Let's unravel HVACR complexities with Tim R. Skell!
Our expert, Tim R. Skell, spent almost 3 years sharing his expertise in the #FunFactFriday series on LinkedIn. Now, we are giving him a forum to exchange news, knowledge, and passion for HVACR technologies in the new ABB column.
Join the discussion with Tim R. Skell on LinkedIn to read other fun facts and share ideas!
The easy answer is to password-protect the control panel, and drives like the ACH580, ACQ580, or ACS580 do support having a custom passcode. Or some folks simply remove the control panel from the drive and lock it in the Chief Engineer / Supervisor’s desk drawer.
But those are not always an ideal solution, as folks are concerned about forgetting the passcode or not having immediate access to that locked-up control panel in a drawer.
So, what’s another solution? I recommend using the Checksum.
What’s a Checksum with respect to a VSD?
After the drive is fully commissioned, a Checksum value is created that is unique to that drive’s configuration. Now if a parameter is changed at a later date, away from that “known good” parameter set, the drive can be configured to do things like notify the Building Automation System – Building Management System (BAS-BMS), indicate a warning on the screen, or log an event.
So, if you are the 3rd shift person who likes to push buttons to mess with the 1st shift person…beware they are going to know what you did if Checksum is enabled!
For more details see the technical note on the Checksum feature.
ACH580 drives family 
ACQ580 drives family 
ACS580 drives family
