Fieldlines.com || Make your electricity from scratch!

Front Page - [Homebrewed Electricity-- (wind) (solar) (hydro) (steam) (controls) (storage) (mechanical)] - Classifieds - Site News
Everything - Newbies - [Remote Living-- (housing) (heat) (light) (water)] - Reviews - Diaries - Our Products

Inverter Croaked
By soyer38301, Section Controls Posted on Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 12:01:29 AM MST
Inverter Croaked

Right when we finally get some wind here this week my inverter croaked....Cotek 1500W. Had it disconnected from the circuit to the house, no lightening storms, batteries were at 48.6 volts...
Came home yesterday and the inverter looked like it had been turned off. Checked it and the switch was on. Turned it off and back on again -- no joy.
Moved the wires from the controller directly to the batteries. It turns on...when it goes to cycle on the over load light comes on -- this without any load on it...
To those of you with long time inverter experience -- where should I start looking? I am planning on taking it to my dad's -- he has an ociliscope as well as some other equipment and a decent knowledge of electronic components. It would be good to possibly know where to start looking,,,
Thanks
Scott O

Inverter Croaked | 10 comments (10 topical)

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by TomW on Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 06:53:16 PM MST

soyer;

Uh, where to start looking?

Inside!

Seriously, though, look for opened fuses and sniff for the stink of blown parts. Did you check to see if there was voltage to the inverters terminals and check any breaker / fuse in between the inverter and batteries? You do have fusing between batteries and inverter, don't you?

FETs and capacitors are common failure devices in inverters.

Tom

Ignarus can exsisto rememdium. Sardus est forever

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by jimjjnn on Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 08:54:55 AM MST

User Manual states that there should be a fuze installed between the batteries and inverter . In the positive + cable
Denver,CO
[ Parent ]

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by dnix71 on Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 08:01:14 PM MST

Nice unit. £440 new, pure sine.

The pdf user manual can be downloaded here:

http://www.brightgreenenergy.co.uk/cotek_inverters.asp

Your unit has a serial port for 2-way communication.

It is also different from most inverters that size in that neutral and ground are bonded during operation. If it overloads during startup then the most likely cause is a shorted FET.

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by jimjjnn on Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 08:51:47 AM MST

According to User Manual, there is an internal fuze.I'd start there first. If fuze continues to blow, then check FETs
Denver,CO
[ Parent ]

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by soyer38301 on Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 02:33:42 PM MST

Jim,

Thanks. Actually there are 6 internal fuses -- all 10 amp where the line connects to the board. All were bad. I have them replaced which was a little bit of a pain.

All 6 fuses (automotive spade type) were not placed as easy removal. The spades of the fuses were soldered to the board! Rather than pull the board I soldered 16Ga wire to the new fuse spades and then to the remaining spades on the board. It is back up and operational! Nothing else in the inverter was damaged -- the fuses did their job.

I will continue to look into this to see if I can figure out what happened.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Scott O

[ Parent ]

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by ghurd on Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 02:58:42 PM MST

Sometimes fuses just fail.
I would just add 6 external automotive fuse holders.
Been there-done that. Looks funny. Works the same.
"No internal user serviceable parts" often means the fuses are blades soldered to the board.
I'd leave it like it is now, until you find it needs more work.
G-

[ Parent ]

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by Madscientist267 on Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 09:03:43 AM MST

Overload condition on an inverter with no load is most likely a MOSFET in the H bridge that has developed a short.

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by Jerry on Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 09:20:43 AM MST

This all reminds me. I've got 2 Cobra 2000 watt inverters given to me.

They are dead but I think replacing a few Mossfets might bring them back to life?

How hard is it to get replacement Mossfets?

Jerry

Airheads Page

[ Parent ]

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by ghurd on Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 09:49:37 AM MST

Most use fairly common mosfets. Newark, Digikey or Mouser should have them.

Be careful about the mosfet tab to the heat sink. Some need to make electrical contact, and some can Not make electrical contact.
G-

[ Parent ]

Re: Inverter Croaked (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by soyer38301 on Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 02:36:28 PM MST

Knew I wasn't done yet...

I am still going to looking into taking the original controller that was provided with this WindMax generator and see if I can't dump straight into the batteries from the generator. I still think this particular controller is adding extra load to keep the blades at a given speed. I still can't get any more than 10 amps out of it...even in high wind like today.

Again - thanks to all who responded.

Scott O

Inverter Croaked | 10 comments (10 topical)

Menu

� create account
� How to use the board
� FAQs
� search the board
� Google search the board

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

Total Views

��142 Scoop users have viewed this posting.

Related Links

� Also by soyer38301

You must be a registered user to post here. It's easy and free, and the link is on the upper right side of your page.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Postings are owned by the poster, but may be deleted or moved at the ADMIN's sole discretion. The Rest � 2009 Forcefield.
You can Email the board ADMIN here. PLEASE include the username you signed up with!