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A tale of two inverters
wpowokal:
Regulars may remember that I retired to Far North Queensland Australia (FNQ) to a place called Cow Bay, that being north of the Daintree river http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz0IHLN_A-4 and that makes us "isolated". Not that it is far to the nearest town, just an hours drive but to have a trade person out is like $200 OZ each way then time on the job. So we all help each other, here begins my tale, my good mate works away quite a lot and he and wife, like me rely on renewable energy.
It began with a call from said wife one splendid FNQ day, telling me the inverter had failed, so across the mountain range I drove to confirm upon arrival that some of the Mosfets were zapped.
As I had taken the precaution of taking my spare 3Kw 24v inverter with me I reconfigured the batteries to 24V from 48V, installed my inverter and she had power again.
So being a bit short of the ready ($$$$$) my mate purchased http://www.ebay.com/itm/4000w-8000w-pure-sine-wave-SOLAR-inverter-48v-50A-battery-charger-LCD-220v-/140723696831?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123
This inverter was obtained for a very good price and at first glance seemed a good buy, however it lacks the sophistication we are used to in OZ made equipment, however the seller was very accommodating. He sent a 50A? charger free of all costs since the inverter could be an inverter plus solar regulator OR inverter and charger. We were able to hack into his site to obtain information about re-programming said inverter.
Little by little the inverter was re programmed to suit site conditions, the charger arrived,
It worked well as a <25Amp charger, so much for it being a 50 Amp charger, we did later up the amps but it got hot so returned it to original setting.
There is much more to this story but ATM I am unable to insert more than one pic, which seriously detracts from the intended tale so I give up and will try again another day.
Allan of the jungle
wpowokal:
I am cursed, even in a reply I can post only one pic!
Frank S:
Mate your not cursed. when you attach a pic look just under where it says choose file you should see in ( more attachments) select that each time for more pics and to the right select where you want them to appear usually will be inline expandable thumbnail
hope it helps Cheers
wpowokal:
Thanks Frank, I will try again starting with the pics that should have been in the first post.
This being the business end of the old inverter, an OZ made unit built like a brick outhouse and the predecessor of the unit I am used to.
This being the repairs I had to make to the charger, on one of my trips over the mountain said wife told me, over the mandatory cup of tea, that the charger had also stopped working. Upon investigation we( I say we because she did the work under my watchful eye) discovered that the 240V socket was U/S, OK but what was very disturbing was the earth pin was connected to diddly squat, now for an all metal case this was a worry. But as you can see from the pic, hard wiring worked a treat.
The new inverter, as value for money I give this a big tick, and the seller an enormous tick.
The connection area of the inverter.
What makes the new inverter work.
To allow the new inverter to work as a inverter/charger ( the 50 amp charger was a miserable failure) albeit at only 6 amps. He purchased a cheep Chinese solar regulator which works a treat, it replaced the PL60 that had gone somewhat troppo.
A relic of the past, a perfectly good but fuel hungry gas (LPG) gen set.
I am pleased to say all is operating as well a a cheep inverter can, there is another uncompleted task at my mates place, which concerns the refurbishment of a Chinese diesel gen set, but ATM that must wait as I feel the need to take my dog for a swim at Cow Bay beach.
Our tropical waters are very warm ATM and very enjoyable.
I have also been busy developing my own separate 12 V system, separate that is from my 48 volt system, but more on that later. Oh and if you ask nicely I may include a few pics of a recent trip to the Great Barrier Reef, absolutely nothing to do with renewable energy but just to get you drooling a bit.
Allan of tropical Far North Queensland OZ
Frank S:
I have the same PWM only I have the CM6024Z model
I won't say it's the bee's knees but I have seen it do 72 Amps for a short short. One thing I did was use standoff studs to mount mine with a 1 inch air gap behind it. This greatly reduces it's heat build up
I'm feeding it with #2AWG THHN stranded, and it feeds the the batteries with the same ga wire with a centeral connection point for it, the Schumaker 60/30 the 500MCM to the 3000w inverter, and the 000 for the small 1800w inverter, and the batteries all converge
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