You need some ventilation in that box you have them installed in - Even if the fans are working they are just going to recirculate the hot air, which means they will stay warm, the fans will run way more hours than they would otherwise need to and burn out faster. I have the exact same inverter and what I've done is take the bottom panel off and have it sitting on a laptop cooler which is just like a tray that you sit under a laptop that has a 120mm fan blowing through it. Keeps the inverter so cool it's own fans never even turn on anymore since I did it.
Jack Good is right about ventilating that box. With out getting some outside air in, it's just moving its own heated air around. It will never get any cooler.
My experience with fans has been that the only problem is that they use crap lubricants. In every case (dozens) I've just taken the fan apart (usually just a snap ring under a sticker and then the fan slides out) I've cleaned the old lube out with alcohol then used some good lube like triflow or something and they have never failed again after that.
Hi Jehu. Greetings from Portugal. I am digging this because I also own a similar 1kW grid tie inverter for ~1.5 years, still running fine, but I found now a nasty feature on my inverter and I just wanted to check if this was the same with your model. So when the fans kick in the MPPT goes crazy and shuts down for ~1 sec, then it starts again but it take ~3 minutes to get the maximum power again. The problem is that with good weather now and moderate temperatures, even though the inverter is at home on a fresh area agains a concrete wall (cooler) the fans still kick in on a ~20 minutes ratio. So if you do the maths, there's a lot of power wasted during this nasty MPPT on/off thing. I think I will need to order a decent grid tie this summer! Cheers and thanks for you great videos/tutors!
Cheap inverters don't have impedence matched mosfets so inevitably one is going die prematurely from more load heat resistance and then short the others as well. Another important point is to make sure they are all tightened to the heat sinks very well as if one is not sinking it heat effeciently it will be the one to burn up and short out the rest in parellel.
I'm thinking about getting one of the 1kw units. I'll only be running about 500 watts though it. So hopefully only using it at half it's rated output will keep it alive longer. Also, it will be installed inside the house so water damage wont be an issue. Because of that I'm actually thinking about taking the back of it off, and mounting it above a 1 or 2 140mm computer fans blowing right inside it. Should be WAY more air flow.
Hello I have one of them, it works for a Year now with 600w solar pannels attached to it, it works ok in a sunny day but in a day with intermittent clouds the mppt just does not work ok, it take 5 minutes to go to full power after a little shade pass over the pannels.
I have 3 of the blue inverters and I purchased them on amazon. They have a monitoring system that you can purchase from Aliexpress. Its called the "Wifi Port Plug for MPPT 1000W/2000W NEW SUN Solar Grid Tie Inverter RS485 connected Web/Phone App on Line Monitoring" and It works quite nicely. Also, I have had to return 2 because they were DOA and would not produce. I cant wait to see your video on these and hopefully the battery limiting functions this inverter can apparently use!
I also bought two of those inverters about 2 years ago and they both ran fine all the way up till I replace them with new ones that ran a higher voltage yes these inverters run extremely hot I've tempt both of my inverters around 140 degrees with the fans running that come installed inside them I have external fans running on those inverters after I discovered how hot they ran and if you run an external fan on them they will only get to about mid-80s which is fantastic for those inverters to run at
Power These units on half Power, Remove 40x40 Fan and install two 120mm Fans, therefor Remote the thin Cover. Run the Fans with DC DC Converter direktly from DC without temerature controll on around 8-10V for 12V Fan, it will Last forever. If one Fan fail there is a Second
Ruben Salazar how many watts do you actually get I have 3 325w and only get 750w out of them I have. Gotten 980w before on output I connected an extra 325 and now I get he 1000w I have like 20 325w solar panels I dont use
@@nightmareinaction629 I have not noticed any interference in stereo, tv s or computers. I also run a 600w inverter at night with batteries and its own solar panels and charger. No interference or static .
@@nightmareinaction629 I do not know how many watts I get out of my 10 100w panels. I,m sure it is not 1000w. That would be perfect conditions. And they are not name brand panels to begin with. I will have to measure on a sunny day and see.
