Connecting Huanyang VFD to Mach3 via Gecko 540

[Brenck]

Oh, I see so you actually have the E-stop connected to the connector 10 first passing to a serial connector and then to connector 10, instead of that green line straight from the 10 to the E-button.

I first taught it might be something like when you press the E-stop it would turn off the spindle as well since it was wired to the same connector that delivers 5V to the relay... But it doesnt make sense at all...

Mach3 already turn off the spindle when you press Estop right? If you have it controlled by relay?

[jsantos]

Oh, I see so you actually have the E-stop connected to the connector 10 first passing to a serial connector and then to connector 10, instead of that green line straight from the 10 to the E-button.

I first taught it might be something like when you press the E-stop it would turn off the spindle as well since it was wired to the same connector that delivers 5V to the relay... But it doesnt make sense at all...

Mach3 already turn off the spindle when you press Estop right? If you have it controlled by relay?

I actually have 2 e-stops. The e-stop that's actually used to stop the system is shown on page 3. The limits switch on the diagram does not exist yet, so the e-stop on page 3 is wired to pins 1 and 5 of the db9 connector. If you look at page 1, those pins 1 and 5 are connected to pin 10 of the g540 and to ground.

When I hit the e-stop shown on page 3, that stops everything (motors, spindles, ALL) on the system.

When I eventually install my limit swithces in series with the e-stop as shown on page 3, the whole system will stop if, for example, my gantry hits the x-axis limit switch. Since the whole system is stopped, there is no way for me to jog back the gantry away from the switch. That's what the e-stop on page 1 is for. That e-stop allows me to connect pin 10 of the g540 to ground so I can jog back away from the switch. So it's not actually an e-stop. It's an 'e-enable'. ;-)

[Foogl]

Hi Folks, I would like to reopen this thread.

I have G540, Huanyang VFD and Mach3 setup and I'm hitting same problem as Vaffel. This is what I did so far:

I connected V10+ from VFD to VFD +10V (pin 9) on G540
I connected ACM from VFD to VFD GROUND (pin 7) on G540
I connected Vi from VFD to VFD output (pin 8) on G540
I have jumper between FOR and DCM on VFD for now

VFD is working by itself in manual mode. When I do change PD001 and PD002 to 1, it behaves strange. It turns itself on, when I power cycle, PD002 is back on 0 ...

I use default Mach3 config file available for G540.
(Spindle, step pin 14, dir pin 0 step port 0 dir port 0)
(Spindle setup, use output + pwm, PWM 50, min 5%)

Btw, in Mach3, I absolutely do not understand page motor tuning for spindle. What is "step", what is "velocity" what is "acceleration"? What unites are these things in? I saw 10 different setups all over the web from value 1 to 10000000. Can somebody clarify?

Now, when try to turn spindle on (I punch some number in spindle speed) with CWF5, RPM goes to my number and quickly "roll back" to zero. VFD is not doing anything.

When I try to measure VFD out, it is constant 0.48V, it does not change at all.

Any ideas, what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

[Foogl]

Ok, "spindle speed averaging" makes it look to go to punched RPM and rolls back to zero. When I turn this off, CW F5 is doing nothing :-(
Running out of ideas.

[Vaffel]

Hi dude !

Sorry to hear about your problems!
I never got this to work with the method youre trying to use. I think these VFDs dont actually support it. I've tried everything.

I solved the problem by soldering on a modbus chip onto the VFD motherboard. Then I control the VFD digitally, instead of the analog approach.

I can help you a little later today, if youd like?

[Foogl]

Not sure, what do you mean. Using 0-10V analog input as speed reference is supported by pretty much every VFD. It is industry standard. Anyway, I do not think the problem is in VFD. From what I see the problem is most likely in Mach3 configuration. Even Mach3 does not actually show "spindle spinning", when you hit CWF5. I saw a lot of videos from other folks, who actually got that running and you can actually see RPM going up, when they hit CWF5. I do not see that. Next step would be to figure out, if I can get 0-10V out of G540. I do not see that either. So again, it is not about VFD actually, it is likely about Mach3 configuration.

