Hello Everyone,
Like many others, I was tempted by the idea of saving money by purchasing a Chinese spindle and VFD. So, I ended up buying a 2.2kW 220V package from Amazon.
I’m curious—can I operate the VFD using two hot wires (110V each), similar to what we use for a dryer here in Canada?
Also, to power the VFD, I need a 15-foot cable. Is 10/3 gauge cable sufficient, or is it overkill?
Yes, 10 guage is completely adequate as the VFD is only pulling 10 amps.
I would caution about using two 110 hot legs. It would work only if the two legs were coming off of the opposite sides of the breaker. It would not work if they were coming from the same side. Best is to have a 220 circuit installed. That way, if the circuit was exceeded for some reason, both sides wuold be disconnected.
Not familiar with Canada’s power system. In America, as long as you have a Double pole breaker, they are installed on only 1 leg of the panel, not 1, single pole breaker on each leg of panel, with an earth ground. Note, nowadays they also run a neutral, 4th wire, to say like a 220V dryer or stove for added safety. If you have a single pole breaker on each leg of the panel, both won’t trip at the same time leaving 1 leg HOT, not safe. A double pole breaker allows both legs to trip at the same time and totally disconnect the appliance/machine/device. 220V double pole breakers are, however, distributed somewhat equally across both legs of the panel to help balance amp draw across both here in the US. You don’t put electric furnace, stove, A/C all on the same leg in the panel, you try to balance the amp draw equally on each leg of the panel. As far as I know, a VFD doesn’t have a provision for a 4th wire for say a neutral. In the US, earth ground and neutral are “bonded”, connected together in the panel. My 2cents, anyone else comment if this is wrong or unsafe advice.
Get a Double Pole breaker, that gives you 2 Hot 110V legs, and an Earth ground. This would be a 12-2 or 10-2 Romex wire for instance. VFD powered. If your not comfortable getting into your panel, hire an electrician.
14 ga. wire on a 15 amp breaker, or 12ga. on a 20amp breaker, or 10ga. wire on a 30 amp breaker. Doesn’t matter if connecting to a single or dual pole breaker, that’s the standard wire size relative to breaker size in the US.
Not exactly - in the US, each hot leg needs a separate breaker so the load draws evenly from each phase in the panel. Fairly certain that’s part of the national code and not location dependent. I suspect Canada is the same since it’s 110 vs 220 in Europe.
#standard disclaimer - I am not a licensed electrician; consult local code; don’t be dumb
Canada is basically the same as the US.
You asked: “can I operate the VFD using two hot wires (110V each), similar to what we use for a dryer here in Canada?”
Your VFD & spindle need a 240V circuit on a double pole breaker. That is made up of two 120V hot legs from separate phases, plus a ground, all in a single circuit.
A modern dryer circuit is a single circuit that provides BOTH 120V and 240V, controlled by a single double-pole breaker.
So there’s some similarities, but some differences too.
Don’t even think about tapping into two different 120V circuits. That’s asking for fire/electrocution.
-Mark
Thanks for your feedback. I connected it to the dryer plug, and it worked. It seems that the company configured everything on the VFD except the voltage, which was set to 380V. I reduced it to 220V since that’s what’s specified on the spindle body.