Lovely video. Thank you. Id love to see an off-grid example with the bigger model gridtie you showed. Lets say you have a strong 24v battery bank and 3000 watt inverter. Then you add 2x 2000watt grid tie inverters >WITH< limiters to your off-grid system, drawing from the battery bank and now you can pull 7000 watt or just below.. and easy to expand, just add one or more grid tie inverter. At Least that's my thought.
I've had two of these and I run them inside my house but they've been going strong for over 2 years and I just checked them and they are still running in great condition. running about 400 watts each
mine is a simular china model...working since 4 years ...2 Times i had to replace the fans, and one time i had to repair a minor defekt on the internal Power regulation...at this point 1 year ago 7 also renewed the heat transport cream (i do not know the correct term :( ). 7 am verry happy with this devices....easy to repair and for this price extremly reliable. i got it outside ...only protected from rain or snow...no case around....only problem is i have to remove bugs and spiders from time to time...i live in the Bavarian forrest in Germany....so please excuse my poor english;)
i have the same product and i've been using it for about 2 years now and its still working perfectly fine. with regards to the fan, it only runs when it gets hot and it automatically turns off as it cools down
So I just went through a failure of their 600 watt version... I did some backwards engineering and discovered a few things....you will see that you have 5 yellow transformers...each transformer is a separate inverter power supply with two secondaries....when running 120 volt the two halves are tied in parallel, on 220 they run in series with each other...each yellow transformer is good for around 200 watts of AC power 5 times 200 you get your 1000....the inverter can partially fail where one or more power supplies will go bad....mine actually smoked the pc board after a repair attempt.....the transformers do run hot under load... they should actually have heat sinks and fans directly on them to preserve their life....in my next iteration I am going to Walmart and buy a $12.00 box fan and remove the inverter covers and force copious amounts cooling air on everything inside.... I think you will find the second unit is toast as well.....good luck and thanks for everything you do. it is very much appreciated....
Added a 120mm fan in the bottom thin panel in the bottom. Cooling seems to be the issue in keeping these running and as close to Max as possible. More cooling the better.
Swap shorted MOSFET immediately against a slightly better MOSFETs. Find shorted MOSFET with multimeter. I also improved the bad airflow on my inverters. But now runs another 80x80x10mm fan and ensures permanent airflow from below. It not only cools, it also protects against moisture and morning dew. Otherwise these "cheap inverters" are not bad! I have already successfully repaired some of my grid tie inverters.
im on the look out for the best Chinese inverter for off grid for the best price, I have 2 im testing atm we will see if they are worth it or not, Love this video and love your channel, If you come to Canada and wanna stop in I would love it!
Thanks for the update. I noticed your outdoor box for your units has a fairly small air volume when closed, limiting air cooling. Is there some sort of outside air access for the fans to move much cooler ambient air through and over the units that we can't see or do they only have access to the internal volume of air? Bigger/better fans would help, but cooler air access would have a greater effect, IMHO.
Would you consider putting together a starter/hobby kit to buy? Excluding batteries, panel, inverter and charge controller? For getting started and learning.
I would have bought the Noctuas advertised on that Amazon page, they tend to flow a lot of air quietly & a tachometer output could be rigged to an alarm circuit to cut the inverters if the fans fail. +1
The extra money is because of the ball bearings which make the fans last a long time. I need to put my 1000 watt Accurate Tools pure sine wave inverter through it's paces to see if it's any good. I got it on ebay action for 115 us dollars
With the shorted inverter you should take a multimeter and beep out the components on the heat sink. If there's a dead short, replace the pair of components with new ones. I'm surprised the fuse didn't go.
use your thermal camera on the 1000w grid tie inverter. If the inverters use MosFets made in China, they will run hotter. Chinese Mosfets have higher resistance in the ON state which generates more heat. There is a theory that you can parallel these Mosfets for much lower on state resistance.
yeh i watched a guy on youtube swap out the mosfets using a USA brand i think by memory the name was texas instruments or similar sounding name ,the temp was cooler and efficiency significantly increased, you get what you pay for
I have a few inverters and battery chargers that I simply run the fan either directly off the input or off of a buck converter from the input, So they are always running when the device is on. my bigger devices I put a small flow meter and dual fans on them.
