ABBDCS800 Hardware Manual DCS800 Drives (20 to 5200 A)

What this chapter contains

This chapter contains the safety instructions which you must follow when installing, 

operating and servicing the drive. If ignored, physical injury or death may follow, or 

damage may occur to the drive, the motor or driven equipment. Read the safety 

instructions before you work on the unit. 

To which products this chapter applies

The information is valid for the whole range of the product DCS800, the converter 

modules DCS800-S0x size D1 to D7, field exciter units DCF80x, etc. like the Rebuild 

Kit DCS800-R00-9xxx.

Use of warnings and notes

There are two types of safety instructions throughout this manual: warnings and 

notes. Warnings caution you about conditions which can result in serious injury or 

death and/or damage to the equipment. They also tell you how to avoid the danger. 

Notes draw attention to a particular condition or fact, or give information on a 

subject. The warning symbols are used as follows: 

Dangerous voltage warning warns of high voltage which can cause 

physical injury and/or damage to the equipment. 

General danger warning warns about conditions, other than those 

caused by electricity, which can result in physical injury or death and/or 

damage to the equipment.

Electrostatic sensitive discharge warning warns of electrostatic 

discharge which can damage the equipment. 

Installation and maintenance work

These warnings are intended for all who work on the drive, motor cable or motor. 

Ignoring the instructions can cause physical injury or death and/or damage to the 

equipment..

WARNING!

• Only qualified electricians are allowed to install and maintain the drive!

• Never work on the drive, motor cable or motor when main power is applied. 

Always ensure by measuring with a multimeter (impedance at least 1 Mohm) 

that:

1. Voltage between drive input phases U1, V1 and W1 and the frame is 

close to 0 V.

2. Voltage between terminals C+ and D- and the frame is close to 0 V.

• Do not work on the control cables when power is applied to the drive or to the 

external control circuits. Externally supplied control circuits may cause 

dangerous voltages inside the drive even when the main power on the drive is 

switched off. 

• Do not make any insulation resistance or voltage withstand tests on the drive or 

drive modules.

• Isolate the motor cables from the drive when testing the insulation resistance or 

voltage withstand of the cables or the motor.

• When reconnecting the motor cable, always check that the C+ and D- cables 

are connected with the proper terminal. 

Note:

• The motor cable terminals on the drive are at a dangerously high voltage when 

the main power is on, regardless of whether the motor is running or not.

• Depending on the external wiring, dangerous voltages (115 V, 220 V or 230 V) 

may be present on the relay outputs of the drive system (e.g. SDCS-IOB-2 and 

RDIO).

• DCS800 with enclosure extension: Before working on the drive, isolate the 

whole drive from the supply

Grounding

These instructions are intended for all who are responsible for the grounding of the 

drive. Incorrect grounding can cause physical injury, death and/or equipment 

malfunction and increase electromagnetic interference. 

WARNING!

• Ground the drive, motor and adjoining equipment to ensure personnel safety in 

all circumstances, and to reduce electromagnetic emission and pick-up. 

• Make sure that grounding conductors are adequately sized and marked as 

required by safety regulations.

• In a multiple-drive installation, connect each drive separately to protective 

earth (PE ).

• Minimize EMC emission and make a 360° high frequency grounding (e.g. 

conductive sleeves) of screened cable entries at the cabinet lead-through 

plate.

• Do not install a drive equipped with an EMC filter to an ungrounded power 

system or a high resistance-grounded (over 30 ohms) power system.

Note: 

• Power cable shields are suitable as equipment grounding conductors only 

when adequately sized to meet safety regulations.

• As the normal leakage current of the drive is higher than 3.5 mA AC or 10 mA 

DC (stated by EN 50178, 5.2.11.1), a fixed protective earth connection is 

required.

Printed circuit boards and fiber optic cables

These instructions are intended for all who handle the circuit boards and fiber optic 

cables. Ignoring the following instructions can cause damage to the equipment.

WARNING! The printed circuit boards contain components sensitive to electrostatic 

discharge. Wear a grounding wrist band when handling the boards. Do not touch the 

boards unnecessarily.

Use grounding strip:

ABB order no.: 3ADV050035P0001

WARNING! Handle the fiber optic cables with care. When unplugging optic cables, 

always grab the connector, not the cable itself. Do not touch the ends of the fibers 

with bare hands as the fiber is extremely sensitive to dirt. The minimum allowed 

bend radius is 35 mm (1.4 in.).

Mechanical installation

These notes are intended for all who install the drive. Handle the unit carefully to 

avoid damage and injury. 

WARNING!

• DCS800 sizes D4 ... D7: The drive is heavy. Do not lift it alone. Do not lift the 

unit by the front cover. Place units D4, D4+ and D5 only on their back.

DCS800 sizes D5 ... D7: The drive is heavy. Lift the drive by the lifting lugs 

only. Do not tilt the unit. The unit will overturn from a tilt of about 6 degrees.

• Make sure that dust from drilling does not enter the drive when installing. 

Electrically conductive dust inside the unit may cause damage or lead to 

malfunction.

• Ensure sufficient cooling.

• Do not fasten the drive by riveting or welding

Operation

These warnings are intended for all who plan the operation of the drive or operate 

the drive. Ignoring the instructions can cause physical injury or death and/or damage 

to the equipment.

WARNING!

• Before adjusting the drive and putting it into service, make sure that the motor 

and all driven equipment are suitable for operation throughout the speed range 

provided by the drive. The drive can be adjusted to operate the motor at 

speeds above and below the base speed. 

