Pure Sine Wave Inverters

[John M]

Hi John,
I have one of those inverter/chargers, bought it probably 12 mths ago and it;s still in the box I was thinking of mounting it in the Mazda but room is the big issue.
Is your unit laying down on it's back or standing upright?
How noisy are the fans when it starts working seriously?
What size is your air cond?
Have you actually measured the standby current?

I think we will have the battery capacity to power the air con if we have the room to mount the bits. the other choice is to fit the monster at home and take the small inverters, skip using the air con and run 2 separate power circuits, one from each inverter, each with it's own RCD/RVD combo circuit breaker, doubles the cost and complexity but reduces the over all bulk of the inverter.

T1 Terry

Hi Terry,
From the top, the unit is laying down on its back'
I do not note notice the unit as being noisy, the only time I have used it under real load is with the A/c and washing machine these are way noisier than the inverter, which is in the boot.
The A/c is an Aircommand I think it is called a wren but not sure, it is reverse cycle about 2200w.
The actual standby draw with zero output (main isolator turned off) is 3.05A
I have just found out that if I switch through to "Battery charger" mode not "power saver" it is not switched automatically to inverter mode.
John

[T1 Terry]

Thanks John, guess I'll have to get out of the box now

T1 Terry

[Pokey]

I picked up a 1500W one of ebay to basically run the coffee machine in the morning. Works perfectly so far and about half the price of similar looking ones at Jcar and similar stores.

[Penguin]

Does anyone know how to troubleshoot a failed inverter? I have some elementary electronic skills (60's version) and would like to be able to repair it.

[BruceS]

No Penguin but when you give up you can put it with mine & we'll sell 'em as a pair!!
Mine has a distinct cooked smell about it.
It actually failed when nothing was plugged into it but was just turned on.
Time was up I guess?

[T1 Terry]

Does anyone know how to troubleshoot a failed inverter? I have some elementary electronic skills (60's version) and would like to be able to repair it.

Does it light up the over load light soon after it is turned on without anything plugged in? If it's that failed, replace the mosfets attached to the alloy case with a plate and some screws, use new heat transfer pads and plenty of heat sink paste. I'm guessing you have already checked the fuses with a multimeter for power both sides.
Many of the circuit boards have built in test points, a bit of circuit drawing and adding in the component values will give you what you should see at the next test point.... it'll keep you off the streets for a while They are so cheap now very few people fix them but there is a mob near Bulahdelah in NSW that repaired them a while back, I'll see if I can find the address.

[Bill Turner]

I too have a failed inverter, it just failed to power-up one day and hasn't worked since. It's genuine El-Cheapo Chinese and had given 3 years light usage powering microwave, washing machine, and ceiling fans when shore power was not available. When I transferred it to my lithium bank at 30v it refused to start. It is voltage protected and runs only between 22-30 volts. If the problem is the overvoltage I have not found a way to reset yet. I bought another similar inverter(Power Jack) and this came with comprehensive troubleshooting instructions which may be useful if it ever fails. Trying to get mine repaired does not look promising, and another new one may be the quickest and cheapest way to get a spare. I presently have 2 2.5 kw inverters in the camper, 12 and 24 volt, and want to remove the 12v and its batteries but will not until I have a spare 24v inverter. I could use the 12v inverter on half the lithium bank with some long runs of welding cable. The 24v x 100ah lithium bank comfortably keeps ahead of my 65-80 ah daily usage and the newly installed 1 kw of solar should keep me fully recharged on the cloudiest day.

[Penguin]

Hi T1 Terry,

The fault light come on as soon as the unit is switched on. The unit has 8 mosfets and I've replaced them all. I've been treating the unit as play thing to see if I still had some skill to be able to successfully repair it. After I posted I read elsewhere that sometimes the capacitors can give way. I've yet to check them.

Penguin

[T1 Terry]

Leave the unit disconnected for a day, touch the lead on the battery, there should be a solid zap as the capacitors recharge, take if off the battery for a few mins and try it again, there should be very little zap. I still haven't figured out if it's the caps that die or there are dry joints on the path to them. I have one inverter that requires being connected for an hr before it comes good, then it works 24/7 with no hassles.
When you figure out that one please let us know, I have a box full of those ones