Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Hi
I am a new member. I have a Larkin 5050R CNC router Uses the Star CNC Controller. I am currently Considering upgrading top the Acorn controller. I am confident I can hookup the drives to the Acorn but am a little concerned about the hook up of the VFD. I have a Commander SK VFD. I know how it is presently configured running a Columbo spindle. I have an idea how to change the configuration so the acorn will work with it but I am a little leery about the wiring. Wondering if someone has ever hooked up one of these VFD's to the acorn controller. Some of the wiring I think I know but a couple of other connections I'm not sure of. I am attaching the getting started manual for the drive Wiring hookups are on page 19-to 21. Configuration settings are in section 6. Page 33 has one of the parameters I believe I have to change.
Parameter 11 I think has to be 0 to match acorn. Presently set to 4 for larkin.
Parameter 16 is set to volts.
Parameter 29 is set to no
Parameter 34 has Terminal B7 set to dig not sure if this is a needed terminal
Finally Parameter 35 is set n=0

Wiring for Acorn I believe is
T1 on commander to 0-10vdc com
T2 Commander 0-10vdc
don't think I use T3 =10v reference output and T4 analog input voltage or digital input
T5 and T6 are status relay for drive ok (normally open) is this the Fault common and Fault NC ?
B1 0-+10v output
B2 +24 output
B3 digital output-zero speed( or digitalinput0-=24v
B4 commander not sure it is shown as digital input enable reset think its the fault reset
B5 run forward commander to spin forward
B6 Run reverse commander to spin forward
B7 Digital input

Manual is attached below Local /Remote speed reference select

Hope I've done this right. I have some with wiring but I have never worked on a VFD.

Thank you
Tom

What wires are currently connected to the VFD from the current control?
Have you queried the current parameters you noted above?

In most cases unless the current control is using CANBUS to communicate with the drive, the drive is probably already setup correctly.
Your clues would be to note which terminals on the VFD already have wires landed on them and to look up their functions in the manual.

Currently larken uses 4 wires the have connections to t1 block wire (10v-)t2 red wire (10v+) both inputs.
They wired an output from B2 (24v+) white wire to the controller. B3 digital output (0-24v+) is jumpered to B4 digital input enable or reset. B3 has a Brown wire connecting it to the Larken controller.

Wire colours are just for reference that’s what was used. The old controller is run by a PIC chip. This limited the movements on the machine as well as its ability to think ahead.

Larken machines of this vintage used a driver known as a cobra. They now use viper drivers. But they do just take step and direction controls. So as long as I can get the vid figured out I can’t see why upgrading to an Acorn will be a problem.

If Larry at Larken can give me the pin outs on the controller for the vid I will include these. When I was telling you what I thought the vid hooks to acorn were I was using the generic wiring for a vid found in the acorn resources.

VFD I hate auto correct.
One more question on the generic VFD wiring is the VFD common neg or positive. Common is usually neg. but on the wiring for the commander sk it appears power is taken from b2 and routed to b4 to b6 to enable those functions. Ground side switching. If this is the case I think I know how it’s wired.

ThomasTechteacher wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:41 pm VFD I hate auto correct.
One more question on the generic VFD wiring is the VFD common neg or positive. Common is usually neg. but on the wiring for the commander sk it appears power is taken from b2 and routed to b4 to b6 to enable those functions. Ground side switching. If this is the case I think I know how it’s wired.

When you use the dry contact relay outputs on Acorn, it does not matter whether you use VFD COM or VFD 24vdc.

That’s what I thought. Thanks that cleared up my question. When I do the upgrade I’ll post a success story.