The other reason I have to do it this way is I have actually second VFD, AB PowerFlex 70, which is far more powerful (and complex). I want to get Huangyang running first (I hopped it is going to be easy), then I will switch to PowerFlex (using same 0-10V method).

Hope it makes sense. Thanks for help!

[Vaffel]

I still belive that the VFD is the problem. The gecko is just taking what it gets from the VFD and modulates it - so if the VFD is not giving out the correct voltages, it's not going to work.

I hooked everything up, and I measured the voltages on the different terminals related to VFD control. If the spindle was not started, I could set the RPM in mach3, and the voltage showd the correct corresponding voltage - and Mach3 showed the correct set speed, and also the display on VFD.
When I started the spindle, however, everything went bananas, with voltages ranging all the way up to 48 volts (on the terminal that should be between 0-10V). I think its because of bad quality of components in these VFDs. Connecting a spindle would increase the amount of noise produced.

If you really have a quality VFD laying around, I wouldn't waste another minute on the chinese VFD!!


EDIT: I now control the VFD digitally by modbus. I can help/show you what you need to do it if you want.

[Foogl]

I still belive that the VFD is the problem. The gecko is just taking what it gets from the VFD and modulates it - so if the VFD is not giving out the correct voltages, it's not going to work.

Please, explain. The only connection between G540 and VFD is +10V coming from VFD to G540 (which is correct, I can measure that) and voltage OUTPUT from G540 (0-10V) going INTO VFD. There is no feedback. G540 does not care, what is VFD doing. G540 does not monitor any VFD voltages.
Btw, if I hook up my PowerFlex, result is exactly same so I really do not think it is VFD (forgive me my stubbornness).

Am afraid hooking up PowerFlex on modbus is not an option for me. I do not have modbus adapter, only Ethernet/IP (CIP) adapter. Unfortunately, I do not know about Ethernet/IP plugin for Mach3. It would be sweet though because I could just hook up PowerFlex on my network.

[Vaffel]

As you probably can tell, this is not my field of expertise.

What I mean is that if the VFD supplies Gecko with erratic voltages ranging from 0 to 40 volts, gecko will have a serious problem modulating it to something useful.

[UUU]

I think I can see what is being described here. Taking the VFD on its own, you would have three terminals you can connect to a potentiometer for speed control. One is 0V and another nominally 10V, and the third is the "wiper" on the potentiometer that will be somewhere between the two, depending on your pot setting.

Ideally you'd like your VFD to have a stable 10V, so its speed, dependent on the wiper terminal is 5V for half the maximum. But if the upper voltage is not stable, and goes up to, say 15V, then you'd have 7.5V on the wiper terminal for half speed. Not a problem on a pot - it would just follow the voltage fluctuations and deliver the set proportions back.

If you're feeding a voltage in from an independent controller, and it feeds in 5V, you're going to get half speed or one-third speed, or who knows what speed, if the VFD is not stable.

[Foogl]

So I figure that out yesterday night.

This setting for G540 is provided by Gecko for Mach3: Spindle, step pin 14, dir pin 0 step port 0 dir port 0
This is what works for me: Spindle, step pin 14, dir pin 0 step port 1 dir port 0

With 0 on the place, no PWM signal is generated.

I also found in the Mach3 manual, that motor tuning tab for Spindle driven by PWM (not step/dir) has no meaning. It is not used. Your choice of pulley defines max RPM, your VFD is responsible for ramping up and down.

I also found, that my PowerFlex 70 already has digital inputs, which can be hooked up directly to G540 to start/stop VFD, no relays are necessary. Works great!

Edit: I forgot to mention, that I decided to ditch my Huanyang and use my real toy, PowerFlex 70. It was hard on begging to configure that thing (~400 params), but result is much better! Anyway, 0-10V control is identical so the same setup works also for Huanyang.

[racer956]

I have been reading this post and have my vfd wired up correctly. I am having trouble though with my mach software... Does anyone the proper configurations for mach 3. Help would be great. I am using output 1.