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Thread: Powtran VFDs

  1. #16
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Petip View Post
    Hi Bob
    You must be a bit of a sweet talker.
    l was going to purchase a vfd from Nicole a couple of weeks ago, however us$80 was too steep for freight.
    l received another email yesterday from her saying that after talking to her customer 'Bob' she has been able to reduce postage to $49
    Cheers
    Pete
    No worries Pete, I guess it shows it does not hurt to ask.

  2. #17
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    Ordered 2nd may, delivered 9am 7th.


    Russ

  3. #18
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    I just ordered 2 , 2HP PI160s inc delivery for US$190 thats AUS$131,50 each - full inverter VFDs.

  4. #19
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    That is pretty cheap for a vector drive VFD, i'm almost tempted to grab one to try out. Will it work out the same price if just one drive was bought or does it work out to be cheaper because you ordered 2 of them?

    Also is there an online manual available?

  5. #20
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Powtran160.pdfPI130 user manual.pdf
    Quote Originally Posted by Com_VC View Post
    That is pretty cheap for a vector drive VFD, i'm almost tempted to grab one to try out. Will it work out the same price if just one drive was bought or does it work out to be cheaper because you ordered 2 of them?
    Same price - might have saved a few $ in the shipping.

    The place is factory and they normally sell VFDs by the container load.so they have no retail/webshop etc.
    The way it works is you have to email them for a quote for a specific model plus "Australia Special Line shipping" they then get back to you with a quote and you can then pay them via PayPal or WU.

    The woman (Nicole) that handles the OS sales writes excellent english but is not a technical person so you have to know what you want. You can ask technical questions but Nicole has to then ask someone and teh reply may suffer from the vagaries of a double translate.

    Also is there an online manual available?
    Yeas there are but can you find the,?
    The english section of the website is.has been undergoing an up grade for a couple of months and is still incomplete.
    http://www.powtran.com/en-us/product/295.aspx
    I will post what I have been able to extract from the Chinese side of the website.

    PI160 user manual V1.0 2016-5-25EL 6.pdf
    Powtran-PI9130-models.jpg
    Powtran160.pdf
    PI130 user manual.pdf

    The manuals and catalogs for the 9130 are too big for the forum to handle.
    Maybe go back and re-read this thread so you can familiarise yourself with some of the models
    Feel free to ask me questions about the models if you think it might save you time.

    There are basically 3 240V models, PI130, 160 and 9120
    The PI130 and 160 are compact budget type models but are still full inverter with a reduced instruction set.
    The PI9130 are industrial strength units so cost a bit more - they have due line text display and nice features like a number of memories to store parameters for different machines etc.

    There is also a new PI500 series that sits in between the 160 and 9130 for price and features. None of these are available in 240V yet.

  6. #21
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    Hi Bob,

    Thinking of trying one of these out depending on what sort of price I can pick one up for. Do you know if they are available in 0.75kw (1hp)? Is there a list of the different sizes available?

    Also what is the difference between the PI130 and PI160?

  7. #22
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Com_VC View Post
    Hi Bob,

    Thinking of trying one of these out depending on what sort of price I can pick one up for. Do you know if they are available in 0.75kw (1hp)?
    Is there a list of the different sizes available?

    There is - they are listed in the links to those docs above.
    240V SP to 240V 3P;
    The 130's come in 0.4, 0.75, and 1.5 kW
    The 160's come in 0.4, 0.75, 1.5 and 2.2
    The 9130 come in 0.4, 0.75, 1.5, 2.2, 4 and 5.5 kW
    Also what is the difference between the PI130 and PI160?
    All of their VFDs are vector drive capable.
    PI130 and 160 are the same form factor, similar basic performance, and basic components.
    There are a few small basic performance differences eg the 130 drives to 400Hz for V/F and Vector modes whereas the 160 only goes to 300Hz in V/F but 3200Hz in Vector mode.

    The main difference between the 130 and 160 is the 160 almost has the smarts of the PI9130 meaning the 160 has about double the numbers of parameter settings that the 130 has.
    I seriously doubt you will need any of these extra commands for a basic machine function, besides there is a good chance you might mess up one of the extra parameters.

