Author Topic: Ooops (Read 2831 times)

GeeMac · « **on:** November 24, 2007, 02:37:05 PM »

it worked great until I managed to hook up my windmill backwards and shoved positive up the negitive power input and, well it died.

My question is when this happens, what parts usually get fried?

ghurd · « **Reply #1 on:** November 24, 2007, 10:06:29 AM »

Some have / had a crowbar diode just for this kind of thing. Not sure about that one.

If yours has it, and you got lucky, it might have just blown the fuse.

Good luck,

G-

thirteen · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2007, 10:16:43 AM »

you might have some protection inside the mill possibly a burnt wire if you are lucky a internal relay or diode. I would look at it first before tyring to use it with the right leads. A small paint can painting the positive leads might help next time or colored tape on the leads. Most hardware have the type of tape. Mistakes happen good luck.

GeeMac · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2007, 10:35:08 AM »

I looked for a fuse on the outside of the case and saw nothing. I might as well start digging inside it then. If I learn anything from this endeavor, I'll post it here for others.

GeeMac · « **Reply #4 on:** November 24, 2007, 01:02:25 PM »

It's not the mill. I opened up the inverter XPower 1000 from Xantrex. There are two unusual thirty amp fuses on the board. They look like auto fuses except, they have no legs. The legs are installed on the board and the fuse slips over them. I have done a search of the stores in my small town and could not find them. More to come . . .

ghurd · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2007, 04:17:13 PM »

Sounds like a regular "maxi" fuse. Are they green?

Statpower (bought by Xantrex?) used the idea a lot.

They used a standard car fuse, soldered into the PCB, then cut the legs off.

Get a solder sucker or solder wick. De-solder the fuses and pull them out (while hot takes less effort).

Insert the new fuses. Mark the clearances. Remove the fuses and cut off the extra with nippers. Then taper the legs with the cutters to make life easier.

Replace the short legged fuses and solder them in.

Or just solder them in and cut off the legs.

I like to add a smaller external fuse on the input.

It is a LOT easier to change an external 40~50A "Maxi-Fuse"(?) than another pair of soldered in 30A fuses.

GeeMac · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2007, 04:22:55 PM »

That's not quite the set up I have. The legs are sticking out of the board. The green fuse sliders over the legs. So, as much as I like the idea, I have to find a fuse with no legs to slide into place.

OR

Will any 30 amp green fuse do the job? If so I'll solder some leads onto the legs and mount them outside the box?

sPuDd · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2007, 05:26:13 PM »

GeeMac,

How did you have the mill connected backwards across the battery?

Are you using a battery or driving the inverter directly with the mill?

De-solder the old fuses off the PCB and fit a PCB mounted

blade fuse holder. The one shown below is ideal. Just check

to see if the fuse will fit in the case with the extra height.

Altronics Part# S6040

sPuDd..

vawtman · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:06:23 PM »

Gmac

How did you determine the fuse was blown?

GeeMac · « **Reply #9 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:17:41 PM »

I slid it off it's two legs and looked at the wires inside the green plastic. There is a gap in the wire where it is blown.

vawtman · « **Reply #10 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:27:54 PM »

That works for me,Good Luck with the repair.

jonas302 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:36:18 PM »

maybe you can post a pic of the fuse

If you can't find one just solder a new fuse holder in you can get a one with wire pigtails real cheap just mount it outside the box

GeeMac · « **Reply #12 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:39:45 PM »

The inverter

Note the vertical spikes in the red circle.

The fuses - Note - no legs. Instead small slots that fit over the vertical spikes.

jonas302 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 24, 2007, 07:01:21 PM »

I'm not sure my post went though if it did ignore ths one

What you have is an standard automotive blade fuse type ATC soldered to the board like Ghurd had suggested it just came apart when pulled off the legs belong in the fuse I tried one and the pull apart quite easy if you dont want to solder them use a 1/4 crimp connector to fit a external fuse holder to the board

Best of luck

Jonas

ruddycrazy · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2007, 07:25:52 PM »

My old 1700 watt inverter got a reverse 240 surge and I thought it just blew the fuses. I replaced all the fuses and when I powered it up they all blew again. Turned out it blew all the input fets, so I sent it back to the bloke who made it to fix. It wasnt cheap and now the unit is down rated. My adice replace the fuse if it blows go buy another inverter. It will will the less painfull and probably cheapest option.

