New puter, no spindle again.

It is me again, spent the morning on setting up a new puter for my BT48 Alpha to replace the Win10 laptop that was provided with this machine. I do not bond with W10 [except on a tablet] so I got a Win 7pro which I am very familiar with. The old laptop had USB issues and I had to restart every time SB3 crashed [often] and I could not find anything on it... that is my issue, I understand. I am new to Alpha machines and finally got the spindle to run and [I thought] learned a lot about it... not so. I am happy with this laptop and no crashing and restarting.

I cannot get the VFD to light up. I have the RPM window open and it is set to port 3. Looking at the usb ports with USBview there is a SB on 1 & 2, nothing on 3, and my mouse is on 4 [these are all on a hub- provided with the machine and plugged in the same as on the other puter]. I can punch output 1 [and 2 &3- nothing on 4] and no response. I have tried C5, C6 and everything I can think of. And, of course, the reset and start and the key lock out. Both power sources are good. There is some detail here holding an old fart back. Any ideas? Gene

Hey Gene,

The VFD should power up (as you say, light up) when you turn on the control box and push reset. Troubleshoot just that first. Power in to the control box and out to the VFD. Some were 110 and 220 in (mine's that way) and some all 220 in. There should be some schematics on SB's site as well.

Thanks Scott- the solenoids work fine and I have power to the VFD, something is not triggering the small cable from the main circuit board to the VFD. I just dropped an email to support and I am sure they will straighten me out. Gene

Have you tried unplugging the usb that goes to the spindle and replugging it in

The spindle will run without the USB RPM control dongle connected, just unplug that for now.

Make sure that cable is connected at both ends and hasn't gotten pulled out or loose in transfer. Also, make sure the little jumper on the board is set for spindle and not router. Make sure the key circuit is functional. Alt-1 to turn on/off output 1, bring keypad up and OK to message about starting spindle, press green start button and it should start. If not, then there's something else amiss.

So the primary issue here is that the VFD is not displaying. That means that either -

The VFD is not receiving power from the contactor/cabling coming from the contactor
The VFD display, cable, main board, or other component are - damaged, disconnected or failed and in need of replacement.

the lack of display won't be caused by the logic cabling or the USB RPM dongle, so the change of PC is likely a red herring in this instance.
Get the VFD display to come back and we will have lured out the weasel.

-Tom

Thanks Tom and Scott [I assume you are not the Tom I have been emailing from support]. There is 220V to the VFD, but no lights. Support also said the logic cable or USB cable would not affect the VFD turning on, so I am looking at the VFD- checking the model number it looks like it is 3phase 220V but I doubt that the machine is wired for 3phase- looks like the standard 220v high leg, low leg wiring to me. It is time for happy hour... this will be continued tomorrow, and so forth. I emailed the previous owner also. Gene

That is me lol, I generally am not in the support email/calls as my time is stretched nowadays working on video documentation, but I do hop in occasionally and noticed your email :)

Contacting Yaskawa (or manufacturer) is an option as they do have a tech support line that can sometimes find an issue internal to the VFD (better than we can in support) that would save you the VFD cost (like replacing cables instead of VFD).

On the 3 phase thing - all VFDs will say 3 phase OUTPUT (as they are phase converters and the spindle needs 3 phase power) but they can accept single phase power as well as 3 phase.

No lights is what has me worried,
-Tom

Thanks Tom- the VFD is quite hard to get at so I have not done a literal VOM test- I have used a non contact voltage sensor. Today I will either get my 72 yo body under there or else take the mount bolts out so I can have better access [and not light myself up]. Gene

Stay safe!
Checking right at the input terminals or sometimes the output of the contactor is the best way to tell if you should be getting juice

-Tom