Don`t get the 220v one, get the 110v, this is with limiter. So you place the current sensor one the one phase that it`its a feeding and it matches the power that you are consuming. Great inverter though
Shorted, my first guess is the transistors failed, as this is not uncommon. Also it is better to mount them with one end up so air can blow through naturally. Also ball bearing fans are better than sleeve bearings for long usage. I would like some failed but not burned up inverters to repair and modify. Also save me some money.
Correct on all counts. To note though, regular sleeve bearing fans don't like being run vertically. The oil drains out the sleeve and they sieze, so if he's going to run them vertically, it's best to buy fluid dynamic bearings or ball bearings.
Those fans you're looking at are ball bearing fans and should last. The sleeve bearing fans in the cheap units always dry up and die, so avoid the Ali 5-pk! Wow, doing a lot of new stuff. Cool! P.S: Stop using the 1kw cheapie inverters for oars when your paddle breaks in the canoe, will ya?
How do you limit the current from your battery pack to run the less than a 100%. What do you use. Thanks. I want to use 400w ones in 200w. What can I use.
Those blue grid tie converters, will work off a charged battery alone!! So' you will not burn out the MPPT circuitry, that's used with the solar panels. That's a good idea, as' the sun don't shine at night-time!!
No to sound dumb, but how do you limit the inverter to run at 75% or something less than 100%. Correct me if I’m wrong ( trying learn and understand this) when you connect your dc power source and plug the ac side into a receptacle, it will operate at 100% until the dc power source is spent right?
I run 7-800 watts in mine, no problem. Once a year I pull the fans and put a drop of synthetic 80 weight synthetic gear oil in. I got hit by lightning a couple of years ago and blew a few FET's. $5 and was back running. 7 years on them so far. I track my solar here: thingspeak.com/channels/34247
Guess the failed unit protected the second unit through shortcut, else the would probably both have failed...Fans are a poor protection; they collect dust over time and or fail. Larger cooling ribs preferable.
I am about to get one. One question; does this inverter give pure sine wave or modified wave? I have a few UPSs connected to the grid and they have to get pure sine wave current in order to work... It says it on the description, but is it really?
When a MOSFET fails (or any other kind of semi conductor), they tend to short out. Happens a lot with the cheap Chinese MOSFETs. Do you happen to know what kind they are using in this device?
Hey Jehu (or like minded fellow) Do you think it matters that those inverters perform more efficiently within its MPPT range? Because I believe those inverters are designed to run directly off of solar panels. Normally if they are connected to Li-Ion batteries, you (for a part of the upper and lower ends of the cycle) are operating outside of the specified voltage range. So I wonder if that has anything to do with its lifespan.
They are designed to run directly off solar panels. Below voltage the unit will not turn on. (Well, if they operate normally, they will turn off. If that fails, it will kill the unit. I suspect that is the part failing in most units, which leads to the latter components failing in the inverter.)
The (10-14) mosfets do Short out easily on them... Do not order the grid-tied limiter inverter off Amazon the seller does not sell the second generation version that has battery option on it!!! Order off eBay
I bought a 50 amp power supply whose fan ran all the time and after a year it started squeezing so removed sticker off back of fan an put drop of sewing machine oil been running smoothly for 8 months now.
Yes' a good priced converter, but' they don't last long!! Any circuit info available to try and repair them? What about bolting them to a large metal structure to help keeping them cooler.
Best practice would be replace fans with knowen high quality onhanglow fans and bearings all fail. ON large bearings most times no grease is in sealed bearings or some insufficient ammount. also A skf bearing i fitted to my car and i had to disassemble the hub again splitting the sealed bearing in the process . revealed also just dry clumps of poor grease. The product was made in taiwan. The bearing was cheap as it came from usa . I seen cheap car starters "new" who failed with "zero" grease in bearings .
