Leaving ABB VFDs off

Saturn_Europa

Senior Member
Location
Fishing Industry
Occupation
Electrician Limited License NC, QMED Electrician
I work on a large fishing boat. There are 3 very expensive ABB VFDs that run deck winches. We’ve seen ground fault failures with the VFDs during ship yard maintenance. During this time, the VFDs are not in use and but are powered on. The main switch board had a ground fault and we traced the fault back to the ABB VFDs. The only solution was to replace the VFDs.

Is it better to turn off the power to the VFDs if we’re not going to be using them for a few months?

During ship yard maintenance there’s lots of welding and blackouts when switching from shore power to generator.

The only downside I can see to leaving the VFDs powered down is possibly condensation accumulation.
 
YASKAWA dealer here:

Absolutely shut them down. Put a trash bag around them. They need to be off when switching from shore to generator.
 
Top