Three blown Powerflex 525s - don't know why

Update on this:

I eliminated the VFD and replaced with a reversing contactor and overload. In hindsight, I should have done this years ago. The line has performed flawlessly since, gaining about 8% in efficiency. I think the efficiency came from the elimination of ramp-up, ramp-down. Potentially, the gearbox may not last as long, but I've already paid for a replacement with what we've gained in efficiency
 
Allen Bradley 525 hmi can blow drives up

Had a similar issue with some 30hp 525s. One blew on power being reapplied after a few weeks down. One of our techs swapped the drive out, and i the new immediately blew. Another tech had seen it before many years prior so we did some investigation.

Turns out the problem was the HMI moduleWe did a test today and put the suspect hmi on a small 1hpish 525 drive and it immediately blew up the drive (specifically the resistor on the small capacitor bank at the bottom).

The whole advantage of an easy swappable hmi is kind of moot when the thing can kill any drive it's put on (capacitor reforming gets often thrown out as the reason, but in this case had nothing to do with blowing up).

If you have a 525 blow up on a power up or definitely if you blow two,it's probably a good idea to swap out the HMI.
 
We had a system with about 8 powerflex 525's, continuously having them fail, not always the same ones, tried everything, replace motors reactors, even replaced the main feed from a sub to another that fed another system with over 30 drives (not AB) (we actually swapped the supplies over). still problems, one weekend we lost two more drives, only had one in stock, shoehorned in a Misubishi just to get us going (no coms all analogue drive), never failed again, eventually we replaced all the drives (cannot remember which but had a similar footprint, probably Delta as we stocked them), never had another problem, perhaps a few things come to mind, the other drives coped with some problems in the power/installation better, the ones we were getting had component quality issues (been known before), or these are just not robust enough.
 
Welp, had this happen again. Beware 30hp powerflex 525s. If you have a drive that blows and blows the fuses when replaced, do not reuse the hmi
 
You need to check the line voltage ratings carefully
If the vfd came from a supplier in the US, our normal line voltage is 480
I did some work in your country some time back they had the same problem with a Powerflex drive . the only replacement that war readily available was rated at 480 for use in the us but the normal line voltage in Canada is 600. So t took them 2 days to have one flown in. I would recommend check the rating on the vfd and you line. The voltage you say to measured are way over the ratings for a 480 volt vfd but the seam low for a 600v supply. The fact that you say the replacement blow the fuses on power up makes me thing the replacement was rated for a 480 system in a stalled on a 600 v system. If you installed a 600v vfd on a 480v system you would get an under voltage fault . your number just don’t add up your measured voltage are way low for a 600v system and high for a 480v system
 
Very Ironic that this topic shows up now. I had a bad HIM on a 525 Saturday night. The customer lost 3 drive because of it. On power up the drive would fail with a loud pop. Not on demand for current out, on power up.

Line voltage only was applied with no load connected (BOOM). The HIM was replaced with a new drive and the problems went away.

Our new standard is going to be replace the HIM and base module as a set from now on.
 

Similar Topics

Hello Guys, I have tried the programming but can't twist my mind to make it work correctly. I'm using S71200 and TIA Portal. My system has...
Replies
1
Views
182
Kindly, we connected electrical power, 3x380 vac, between a supply station and an electric cabinet, away 180 meters. The calculation software...
Replies
11
Views
760
im new at Allen bradley rslogix programming; i have something to ask you guys , and i will be happy to get answers so thank you in advance. when...
Replies
1
Views
572
Hi all, We had three drives fail upon power up. The two had F081 fault code. The maintenance personnel attempted to copy VFD parameters using a...
Replies
4
Views
1,466
Wondering if any of you old timers have seen a case where you can download to the processor no problem, but on power cycle: fault, and no program...
Replies
8
Views
2,095
Back
Top Bottom