What's the least expensive VFD with a Profibus option?

Gene Bond said:
Control Techniques is an option:
https://acim.nidec.com/en-us/drives.../ac-drives/commander-c-general-purpose-drives

or Invertek: https://www.invertekdrives.com/vari...options/communication-interfaces/Optidrive-E3

or LS: https://www.lselectricamerica.com/products/?c=P00004
Click to expand...

Thank you! I had no idea LS was making VFDs. I have a LS tractor; that is how I first learned of LS. I first thought they were a cheap import knock-off brand of tractors. Turns out they have been making tractors for years, selling to Case/IH, New Holland, et. al. who rebrand them and sell them as if they built them. LS just recently started selling their tractors in the USA under their own name, and at a much better price than the guys selling them with other paintjobs.

Then last year I started seeing panels with LS contactors. Now I learn they make drives. Amazing.

I have no love for Control Techniques. They are the some of the most unintuitive drives I have worked with. I have never used Invertek or LS. Have you used all 3? Which do you prefer?
 
We used some LS drives. Pretty easy to deal with and set up. We were using the H100 series. We found out that by default they do not enable input phase loss detection. We found that out after a customer lost a phase and melted down 3 of their 125HP drives. LS would not help us out, saying we failed to enable the protection. We think it should be enabled by default. We use Yaskawa as much as possible now.

We did one job with Control Techniques on blowers and could not figure out how to properly set them up without someone on the phone from their tech support to walk us through it. What a horrible interface they had, probably the worst I've ever seen in a VFD. I don't remember exactly which model but the price was great. The integration experience was poor enough that I will avoid it in the future even if it means spending more money.
 
Last edited:
You can add a Profibus card to A-B PowerFlex 750 class drives. I've never seen them described as "least expensive", but all things are possible if you know how to negotiate...
 
OkiePC said:
We used some LS drives. Pretty easy to deal with and set up. We were using the H100 series. We found out that by default they do not enable input phase loss detection. We found that out after a customer lost a phase and melted down 3 of their 125HP drives. LS would not help us, out saying we failed to enable the protection. We think it should be enabled by default. We use Yaskawa as much as possible now.
Click to expand...

Good to know about LS, thanks. I also use Yaskawa when possible. Not possible for this application.

OkiePC said:
We did one job with Control Techniques on blowers and could not figure out how to properly set them up without someone on the phone from their tech support to walk us through it. What a horrible interface they had, probably the worst I've ever seen in a VFD. I don't remember exactly which model but the price was great. The integration experience was poor enough that I will avoid it in the future even if it means spending more money.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the affirmation. Every time I find myself about to have to work on a machine a Control Techniques drive, I have to stop, take a deep breath, and brace myself to feel stupid for about 10 times longer than what seems reasonable.
 
jraef said:
You can add a Profibus card to A-B PowerFlex 750 class drives. I've never seen them described as "least expensive", but all things are possible if you know how to negotiate...
Click to expand...

Maybe not the cheapest, but ubiquitous, and probably a lot more availability (used) than the Parker 690 it should replace. Would like to exhaust all options for new (cheap) replacements first.
 
I have used Siemens S120 drives for many years and hence can get them to sing pretty much any tune quickly. However, a recent comparison showed that control technniques (Nidec) drives were half the price. Configuring has obviously taken more time, but that was to be expected at the start of the learning curve.
 
Vacon are competitively priced and have comms boards for most protocols. They have been reliable for me in pretty demanding environments.
 
What is the application ?
"150 hp" doesnt say much.
Do you need safety ?
Motion ?
High torque ?
etc...
LD mentioned Siemens S120, but these are higer-end drives. Maybe Siemens G120 which are a bit less expensive are good enough for your application.
 

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