What is the first thing to set on a new VFD?

The motor nameplate data. Voltage, full load current, base frequency, rated speed and power. The drive uses these to build its internal model of the motor, so every calculation after them, including autotune, is wrong if they are wrong.

Should I run the autotune?

Yes, for any vector control mode. It measures the motor's actual resistance and inductance, which vary between motors of the same rating. Skipping it and relying on the nameplate alone gives poor low speed torque and sluggish response. In simple V/f mode it matters much less.

Why does my motor trip on overcurrent during acceleration?

Usually the acceleration ramp is shorter than the load's inertia allows, so the drive demands more current than its limit permits. Lengthen the ramp first. If the ramp is already long, check the current limit setting, the motor data, and whether the load is genuinely larger than assumed.

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Drives & Motion·8 min read·August 18, 2026

The twelve VFD parameters that actually matter

A drive has hundreds of parameters and a dozen decide whether the motor runs properly. Which ones, in the order to set them.

Short answer

Motor nameplate data first: voltage, current, frequency, speed and power factor, because everything the drive calculates depends on them. Then control mode, command and reference source, acceleration and deceleration ramps, minimum and maximum frequency, current limit, and the stop method. Run an autotune after the nameplate data and before tuning anything else. Everything beyond those twelve is refinement.

Open the manual for a modern drive and there are somewhere between four hundred and two thousand parameters. Perhaps a dozen decide whether the motor turns properly, and the rest are refinements to a system that is already working.

Here is the dozen, in the order to set them, because the order matters.

1 to 5: the nameplate

Voltage, full load current, base frequency, rated speed and rated power, copied from the plate on the motor rather than from the order paperwork.

The drive builds an internal model of the motor from these numbers. Every subsequent calculation, including the autotune, is anchored to them. A drive told the motor is 400 V when it is 230 V will do the wrong thing confidently.

Rated speed is the one people fill in wrongly. It is the full load speed on the plate, 1440 rpm on a four pole 50 Hz motor, not the synchronous 1500. The difference is the slip, and the drive uses it.

6: control mode

The most consequential single choice.

V/f, or volts per hertz. The drive holds a fixed ratio of voltage to frequency and does not care what the motor is doing. Simple, robust, fine for fans and pumps, poor torque below a few hertz. Also the only mode that runs several motors from one drive.

Sensorless vector. The drive estimates rotor position and flux from current and voltage, and controls torque directly. Far better low speed torque and much better dynamic response. Needs accurate motor data and an autotune.

Closed loop vector. Sensorless vector with an encoder. Full torque at zero speed, accurate speed holding, and the only mode for real positioning.

The rule of thumb: fans and pumps are V/f, conveyors and mixers are sensorless vector, anything that has to hold position or produce torque at standstill needs the encoder.

7: the autotune

Run it after the nameplate data and before anything else is adjusted.

It measures the stator resistance and the leakage inductance of the actual motor on the end of the actual cable. Two motors of the same rating from the same manufacturer differ enough to matter, and a hundred metres of cable is not nothing.

A static autotune is done with the motor stopped and is usually enough. A rotating autotune measures more accurately and requires the load to be disconnected, which is often impractical.

8 and 9: command and reference source

Two separate settings, and confusing them is the commonest reason a commissioned drive does nothing.

Command source is where start and stop come from: terminals, keypad, or fieldbus.

Reference source is where the speed comes from: analogue input, keypad, preset speeds, or fieldbus.

They can differ, and often should. Start and stop hardwired to the terminals for safety and simplicity, speed over the network.

10: acceleration and deceleration ramps

How long from zero to base frequency and back. The default is usually ten seconds and is usually wrong in both directions.

Too short and the drive trips on overcurrent accelerating, or on DC bus overvoltage decelerating, because a decelerating load feeds energy back. Too long and the process waits.

If it trips on deceleration and the ramp is already generous, the answer is a braking resistor, not a longer ramp. The energy has to go somewhere, and without a resistor the only place is the DC bus.

11: minimum and maximum frequency

Maximum protects the machine from being run past its design speed. Minimum protects a self cooled motor from running slowly at load with no airflow over it, which is a genuine way to burn a motor that never draws excessive current.

12: stop method

Ramp to stop, coast to stop, or DC injection braking. This interacts with the machine's safety design and with the stop category the risk assessment requires, so it is not purely a process choice.

What comes after

Skip slip compensation, torque boost, PID and the rest until the motor is turning correctly. Adjusting a refinement to compensate for wrong nameplate data produces a drive that works in one operating point and nowhere else.

Common questions

What is the first thing to set on a new VFD?: The motor nameplate data. Voltage, full load current, base frequency, rated speed and power. The drive uses these to build its internal model of the motor, so every calculation after them, including autotune, is wrong if they are wrong.
Should I run the autotune?: Yes, for any vector control mode. It measures the motor's actual resistance and inductance, which vary between motors of the same rating. Skipping it and relying on the nameplate alone gives poor low speed torque and sluggish response. In simple V/f mode it matters much less.
Why does my motor trip on overcurrent during acceleration?: Usually the acceleration ramp is shorter than the load's inertia allows, so the drive demands more current than its limit permits. Lengthen the ramp first. If the ramp is already long, check the current limit setting, the motor data, and whether the load is genuinely larger than assumed.