So if these are no good, what is the best cheap way for a DIY'er to setup a grid tied system? I have ~3300w of solar panels I am getting ready to mount on my shop roof.
Are those fans meant to be vertical? That could be why they are dying. I think I remember reading somewhere that certain types of PC fans can have premature death if running in the wrong orientation. I think if you flipped the inverter 90 degrees it would last longer, so like = instead of ||
The average cost of electricity in the u.s. is 12 cents per kilowatt hour. Running the inverter at half capacity will save you $0.06 per hour. You'll need to run the inverter for 1667 hours to cover the cost of a $100 inverter. 5 100 watt solar panels at $100 each is another $500. That's another 8333 hours for a total of about 10,000 hours. That comes out to 417 days but since you don't get full sun 24 hours a day you kind of have to multiply that 10,000 hours by 6 which is 60000 hours. That comes out to 2500 days. A little over six and a half years not counting days that are overcast. Call it 7 years in a really good climate. If you calculated another way, 500 watts of solar panels on average will provide about 2 kilowatt hours per day, 12 cents per kilowatt hour is $0.24 per day. So yeah about 7 years. Anybody gets a different answer let me know. Since these are all averages your mileage WILL vary.
N00b question here. Can these be installed legally in the us? For example would an electrician hook these up? Or if one of these blow up will your insurance tell says it's your fault. Keep up the great videos!
I'm not from US but i dont think anyone can generalize like that and say it's okay or not for whole US, I think it depends a lot where you are and you should check your local laws :) For example here where i live in EU, they are ofcourse quite picky with what they allow, having a list of tested and approved inverters. Chinese ones are not on it ofcourse. The main issue that grid owners have with these is, that they must not run if grid loses power, so that no technician gets zapped when repairing, due to your system sill pumping electricity to grid. Also meters can get all funky if they are of certain type. Meaning, that they might double read your generation into usage and make you pay for it :D So, know your risks and act accordingly.
Hi everybody ! I just bought this inverter and have a lot of questions that need to be answered? How is the grid quality of the inverter when used for a long time ?? I from Vietnam use electricity 220v 50hz! Use google translate to comment ^^!
Hey" my friend, " The first one died" & that saved you're second, one.... By cutting it off.!! But it won't stay running long if ya, don't give it some fresh-air, with a way to protect against the water. LOLOL.... I'm glad you got to save one, anyway.... LOLOL. It gives me HOPE... I'm all butterfingers...and I'm doing a WATER-Damage repair on an 1987 R.V. Hopefully I can finish it by next mo,. I'm thinking of finding a "permanent home" for it at a lake, campground, somewhere around N.C. MOUNTAIN'S. Does anyone have any tips for the REBUILD.??
How can you wire these to the grid? I've read alot of conflicting things. I've read they will get your home insurance dropped. Can cause over voltage of circuit and cause fires and that without special metering will cause your utilities company to charge you cash for, "use" of powered even though your putting power into the grid. Any help you can give would be extremely helpful!
i HAVE 8S 24P battery Bank using Samsung ICR1875s and have 4 100 watt Panels. I also purchased a EpEver 20 A MPPT solar charger. Will this grid tie converter work for an off grid system. Is there a way to disable the power off function of the grid tie so the AC can be used off grid.
You probably dont want to replace the fans with the exact same fans that came with the inverter. You probably want to get better quality fans that actually specifiy decent mean time before failure
Hello Jehuu! I use same inverter and running it HOT. Fan didn't last a month and battery terminals melted off. I have cut a hole for 120mm fan on back and bolted on extra heatsink. After this thermal upgrade it has been working nice, quiet and cool for a year. It has been engeneerded poorly. NO WAY this 40mm can cool down this amount of heat effectively. I calulated that my inverter is just earned back its cost in 1,5 years. It is pushing about 2kw/h back to grid in a day. (Central Australia)
@@Happyantix112 Hi, best place to buy this is Ebay. And YES, it is still running. You just need to upgrade fan to bigger 80mm or 120mm. If you running it on 12V battery bank on 12V (18-20V) solar panel, then 600W model is OK. It has input voltage rated 10V to 32V If you use 36V solar panel, then you need to go with 1000W model, which can take higher input voltage.
