inverter fuses blown

[sensij]

this has made me think off grid PV is in its infancy, trying to make stand alone fit into grid transmission voltages so you can use transmission voltage appliances wont work . there needs to be stand alone appliances designed around DC voltages . then the inverter will be obsolete

Inverters exist and are reliably used every day at much higher powers than you require. The problem is that you don't want to pay for a good one, and as you are finding, generic ebay inverters don't last. In your threads, the point has been made repeatedly that going cheap with off-grid equipment is likely to be more expensive in the long run, and you are proving it. Thank you.

[jflorey2]

here is some reading about an inverter bought off ebay from taiwan http://ludens.cl/Electron/chinverter/chinverter.html

That is a great analysis of a lousy inverter by someone who clearly understands power electronics design. It reminds me of Solarguppy's fixes of the horrendous first generation Trace ST grid tie inverters.

[almac]

i meant the lights in the house were pulsing, the current from the inverter was uneven. eventually it wouldnt run anything. had to reconfig some of my batteries to 12v so i could use the remaining 12 inverter i have. it runs fine. its a MSW but runs the fridge and everything else like a sine wave , anyway having experienced too many large wattage inverters fail, (no inverters 600w or under have failed on me) i think the components are not up to withstanding large loads , plus they are expensive. can get by without my 1450w coffee machine. the 600w runs the washing mashine and fridge and everything else so it will do. this has made me think off grid PV is in its infancy, trying to make stand alone fit into grid transmission voltages so you can use transmission voltage appliances wont work . there needs to be stand alone appliances designed around DC voltages . then the inverter will be obsolete

[SunEagle]

this inverter is a 2000w pure sine wave that crapped itself 2 days ago. it is not dead, there is no obvious damage to any components. it started pulsing the lights. it was like the current was over correcting like a car trying to steer a straight line but constantly over correcting. placing a load on the inverter steadied the current for a while but the pulsing returned then eventually became so severe that nothing would run on this inverter any longer. what component would cause this?[ATTACH=CONFIG]n301289[/ATTACH]

Not sure what you mean about pulsing lights. Are they your load or indicators on the inverter?

You really need to get a meter and measure both the voltage and current at different points to see if the batteries, load or internal components are causing the pulsing. Or is could be a safety set point programmed in the inverter that is making it perform that way.

[almac]

this inverter is a 2000w pure sine wave that crapped itself 2 days ago. it is not dead, there is no obvious damage to any components. it started pulsing the lights. it was like the current was over correcting like a car trying to steer a straight line but constantly over correcting. placing a load on the inverter steadied the current for a while but the pulsing returned then eventually became so severe that nothing would run on this inverter any longer. what component would cause this?DSCN0001.JPG

[SunEagle]

That warning just reinforces what a number of us have been saying about those cheap inverters. Although "Buyer Beware" is not strong enough of a warning in my book.

[almac]

here is some reading about an inverter bought off ebay from taiwan http://ludens.cl/Electron/chinverter/chinverter.html

[SunEagle]

inverters really are the weakest link in PV. especially the large 2000w ones. another pure sine wave inverter crapped itself. they dont like hot days. from now im using modified sine wave only because they are alot cheaper. doing away with high wattage appliances, going to get a gas / DC fridge. stick to smaller cheaper inverters no more than 600w

That is probably a good idea. Some appliances put a big strain on an inverter due to their high "starting" load.

[almac]

inverters really are the weakest link in PV. especially the large 2000w ones. another pure sine wave inverter crapped itself. they dont like hot days. from now im using modified sine wave only because they are alot cheaper. doing away with high wattage appliances, going to get a gas / DC fridge. stick to smaller cheaper inverters no more than 600w

[SunEagle]

Find a way to test your power FETS before you spend time and money changing out caps. If the failed caps also fried the FETs, you will have to get matched sets to replace them too, If you can still find them. Substitute parts may need all the biasing re-adjusted, or it may need adjusting anyway,

I agree with you. Electronic component failures usually have a cascade affect where other components become weak or fail besides the ones that you can easily find.

[Mike90250]

Find a way to test your power FETS before you spend time and money changing out caps. If the failed caps also fried the FETs, you will have to get matched sets to replace them too, If you can still find them. Substitute parts may need all the biasing re-adjusted, or it may need adjusting anyway,

[PNjunction]

i think it is a capacitor too, the big capacitor on the right in the pic had a heat blistered plastic cap that was falling away. i removed the burnt plastic cap b4 i took the pic. reading some articles electrolytic capacitors are one of the main causes for inverter failure

There is one thing about being frugal and under limited resources - we understand that. But buying *critical* pieces of gear used from unknown outlets is always a crapshoot. Especially if those devices come from about a decade or so ago when fake capacitors were rampant in the industry. (mostly due to industrial espionage where half the formula was stolen, and the stabilizing agents were left out). Fooled a LOT of good manufacturers. and OEM's.

The reason we're being hard on you is that we don't want your trash-pile to kill you. Harsh, but deep down as humans, the last thing we want to read is an RIP notice here.

[PNjunction]

And that's the problem. Surge strips should not be used with mod-sine inverters. ModSine has high peaks that activate the MOV's in the strip, and they are constantly being degraded, and eventually fail.

Mike - THANK YOU. You just saved my ass. I use modsine for led lighting, and of course, this is going to fail if my strips have mov's - which are already about a decade old. Thanks for pointing this out, I had totally overlooked that.

[almac]

I hope the problem was just a bad capacitor and not something else. Based on your description of the plastic wrap it was the capacitor that got over heated and failed.

Now while it may not be important, the capacitor failure could be the result of external reasons (overload, reverse polarity, voltage spike, etc.). So be aware that a new inverter might gets "stressed" if it is exposed to something it does not like.

Keep us informed of your new system when you get it up and running.

my system is always running because i need it for my electricity. from reading about inverter failure i understand that electrolytic capacitors will fail eventually. the paste slowly dries out. inverters last longer if they run light loads. this inverter was 1700w, probably not enough for the appliances i use. so i suspect i shortened its life running maximum loads on it like 1450w coffee machine. if the warranty is not given i might try replacing the capacitor later on. you can get cheap 2000w modified wave inverters for under $70au. i might use one of those to run higher current drawing appliances.

[SunEagle]

i think it is a capacitor too, the big capacitor on the right in the pic had a heat blistered plastic cap that was falling away. i removed the burnt plastic cap b4 i took the pic. reading some articles electrolytic capacitors are one of the main causes for inverter failure

I hope the problem was just a bad capacitor and not something else. Based on your description of the plastic wrap it was the capacitor that got over heated and failed.

Now while it may not be important, the capacitor failure could be the result of external reasons (overload, reverse polarity, voltage spike, etc.). So be aware that a new inverter might gets "stressed" if it is exposed to something it does not like.

Keep us informed of your new system when you get it up and running.