Can I used this VFD cable for 2.2k vfd spindle

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I bought a cable on ebay (eBay link and I received it in the mail today. It only has three wires in it (Black, White Green) and a copper shield around it. All the other cables I see online have 4 wires in them, and people bond the shielding to the green ground wire. Am I able to just use the shielding as the ground wire? Thank you.

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Use it for what? He’s selling it to run power from the wall outlet, to the VFD drive, and at only 16ga wire, that’s a little light for a 2.2kw spindle.

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I’m looking for the wire which goes from the VFD to the spindle. Everything I’ve read says the 16/3 is the right wire. But that doesn’t seem to add up.

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The seller’s descritpion states that it’s for running power from the wall, to the VFD, nothing about it to be used for running power from the VFD to the spindle.

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I see where PwnCNC is using 18 ga wire for the spindle cables they sell, I guess you need to check with the Ebay seller for an answer, That way, if you let the smoke out, it would be on him.

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I went the buy once cry once route and got proper VFD cable from Automation Direct, 20 foot minimum. For my 1.5KW spindle I used 16 AWG which made for some fun at the aviation connector on the motor.
https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/wiring_solutions/bulk_multi-conductor_cable/vfd_cable/vfdc-16-4b-1

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Short answer, absolutely not.

This eBay seller, eDealers Direct Automation, is very reputable and even has a Youtube channel (Corvetteguy50) where he covers how to properly wire VFD spindles. The 16ga wire is perfect for a 2.2kW spindle but it seems that you bought the wrong wire, 16/3 instead of 16/4, and I would recommend emailing him about the situation.

Using the metal shielding as a ground wire is inadequate and you will defeat the purpose of a double shielded wire. It’s possible you may experience bad cuts due to EMI and the spindle may never be properly grounded.

Try emailing him at Storm2313@gmail.com, explain the situation, and see if you can ship back the wire and exchange for the proper 16/4 cable.

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