.
ABB is worse.

We are looking into some TB inverters.

Wondering what you suggest.

I have been very pleased with the A/B Powerflex drives. Their 4 and 40 series in the small horsepower range are DIN rail mountable. The 70 and 700 series offer more functionality at a higher price.

All of them are fairly easy to set up. The 4 and 40 series use a built in keypad with numeric codes to represent parameters. The 70 and 700 series use a common HIM (human interface module) with a very nice LCD (LED version available too) that you can often get through setup without cracking open the book, since the parameters are displayed with lines of text that are easy to understand.

I also really like the 160 series drives, although rumor has it they will be going away in the not too distant future. The 160 series drives have incoming power on top and outputs and control wiring on the bottom, making them a good replacement for contactors that feed through in a similar manner, often without having to replace power and motor wiring.

We also use some Toshiba G7 drives that are very reliable as well as some older Omron drives and Square D Altivar drives. They aren't quite as user friendly but seem equally capable and reliable.

Paul

Wow I must say. The Powerflex drives (4 series especially)look very similar to the old Reliance MD60. I'm going to look further into these.


If replacing, size and shape is an issue.

I've looked further into the Powerflex drives and I am stunned.
The parameter numbers are the same as Reliances' as well as the shape, layout of buttons.

Can you explain to me how this is possible.

Depends on where you install them.

Inside cabinets and in clean enviroments I agree on the Powerflex drives, I use them more then anything. The 70 and 700 series are a pain if you get peramater conflicts. Once you understand the layout it is a nice drive to use.

As for washdown locations, I only use the Baldor drives. I worked for a cookie factory and they had every drive under the sun. There were drives blowing up everywhere. Mainly because people don't close them up right. The Baldor drives are cool, the software can be downloaded online for free and you connect to the drive with a standard USB cable. The software is very user frendly and I heard that the you can download the software to a PDA and connect to it using Bluetooth.

gappvembe said:

I've looked further into the Powerflex drives and I am stunned.
The parameter numbers are the same as Reliances' as well as the shape, layout of buttons.

Can you explain to me how this is possible.

Click to expand...

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

gappvembe said:

I've looked further into the Powerflex drives and I am stunned.
The parameter numbers are the same as Reliances' as well as the shape, layout of buttons.

Can you explain to me how this is possible.

Click to expand...

http://www.rockwellautomation.com/relianceelectricdrives/common/md60.html

gappvembe said:

...Can you explain to me how this is possible...

Click to expand...

There are many companies that build generic products, and will customize it for you with your company name, logo, etc. on it.
I'll bet there's some company in Taiwan that was making these for Reliance, and now makes them for A/B. The only thing that changed is the invoice and ship to address.

gappvembe said:

I've looked further into the Powerflex drives and I am stunned.
The parameter numbers are the same as Reliances' as well as the shape, layout of buttons.

Can you explain to me how this is possible.

Click to expand...

In your first post when you said that Baldor had bought out Reliance, I was surprised, because I thought that Rockwell Automation had bought Reliance many years ago and had brought both companies PLC groups together to develop ControlLogix.

Maybe Baldor only bought the motor manufacturing portion, and Rockwell got the Reliance drives piece?

OkiePC said:

In your first post when you said that Baldor had bought out Reliance, I was surprised, because I thought that Rockwell Automation had bought Reliance many years ago and had brought both companies PLC groups together to develop ControlLogix.

Maybe Baldor only bought the motor manufacturing portion, and Rockwell got the Reliance drives piece?

Click to expand...

Nope, baldor now owns everything Reliance. It's kind of sad actually the Reliance of old was a great company that maked bullet proof drives. We just finally replaced our last Max Pak that has been running since 82.

There newer stuff I haven't liked so much.

The PowerFlex line are the drives I prefer. In the smaller drives, I have always found the Toshiba S series drives to be very good.

I have never liked the Toshiba G7 drives, had too many failures when they first came out, so I stayed away from them.

Danfoss has a very good drive, but it is a little more difficult to program. I believe their newer ones are a little more friendly. I have only ad one encounter with them, it was one of the top end drives and I was very impressed.

You might want to ask the same distributor that sold you the Reliance to show you the ABB ACS150 and ACS350. These are nice little drives and are usually competitive, as well.

Actually, the best drive for you is the brand that gives you the best local support. Many companies make reliable drives but lack of local support can spoil the best hardware out there.

allscott said:

Nope, baldor now owns everything Reliance. It's kind of sad actually the Reliance of old was a great company that maked bullet proof drives. We just finally replaced our last Max Pak that has been running since 82.

There newer stuff I haven't liked so much.

Click to expand...

I know that is why it's confusing to me.

I bought a powerflex4, I'll see how it goes. It looks hopeful.

I have seen this topic twice and each time I read "Perverted Investors".

Is it just me??

It's FRIDAY and I am in an airport ready to go home so maybe that has something to do with it.

OG

www.ssddrives.com

Does it for me every time.

I am in the uk and 10 minutes from there manufacturing/head office, been dealing with them for 20 years now.