I got a good deal on a couple of little VFD's. They take 120 volt single phase and put out 240 volt 3 phase and are not very big, but they are only rated for 1/4 hp. And me without any 1/4 hp three phase motors.
But at the scrap yard, I ran across a 1/2 hp three phase motor that had a key taped in place on the shaft. May not have ever been used. There were no wire nuts on the power leads and it did not look like they had ever had a wire nut on them.
So can you run an unloaded motor off a VFD that is only rated at half the motors hp? Well the answer is that you can not at least with the VFD that I was trying. After a second or so, the vfd would stop and show an error code. But wait, the motor can be connected for either
240 or 480 volts. Meaning it has two sets of windings. Connect is parallel for 240 volts and in series for 480 volts.
Or you can connect just one set of windings, and voila a 1/4 hp motor. Works with the VFD just fine.
Dan