I have spent the last few months building a new machine from scratch and today I am giving it the first run.
I noticed that the speed control through Estlcam doesn’t make any effect on the speed of the VFD.
I am guessing that I have set something wrong in the VFD settings, but it has me lost.
The VFD is a YL-620-A
The section in the manual shows the following and I have set all these to 3
I have checked the 0-10 volt supply and Estlcam does change the voltage as needed.
Thanks Dave,
I see that you are using 110 volts while I am using 220 volts, so I need to make a few changes. Also I think the amperage would need changing as well for mine.
Dave what setting do you have for P03.08 is it 60?
Yes, your volts/amps settings will be different than mine. I listed the only things I changed after a factory reset, so I’m betting P03.08 is at the default 0. I don’t know if the image matches your board, mine came with 4 dip switches that were set to 0-5v by default.
I will check mine out later when it is cooler. The workshop is well over 40 C today and I just can’t stay out there long.
I adjusted the settings except for the voltage and amps as mine is set correctly for my system, but when I did a quick test Estlcam is still not controlling although it is putting out the correct voltages.
I am getting a constant speed and also I noticed that the RPM is not showing on the VFD screen, I am getting the RUN showing.
I have P00.24 set to 9
My P03.08 is set at 60 P0.03.09 set at 400
Dave, I haven’t checked fully yet, but do you mean that the VFD can be made to operate with a 0-5 volt signal?
I did a quick test this evening, still very hot in the workshop so I didn’t stay long.
I found that I am not getting much change in the voltage from the Nano, it varies from around 2.2v to 3.4 volts and never goes lower than 2.2v except off.
I will have to check that tomorrow early before it gets too hot again.
The reason the speed doesn’t change is because the voltage out from the voltage converter stays around 8.6v all the time when on.
Mine is different, cheaper version by the look of it, No jumpers, mine are soldered bridges instead.
Yours would require removing that left solder bridge to get 0-5v speed control, i.e. yours shipped w/ 0-10v control. I checked my P03.08 and it is at the default 0. I use the Estlcam defaults for China spindle with the exception of a 5sec delay to match my P06.01 = 5 VFD setting. It sounds like you might have a bad converter board (unchanging 8.6v output).
…With the board disconnected from the VFD, I would try lowering that voltage with the potentiometer, e.g. to zero with the spindle off in Estlcam. Then see if the voltage changes when you turn the spindle on and change the speed.
do you have a variable power supply you could use to try to feed the 0-10v from? Might be easier than testing with ESTLCam.
Yes I was thinking about that, but I think I would have to take the cover off because the board is nestled inside the case. I will change my settings from P03.08 = 60 to = 0 and see if that makes any difference.
As for the voltage doubler circuits, I bought a batch that seemed to be faulty as all of them had some problems of not producing the correct output, maybe it would better to try and go 0-5 volt instead of 0-10 volt.
Last night I found I had seven spare Nano boards, so I tested each one using a small meter connected to pin 5 and GRD and sent the PWM signal out for 24000 RPM.
All worked but all had different voltage outputs. Two were over 4.5 volts and the others were under 3.5 volts, so I may have a faulty Nano in the controller as well.
I will change over to the best output Nano this morning and see if that makes any difference as well.
Yes I can make one with a 317 easy enough, but before trying that I changed the Nano over to the one that had the highest output for 5 volts. The one that was in the controller worked but the voltage was under 3 volts when testing with the small meter.
I also changed the P03.08 = 0 , but that only controls the panel knob voltage lower limit from what I read in the manual and I am not using that.
Okay the result after changing over the Nano was, it works, so these cheap Chinese knockoff Nanos have a few problems. They all work but not all the same, and this is one instance where it really counts. Only two out of eight have a good output on pin 5.
It seems like the voltage doubler board also is working now that it is getting a good input voltage.
Thanks for your help Dave and Dave, between us we worked it out. Something to add to your notes on the subject.
Sorry for the misdirect, your VFD may not have the circuitry for analog 0-5v control and the Nano output is digital 5v PWM (https://youtu.be/YmPziPfaByw). The board converts 0-100% PWM to 0-10v analog. The first (corrected) step is to set Estlcam to 12000rpm and adjust the board potentiometer until the output is 5v. That should be doable even if the Nano output really is only 3.5v @ 100% PWM.
Thanks for that Dave,
I have it working at least, but not fine turned anything and maybe can’t do it for a few days until this heatwave has subsided.
I think I tried that on the workbench while doing some tests before (when I was using the faulty Nano) and I wasn’t able to get the full 5 volt output. Now that I have a Nano that is putting out a descent voltage I will try again to set it up properly.