    The PI9130 range are industrial strength full, larger physically more robust components, permanent memory storage settings for multiple machines, dual line display, enhanced parameter set etc.

    If you want a 130 you need to ask for a quote for a PI130 0R7G1, if you want a 160 ask for a quote for a PI160 0R7G1 - on the last quote I got for these VFDs there was $10 difference between the two.

  8. #23
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    Ended up ordering the PI160 1.5kw. There was only about $10 difference between the 0.75kw version. This will give me more options later on if I need to upgrade motors.

    Nicole was easy to deal with during the ordering process and she got back to my replies pretty quickly.

    Look forward to it arriving, gets posted out Monday and should take about 10 days apparently.

  9. #24
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    I ordered a PI160 2R2G1 last night. Nicole sent me an email today saying the freight company had picked it up and it was on its way. I went for the cheap shipping so the ETD is 8 - 10 days which is fine for me - as long it gets here before the new GST laws come into effect.
    Last edited by grunto; 8th Jun 2018 at 09:24 PM. Reason: Typo

  10. #25
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    I've ordered 2 VFDs using their new shippers the first one took 8 days and the second one took 11 days.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by grunto View Post
    - as long it gets here before the new GST laws come into effect.
    Objects entering the country still come under the same rules. Under $1000 straight through.

    The GST is collected by the seller only if they sell over $75 000 worth of goods to au in a year and on top of that register for it.
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  12. #27
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Something else to consider, the PI130 and 160 don't have any capacity for the installation of proper cable glands.

    ie when installed they look like the photo below with mains cable inlets and 3P out showing.
    My understanding is, that to be installed to code means they then need to be installed inside a protective cabinet as show for my MW lathe below.

    This is not the only reason I used a cabinet install for the VFD on my MW lathe - the metal work end of my shed has been pretty grotty from welding/grinding dust and I wanted to protect the VFD from all this. Hopefully now I have a mill this will reduce the need for all that grinding.
    BTW the fan sucks out and the dust around the fan is 7 years of accumulated use, there's vey little dust in the rest of the cabinet, not too bad really.

    IMG_2924.jpg

    On my DP I have done this
    complete.jpg

    Here is a PI9130 installation - it's on the underside leg of a table for a 2HP Radial arm saw at the mens shed.
    The white/grey box below it is a Braking resistor.
    It reduces the 2.5 minutes of coasting time after being tuned off down to 4s.
    It could be programmed to stop even quicker but that increases the risk the blade becoming loose.
    VFDandBrake.jpg

    I'm installing a 160 and a 130 on my little Hercus mill and they are going inside a cabinet under the mill itself.
    Like this
    dooropen.jpg

  13. #28
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    7 years, that's quite impressive, still looks quite tidy inside. The PI 160 has been around for quite some time then.

    There shouldn't be any issues running a higher capacity VFD with a lower HP motor is that correct?

  14. #29
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Com_VC View Post
    7 years, that's quite impressive, still looks quite tidy inside. The PI 160 has been around for quite some time then.
    Sorry I didn't quite fully explain it. I was just referring to the black plastic cabinet.
    The VFD that spent most of the 7 years in that cabinet is the beige on now in the drill press cabinet.
    The beige one is an SAJ and appears to be a Powtran clone externally but has a few less features internally.

    I have done a lot of grinding at that end of the shed but I also have decent exhaust/extraction via my (1200 CFM) welding bay extractor and more recently in the middle of the shed at the roof line via a second exhaust fan which I run at ~1000 CFM.

    There shouldn't be any issues running a higher capacity VFD with a lower HP motor is that correct?
    Not for the VFD but there could be for the motor. The key parameter for the motors is to set the max current output by the VFD to suit the motor that way you won't overheat the motor

  15. #30
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    Bob,
    Do the PowTran VFDs run the internal fan continuously ?
    My SAJ unit does, and in a quiet workshop can be annoying.
    John

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