Cheers Bryan

coldspot · « **Reply #15 on:** November 24, 2007, 07:29:14 PM »

Bummer, But you was lucky

to had internal fuse protection.

What I'd do is-

Solder up two wires long enough to reach out side of box and solder female spade's on each end. (or solder one end of wire to fuse spade legs left on the board with the female's on the other end).

Then standard automotive blade type fuses could be used and if needed again changed easy.

My

$0.02

GeeMac · « **Reply #16 on:** November 24, 2007, 09:02:12 PM »

Thanks folks. I'll snoop around some more and play with the automotive fuses a bit too. In the mean time I'll dust off my smaller inverter and put it to work.

Flux · « **Reply #17 on:** November 25, 2007, 03:28:49 AM »

Good luck with the fuse, you might be lucky but it usually takes out a lot of things.

I still don't understand what you did. If the inverter was connected to the battery as it ought to be, then reversing the mill would not have damaged the inverter. It sounds as though you were trying to run the inverter directly from the mill and that would be disaster.

Perhaps you are trying to avoid telling us that you connected the inverter backwards to the battery, easily done, We have all done such things.

Flux

GeeMac · « **Reply #18 on:** November 25, 2007, 07:03:32 AM »

Geez! The mill was just connected to the system. I guess it just fried. I'm sure it's my fault as I am relatively new to generating power. Thanks flux.

GeeMac · « **Reply #19 on:** November 25, 2007, 07:35:34 AM »

Now, if I can just guess the numbers for the next lottery draw I'll be able to get the inverter I really want.

Thank you all for your comments and help

ghurd · « **Reply #20 on:** November 25, 2007, 08:14:31 AM »

"The mill was just connected to the system"

You mean Without a battery? Thats why it fried!

I wouldn't bother doing more than soldering in new fuses quite yet.

There is a fair chance it's not repairable. 50:50 it will instantly blow the fuses or won't do anything at all.

It's certainly worth a try.

G-

dinges · « **Reply #21 on:** November 25, 2007, 08:34:49 AM »

Ghurd, like you I've been guessing exactly WHAT the original poster did. It's still not clear to me:

Reversed the windmill (3phase connections) ? - shouldn't be an issue

left out the battery with inverter connected to windmill ? - very bad

reversed plus and minus leads going to the inverter ? - very bad, but perhaps repairable.

etc.etc.

"The mill was just connected to the system" means to me: the battery and inverter are connected together (the system). I added the windmill to that system. Then the inverter blew.

But, this scenario doesn't make sense to me, unless there was something wrong with the inverter itself.

Basically, the original poster leaves us guessing as to what he did and what happened.

Peter.

GeeMac · « **Reply #22 on:** November 25, 2007, 09:18:50 AM »

I apologize if my lack of knowledge has misled you. At first I thought I had connected my vawt incorrectly and that that is what caused the problem. I'd been making the diode circuits that convert AC to CD current. Being a neophite, I connected the coverted windmill output to the wires that carry my solar panel current to the charger that feeds my five 12 volt deep cycle marine batteries. I then learned that I should not do that, so I disconnected the windmill from that circuit. The solar panels are fine and continue to generate good power. However, I noticed that my Xantex XPower 1000 watt inverter died. So, I wrongly concluded and reported to you that I had connected the windmill power backwards and that is what I thought killed the inverter. I was wrong. I don't know what killed it, but something did and the likely culprit is me and my ignorance. I appreciate your help, suggestions and above all patients with my stumbling up the learning curve.

dinges · « **Reply #23 on:** November 26, 2007, 06:01:18 PM »

Are you sure that the rectifier (which converts AC to DC) in your windmill is built and wired correctly ?

If not, it could be putting AC into the Xantrex. And that would be bad.

Whatever you did wrong or went wrong is essential to figure out. If not, it's likely that this won't be the last inverter that will be fried.

If you can't figure it out yourself I'd advise to find someone in your area who knows a bit about electronics. In my experience, HAMs (radio amateurs) are usually pretty knowledgeable and willing to help. It might be worthwhile to find one in your area and try to get him to help you a few hours wiring things up.

Peter.

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Author Topic: Ooops (Read 2831 times)