• Do not control the motor with the disconnecting device (disconnecting mains); 

instead, use the control panel keys and , or commands via the I/O 

board of the drive. 

• Mains connection

You can use a disconnect switch (with fuses) to disconnect the electrical 

components of the drive from the mains for installation and maintenance work. 

The type of disconnect switch used must be as per EN 60947-3, Class B, so as 

to comply with EU regulations, or a circuit-breaker type which switches off the 

load circuit by means of an auxiliary contact causing the breaker's main 

contacts to open. The mains disconnect must be locked in its "OPEN" position 

during any installation and maintenance work.

• EMERGENCY STOP buttons must be installed at each control desk and at all 

other control panels requiring an emergency stop function. Pressing the STOP 

button on the control panel of the drive will neither cause an emergency stop of 

the motor, nor will the drive be disconnected from any dangerous potential.

To avoid unintentional operating states, or to shut the unit down in case of any 

imminent danger according to the standards in the safety instructions it is not 

sufficient to merely shut down the drive via signals "RUN", "drive OFF" or 

"Emergency Stop" respectively "control panel" or "PC tool".

• Intended use

The operating instructions cannot take into consideration every possible case 

of configuration, operation or maintenance. Thus, they mainly give such advice 

only, which is required by qualified personnel for normal operation of the 

machines and devices in industrial installations.

If in special cases the electrical machines and devices are in-tended for use in 

non-industrial installations - which may require stricter safety regulations (e.g. 

protection against contact by children or similar) - these additional safety 

measures for the installation must be provided by the customer during 

assembly.

Note: 

• When the control location is not set to Local (L not shown in the status row of 

the display), the stop key on the control panel will not stop the drive. To stop 

the drive using the control panel, press the LOC/REM key and then the stop 

key .

Chapter overview

This chapter describes briefly the operating principle and construction of the 

converter modules in short.

The DCS800

The DCS800-S size D1 - D7 are intended for controlling DC motors

Chapter overview

This chapter describes the mechanical installation of the DCS800.

Unpacking the unit

• Open the box,

• take out shock dampers, 

• separate manual and accessories.

Attention:

Do not lift the drive by the cover! 

Delivery check

Check that there are no signs of damage. Before attempting installation and 

operation, check the information on the nameplate of the converter module to verify 

that the unit is of the correct type. The label includes an IEC rating, cULus, C-tick 

(N713) and CE markings, a type code and a serial number, which allow individual 

identification of each unit. The remaining digits complete the serial number so that 

there are no two units with the same serial number.

See an example nameplate below. 

Before installation

Install the drive in an upright position with the cooling section facing a wall. Check 

the installation site according to the requirements below. Refer to chapter 

Dimensions and weights for frame details. 

Requirements for the installation site

See chapter Technical data for the allowed operation conditions of the drive.

Wall

The wall should be as close to vertical as possible, of non-flammable material and 

strong enough to carry the weight of the unit. Check that there is nothing on the wall 

to inhibit the installation. 

Floor

The floor or material below the installation should be non-flammable. 

Free space around the unit

Around the unit free space is required to enable cooling airflow, service and 

maintenance see chapter Dimensions and weights.

Cabinet installation

The required distance between parallel units is five millimetres (0.2 in.) in 

installations without the front cover. The cooling air entering the unit must not exceed 

+40 °C (+104 °F). 

Preventing cooling air recirculation Unit above another

Prevent air recirculation inside and outside the cabinet.

Terminal cover according to VBG 4 regulations

For converter modules size D1 - D4 shrouds for protection against contact are 

provided. 

Mount the D1, D2 cover using the existing lateral pins and than swing it down to snap it into the terminal 

row. D3 and D4 mounting is the same, without the snap-in mechanism.

Mounting the converter module D4+ inside an enclosure

Cooling air inlet

The cooling fan blows the air out of the front, right and left side of the converter 

module. View from

View from: right side front side left side:

Free space around the converter module

In mm:

Planning the electrical installation

Chapter overview

This chapter contains the instructions that must be followed when selecting the 

motor, cables, protections, cable routing and way of operation for the drive system. 

Always follow local regulations. This chapter applies to all DCS800 converter 

modules.

Attention:

If the recommendations given by ABB are not followed, the drive may experience 

problems that the warranty does not cover. See also Technical Guide.

Options 

Line reactors (L1)

For armature and field supply.

When thyristor converters operate, the line voltage is short-circuited during 

commutation from one thyristor to the next. This operation causes voltage dips in the 

mains PCC (point of common coupling). For the connection of a power converter 

system to the mains, one of the following configurations applies:

Configuration A

When using a converter, a minimum of impedance is required to 

ensure proper performance of the snubber circuit. Use a line reactor 

to meet this minimum impedance requirement. The value must 

therefore not drop below 1 % uk (relative impedance voltage). It 

should not exceed 10 % uk, due to considerable voltage drops at the 

converters outputs.

Configuration B

If special requirements have to be met at the PCC (standards like EN 

61 800-3, DC and AC drives at the same line, etc), different criteria 

must be applied for selecting a line reactor. These requirements are 

often defined as a voltage dip in percent of the nominal supply 

voltage. The combined impedance of ZLine and ZL1 constitute the total 

series impedance of the installation. The ratio between the line 

impedance and the line reactor impedance determines the voltage dip 

at the PCC. In such cases, line chokes with an impedance around 4 % 

are often used. 

Example calculation with ukLine = 1 % and ukL1 = 4 %:

Voltage dip = ZLine / (ZLine + ZL1) = 20 %. Detailed calculations see