What Every Electrician Should Know About VFDs
He began his career in the electrical trade by engaging in construction activities at a potash mine located west of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Since then, he has accumulated experience in various facets of the electrical trade, including construction, commissioning, and maintenance.
What Every Electrician Should Know About VFDs
Over the years, I’ve seen the trade evolve. Motors used to be simple—contactors, overloads, maybe the occasional soft starter. But today, Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are everywhere. They’re not just for saving energy on HVAC systems; they’ve become the backbone of everything from conveyor systems to water pumps and industrial processes. If you don’t know your way around a VFD, you’re missing a big piece of the puzzle. Worse, you’re leaving yourself open to headaches when something goes wrong.
That’s why we built the VFD Essentials: Programming, Maintenance, and Motor Control Troubleshooting course. It’s not a fluffy seminar full of buzzwords. It’s real-world training designed by people who’ve been there—on-site, tools in hand, troubleshooting machines when time is money, and downtime isn’t an option.
What sets this course apart is the hands-on experience you’ll get in our Mobile Lab. This isn’t a classroom or a static setup—it’s Lab 3.1, a full-size highway trailer customized for industrial training. We bring the lab to you, right to your facility. Your workers will use professional-grade tools to test and diagnose a variety of three-phase motors with internal faults, utilizing IR, DW, WR, impedance, and surge testers. They’ll troubleshoot faulted panels, MCC systems, and more.
Beyond that, they’ll program VFDs from leading manufacturers like ABB, Allen-Bradley, Cutler-Hammer, Danfoss, Eaton, Mitsubishi, Siemens Sinamics, Telemecanique, and Toshiba.
The lab also includes four custom-designed hydraulic systems, built to teach your team how to program constant and variable torque loads. These systems measure pressure, flow, and overload, and can even cavitate the pumps to demonstrate real-world challenges. It’s not just training—it’s a full-scale, practical education for your team that’s built for the realities of the job.
Start with the Basics, Then Get to the Meat
Let’s be real: if you don’t understand the fundamentals of a VFD, everything else will go over your head. That’s why we start with the core components. You’ll learn how a rectifier converts AC to DC, what the DC bus does, and how an inverter generates a Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signal to control your motor.
But we don’t stop there. Sure, you’ll learn the theory, but you’ll also get your hands on the components. You’ll test diodes, check IGBTs, and understand what happens when something fails. By the end, you’ll be comfortable looking at the guts of a drive and knowing what’s happening behind the keypad.
Wiring Like a Pro
Every electrician knows the wiring is just as important as the programming. We take you through the nuts and bolts of control wiring—whether it’s a basic start/stop or a more complex setup with jog and reverse functions.
Got a PLC in the mix? No problem. We’ll show you how to integrate a VFD into a larger system, wire up analog I/O, and program for feedback loops. Ever wondered about sourcing versus sinking inputs or struggled with signal noise? We’ll cover that too, so you can wire with confidence and avoid callbacks.
Programming That Actually Makes Sense
Let’s talk programming. If you’ve ever stared at a VFD’s parameter list and felt overwhelmed, you’re not alone. We break it down in plain language. Need to set up a speed reference? We’ll show you how. Want to program acceleration and deceleration ramps so your motor doesn’t trip the drive or damage your process? We’ve got you covered.
We even go into the advanced stuff. Need to set torque limits for a conveyor to avoid overloading the motor? How about configuring multiple preset speeds for different applications? Whether it’s a straightforward setup or a tricky multi-variable configuration, this course walks you through it step by step.
Troubleshooting: The Skill That Saves the Day
You know what separates a good electrician from a great one? Troubleshooting. It’s one thing to follow a schematic or install a new drive. It’s another to walk into a plant with alarms going off, a VFD fault code flashing, and a line supervisor breathing down your neck, demanding to know when the machine will be back online.
We focus heavily on troubleshooting because that’s where you make your money. From diagnosing discrete input failures to safely testing capacitors and DC buses, we give you the tools to find the problem fast and fix it right the first time.
And we don’t just focus on the VFD itself. Motors are a big part of the equation, and they bring their own challenges—bearing failures, overheating, harmonics. If your VFD is tripping on overcurrent, is it the drive, the motor, or the load? By the end of this course, you’ll know how to answer that question every time.
Installation Tips That Save Headaches
Let’s talk about the stuff that gets overlooked. Cable length, for example. Did you know running a motor cable that’s too long can create voltage reflections that destroy the motor windings? Or that improper grounding can create harmonics that throw your entire system out of whack?
We teach you the little things that make a big difference. Things like how to choose the right cable, when to use a line reactor or filter, and how to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI). This isn’t the stuff you’ll find in a datasheet—it’s what you learn after years of trial and error.
Energy Savings Are Just the Start
Everyone talks about how VFDs save energy. That’s true, and we’ll show you exactly how much you can save using affinity laws and other calculations. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. VFDs also reduce wear and tear on your equipment, improve process control, and let you fine-tune operations in ways you couldn’t dream of with old-school motor control.
You’ll learn how to get the most out of a VFD, whether it’s for a constant torque load like a conveyor or a variable torque load like a pump or fan. And if your client has unique demands—like different speeds for different products—we’ll show you how to make it happen.
Maintenance: Keep It Running, Keep It Safe
Every electrician knows the importance of maintenance, but VFDs bring their own set of challenges. Capacitors dry out over time and need to be checked. Dust buildup can cause overheating, and loose connections can lead to all sorts of intermittent problems.
We teach you how to keep your drives in top shape. From cleaning and cooling to testing capacitors and checking for reflective wave issues, you’ll leave with a maintenance checklist that ensures reliability and prevents costly downtime.
Why This Course Matters
If you’ve been in the trade for a while, you know there’s no substitute for experience. This course doesn’t just teach you about VFDs—it gives you the kind of knowledge that usually takes years to acquire. You’ll leave with the confidence to handle any VFD-related job, whether it’s a new installation, a tricky fault, or a critical repair.
So if you’re ready to take your skills to the next level and become the go-to electrician for VFD work, this course is for you. It’s not just training—it’s an investment in yourself and your career.
