Manual / Hand pump conversion of 3ph car lift

[Jeffers_S13]

I’m not sure what you’ve heard but there seems to be a lot of misconceptions about vfd there.

A vfd is in fact ideally suited to stop start operation, in fact more so that a standard direct on line contactor - the start up current is controlled, you can have smooth ramp up/down and you can do many more stop starts with the motor getting barely warm, try that with a dol starter and (for bigger motors especially) the motor will be hot in no time.

If you have a simple dol starter you much more likely to trip the supply rather than using a vfd.

Wiring should be fairly straightforward, you could probably replace it in your existing circuit with some modifications but if you have an existing wiring diagram that would help.

That is entirely my ignorant diagnosis

I need someone to explicitly tell me what wires to put where on the VFD to the motor. I have no diagram but can do pics of what I have obviously.

Are you willing to give me some very definitive wiring advice?

 

[daleyd]

That is entirely my ignorant diagnosis

I need someone to explicitly tell me what wires to put where on the VFD to the motor. I have no diagram but can do pics of what I have obviously.

Are you willing to give me some very definitive wiring advice?

I can certainly try and help, there’s loads of others on here with experience of vfd as well.

What would really help is a diagram of your existing wiring. Also if you have a spare 3 ph motor kicking around (any size) you could set the vfd up on the bench to get some confidence in it working before you start stripping down the existing machine.

 

[Agroshield]

Are you willing to give me some very definitive wiring advice?

Give a rough location of where you are.

Take some good photos of the motor connection box (with the lid removed). These will have to be substantially better than the one you showed of the motor data plate.

You will need to rewire the motor from high voltage 3-phase to low voltage 3-phase.

Post a link to the manual for the VFD.

You will have a three core cable going into the VFD, with either a 13A or 16A plug on the end, that goes into the wall.

You will have a four core cable between motor and VFD.

 

[sako243]

I don't have a car lift or atm anywhere to site one. I wish!

I've got a lift and a location to site it just up the road from you

Need to fix the JCB engine though to move in into location...

 

[Pete.]

That is entirely my ignorant diagnosis

I need someone to explicitly tell me what wires to put where on the VFD to the motor. I have no diagram but can do pics of what I have obviously.

Are you willing to give me some very definitive wiring advice?

Take photos of the connections on the VFD and scan in the instructions you have and we'll get you sorted in no time.

 

[Jeffers_S13]

Give a rough location of where you are.

Take some good photos of the motor connection box (with the lid removed). These will have to be substantially better than the one you showed of the motor data plate.

You will need to rewire the motor from high voltage 3-phase to low voltage 3-phase.

Post a link to the manual for the VFD.

You will have a three core cable going into the VFD, with either a 13A or 16A plug on the end, that goes into the wall.

You will have a four core cable between motor and VFD.

I’m in the sticks in Lincolnshire, about midway between Spalding and Boston near a small village called Donington.

Will get some pics, yes already got plug on a flex into the VFD to mess around with it. Think I have a small 3ph motor somewhere and a large variety of cables

 

[daleyd]

I’m in the sticks in Lincolnshire, about midway between Spalding and Boston near a small village called Donington.

Will get some pics, yes already got plug on a flex into the VFD to mess around with it. Think I have a small 3ph motor somewhere and a large variety of cables

That makes it easier, as you can get the vfd wired up and working separate to the machine.

 

[8ob]

If its not in constant use I would fit a 12v tail lift/tipper pump to the reservoir you have, they also have a release solenoid so it could be a cheap and painless install. Plenty of them around for under £100 s/h. just thoughts.

Bob

 

[Gareth J]

Anyone tried one of these?

1 Phase to 3 Phase Converter, Suitable for 3HP(2.2KW) 9 Amp 220-240V Motor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1 Phase to 3 Phase Converter, Suitable for 3HP(2.2KW) 9 Amp 220-240V Motor at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Looks if you've no requirement for variable speed, could be a cheaper option than a static converter with the plug and play simple wiring to match. Potentially ideal for the OPs lift.

 

[premmington]

Bosch Rexroth hydraulic garage lift ramp motors

I used sell these - but can't get them anymore

 

[daleyd]

As an example (just a generic pic I found on inter web) your single phase goes in on L and N terminals and 3 phase to motor goes out on UVW.

You will have some control circuitry that went to a contactor (probably) in the original set up - this will now need to be re routed to a small digital input terminal on the vfd (probably taking a 24 v out supply from the inverter rather than using the existing supply for the controls).

But an existing drawing is invaluable for this part.

 

[Jeffers_S13]

Pics

 

[Jeffers_S13]

Someone has fitted what looks like a 3ph socket to the outside of the tank with a big switch (and a 230v double socket) perhaps to power some other piece of 3ph equipment back in the day. I don’t need that but that’s where those other wires go.

Do I need to break open that blue JB?

I’ve also put pics of how I tried wiring up the VFD.

 

[8ob]

That’s a contactor.

Bob

 

[Jeffers_S13]

Take photos of the connections on the VFD and scan in the instructions you have and we'll get you sorted in no time.

The instructions are 40pages long, presumably a lot of guff you won’t need to read.

This is a link to very similar ones:

https://www.et.byu.edu/~sorensen/A2%20VFD%20Manual.pdf

 

[daleyd]

It looks like you have the mains wiring correct - as a test you can wire in a switch between GND and the FWD terminals, when you activate the switch the vfd should start.

This is what needs to reworked from the original contactor control wiring.

As a first step if you have extra stuff in there that’s not needed, I’d consider stripping that out back to the existing terminals (eg the socket and other box on the outside) which should make the wiring simpler to understand.

 

[Agroshield]

The output from the VFD should be connected directly to the three brown wires coming from the motor. There should be nothing in between VFD and motor, only copper and plastic.

In the photos, it looks like the motor wires go into the blue box. Disconnect them there and wire into the VFD.

 

[Agroshield]

Looks if you've no requirement for variable speed

If it is fixed frequency, then it is unlikely to have soft start (ramp up from 0 hertz to 50 hertz). For something that needs to start under load, like a compressor or ramp, that might lead to an overload trip. The ramp up is a good feature of the VFD as it is kinder to a borderline electricity supply. Yes, the device you show is a cheaper option than a full VFD, but you would have to choose carefully what you use it on.

 

[tom2207]

the garage I work in part time has just moved location , the old 3ph lift is now happily running from a single to 3ph converter screwed to the wall ,,,so it can be done , they got the spark in to wire it up and apart from a bit of lag when you press the button its grand . What I would say is site the box away from the ramp as it just sits and hums and it gets annoying in a short space of time. I certainly wouldnt be adding a hand pump.

 

[Jeffers_S13]

All extraneous junk removed