guys i'm trying to figure out how to wire my 9 wire motor tot he vfd. anyone have any ideas? i figure i need ot connect at leat L1, L2, and L3 and a ground, but what do you do with L4-9? i really don't feel like smoking the vfd or the motor. its a 230-460 V motor and is 3 phase. its a GEC motor if that makes any difference.

i am not an expert by any means.. but do have to wire up 3 phase motors on occasion at work, and i think they are mostly all 9 wire motors. there should be a simple diagram on the wire cover on the motor that will tell you which way to wire it for different voltages (240/480) hope fully those wires are numbered, otherwise it can be a minor nightmare figuring it all out. some manufacturers have the numbers on a tag/collar of some sort, some have the numbers printed on the wire itself. i would think you could go to the manufacturers site and find the diagram if it is not on the motor itself somewhere.

You should as Austin said have ultimately 9 ends.
The common hook up for 240 is to connect the incoming 3 phase L1 L2 & L3 as follows.
L1 to T1-T7 L2 to T2-T8 L3 to T3-T9 and connect T4-T5-T6 together.
That is if your motor follows convention.
You may have a clue if it is presently hooked up for 440.
It would be something like:
L1 to T1 L2 to T2 L3 to T3. and 7-4 8-5 9-6.
Al.

why do i need to connect T4,T5 and T6. i wired the other 6 wires as mentioned above, T1-T7, T2-T8, T3-T9, even though my wiring diagram said T2-T9 and T3-T9. it seems to work, however, has a slight wine to it. i don't know if this is normarl since the its first 3 phase motor i've ever used.

thanks for the help.

You connect the three together to make two sets of star winding in parallel, Presuming it is a common star connected motor, if you do not connect the three up and it is only one set of windings are in.
What wiring diagram are you refering to? Is there one with the motor?
Al.

You need to know for sure those can go either way(y or delta) HIgh votlage is the same its the low votlage you can get a problem. Also VFD, will make a funny noise in general, a high pitch noise depends upon how much hearing you have lost.....
"star"
If its a wye, "-" dictates join "~" connect line to
for 460V(high) L1~1, L2~2, L3~3 Join 4-7, 5-8, 6-9
for 230V(low) L1~1-7, L2~2-8, L3~3-9 Join 4-5-6
"open"
for delta
for 460(high) L1~1, L2~2, L3~3 Join 4-7, 5-8, 6-9
for 230 (low)L1~1-6-7 L2~2-4-8 L3~3-5-9 all are joined one line.
no leads should be hanging untied, the wye connection is more common but not exclusive.
If its a metric motor they could be using colors or u,v,w in which case I wish you luck because I tested motors for a while and I never got the hang of that.
chris