BADER III electrical problem

Well maybe bright and shinny was not the correct way to put it . But I can say it did not look like it was corroded .

Anyway I took brushes out and cleaned them up , put back in but it did not change anything . The motor was wired 220 so I guess I need to get me a electrician out here and check the voltage as was suggested earlier .
 
From what I have read so far I would seriously suspect the VFD as the issue. Either a bad capacitor or some other problem.
 
I just recently put a power "on-off" switch on the Baldor DC drive on the Bader III in the shop. The motor control company I ordered the part from sold me a KB drives part, and told me that KB makes the drives for Baldor. Might be worth a call to KB technical support to see if they can help with the problem?
 
Mahoney said:
I just recently put a power "on-off" switch on the Baldor DC drive on the Bader III in the shop. The motor control company I ordered the part from sold me a KB drives part, and told me that KB makes the drives for Baldor. Might be worth a call to KB technical support to see if they can help with the problem?
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Thank you for your input . I sure hope it's not the Baldor drive but if it is I will have to deal with it. I guess if I bypassed the controller and hooked the motor up direct and it ran full speed that would pretty much point to the controller .?
 
Yes, my error. I called it a VFD when it is a DC drive. That is the same drive as is on my Bader.
 
ldoyle said:
Thank you for your input . I sure hope it's not the Baldor drive but if it is I will have to deal with it. I guess if I bypassed the controller and hooked the motor up direct and it ran full speed that would pretty much point to the controller .?
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No, it's a DC motor, it needs the controller to run.
 
DC motors are voltage controlled, not frequency controlled.

What makes me suspect the issue is in the controller is that Baldor controller is 120 or 240 volt AC input. It converts that to 180VDC. If the supply is 120 volts and the jumper has been moved/disconnected, or a component failure has switched things to 240VAC input mode, the unit may be putting out 90VDC. That will run it as normal .... but the max speed will be half what it would be on 180VDC output ... which is the issue you are having.

If you are running the unit on 220VAC, another reason this would happen is if one leg is dead. It could be running on only one leg and ground.... which would be 120VAC.
Check the breakers and have someone check that there is 220VAC at the socket. I'm not sure this applies to taat controller, but it is one of the first things to check.
If the socket and breakers are fine, there are two small Buss fuses in the controller (15amp IIRC). Unplug the unit and check/change both, then try it again.
 
Thanks Stacy .It is set up on 220. I will have to get a electrician to come check both legs. In the mean time I will check the fuses ......if I can get it open .I'm sure it's just stuck. It hasnt been opened in 17 or18 years
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
DC motors are voltage controlled, not frequency controlled.

What makes me suspect the issue is in the controller is that Baldor controller is 120 or 240 volt AC input. It converts that to 180VDC. If the supply is 120 volts and the jumper has been moved/disconnected, or a component failure has switched things to 240VAC input mode, the unit may be putting out 90VDC. That will run it as normal .... but the max speed will be half what it would be on 180VDC output ... which is the issue you are having.

If you are running the unit on 220VAC, another reason this would happen is if one leg is dead. It could be running on only one leg and ground.... which would be 120VAC.
Check the breakers and have someone check that there is 220VAC at the socket. I'm not sure this applies to taat controller, but it is one of the first things to check.
If the socket and breakers are fine, there are two small Buss fuses in the controller (15amp IIRC). Unplug the unit and check/change both, then try it again.
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Stacy , let me see if I understand this . You have AC current coming into the controller , and the circuitry of the controller changes that to DC and sends it to the motor ( simply put ) . So you would test the lines coming into the controller as AC volts ( 120 on each leg )and then turn the controller on and test the lines going to the motor from the controller as DC volts ( 90 on each leg ) ?

I have checked incoming voltage on both legs with a tester and do have 120 on each leg . If I test dc v on outgoing lines and it shows 90 or less on one or both legs does that mean it`s the controller at fault ?

I`m not asking you how to do it so you are not liable for me if I get zapped , I`m just trying to see if I`m thinking right . Sorry for asking so many questions but I really don`t know . I guess I`m just really hoping it`s not a $300 controller .
 
120 volts to ground on both incoming hot legs is good, but you need to test leg-to-leg and see if you have 220-240 volts AC or so. For the output test, you would test across the 2 wires going to the motor that are not the ground (green)
 
Mahoney said:
120 volts to ground on both incoming hot legs is good, but you need to test leg-to-leg and see if you have 220-240 volts AC or so. For the output test, you would test across the 2 wires going to the motor that are not the ground (green)
Click to expand...

So you put both leads from your tester , one on each hot line ? Nothing to ground ?
 
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ldoyle said:
So you put both leads from your tester , one one each hot line ? Nothing to ground ?
Click to expand...

Correct. 220V circuits require two separate 110V phases. It's possible that the 110V to ground you measured came from the same phase. If that happens to be the case, you'll read next to 0V on your meter when you probe both hot lines. If it's good, you'll read the sum of the two hot lines.

I had a very similar issue when trouble shooting a 220V circuit at work a couple days ago. I read 110VAC to ground on both hots, but it was all coming from the one side.
 
As my luck would have it I dropped the cheap harbor freight tester I had borrowed and now it is all over the place , no matter what I try to check , voltage , battery, continuity , it just bounces all over , so I guess I get to go buy him a new one tomorrow . Oh well , the saga continues .
Thanks for all the replies . Maybe I`ll get this figured out someday .
 
Sounds like dropping the tester was a good thing. I don't think you understand electricity and electric circuits.

The output is DC, so it is read on the meter's DC scale and is polarity sensitive. Your motor should be receiving 180VDC. That would be read across the two wires.
 
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