Ca you do a video on how to stack 2 or more grid tie inverters. If you plug 2 grid tie inverters into the same grid, wont they oscillate back and forth till one wins out to feed the grid..how do you feed the same grid with two or more inverters?? Help!!
Too bad you couldn't put a little cheap digi thermometer , with temp alert. They beep when you reach a certain temp and have external sensors. I had a project where I connected to the output of the beeper with a circuit which would do various things. With this one I would want it to trip some sort of disconnect. Wouldn't need to be permanent, just long enough for the inverter to cool. I'll do that when I set one of these up. It would control a relay with a timer circuit.
in one of your older video you were using a excel file to mix and match Lion battery . i search for that vidéo were you mention this software , i want to have the best match of battery. Carl
These things need ventilation and you have them in a sealed (weatherproof) cabinet. I'll bet the temperature inside that box goes through the roof, even before the sun shines on it.
With regard to your battery boards would it make sense to replace the ribbon cable used for balancing with stacking headers like you are looking at using on the power buss side?
I have a serious question!!!By putting lithium-ion battery cells in parallel do you add up the current? So like if I were to take two 20A cells in parallel connections would it discharge 40A? I need to know this because I don't want to waste a bunch of money and battery's to add up the current in parallel just to find out that it doesn't add up the current.
jehugarcia oh okay. So is your grid tied inverters output connected to UPS’ input or is UPS connected to mains and you just cut the mains power manually? Or perhaps automated?
You need some ventilation in that box you have them installed in - Even if the fans are working they are just going to recirculate the hot air, which means they will stay warm, the fans will run way more hours than they would otherwise need to and burn out faster. I have the exact same inverter and what I've done is take the bottom panel off and have it sitting on a laptop cooler which is just like a tray that you sit under a laptop that has a 120mm fan blowing through it. Keeps the inverter so cool it's own fans never even turn on anymore since I did it.
Jack Good is right about ventilating that box. With out getting some outside air in, it's just moving its own heated air around. It will never get any cooler.
Thanks
My experience with fans has been that the only problem is that they use crap lubricants. In every case (dozens) I've just taken the fan apart (usually just a snap ring under a sticker and then the fan slides out) I've cleaned the old lube out with alcohol then used some good lube like triflow or something and they have never failed again after that.
Thank you for holding the camera properly (not vertical). Good video, fills the whole screen!
I put some small server fans in mine and boy does that keep the unit cool pushing 1000 watts.
Still going ?
Hi Jehu. Greetings from Portugal. I am digging this because I also own a similar 1kW grid tie inverter for ~1.5 years, still running fine, but I found now a nasty feature on my inverter and I just wanted to check if this was the same with your model. So when the fans kick in the MPPT goes crazy and shuts down for ~1 sec, then it starts again but it take ~3 minutes to get the maximum power again. The problem is that with good weather now and moderate temperatures, even though the inverter is at home on a fresh area agains a concrete wall (cooler) the fans still kick in on a ~20 minutes ratio. So if you do the maths, there's a lot of power wasted during this nasty MPPT on/off thing. I think I will need to order a decent grid tie this summer! Cheers and thanks for you great videos/tutors!
Cheap inverters don't have impedence matched mosfets so inevitably one is going die prematurely from more load heat resistance and then short the others as well. Another important point is to make sure they are all tightened to the heat sinks very well as if one is not sinking it heat effeciently it will be the one to burn up and short out the rest in parellel.
I'm thinking about getting one of the 1kw units. I'll only be running about 500 watts though it. So hopefully only using it at half it's rated output will keep it alive longer. Also, it will be installed inside the house so water damage wont be an issue. Because of that I'm actually thinking about taking the back of it off, and mounting it above a 1 or 2 140mm computer fans blowing right inside it. Should be WAY more air flow.
Hello
I have one of them, it works for a Year now with 600w solar pannels attached to it, it works ok in a sunny day but in a day with intermittent clouds the mppt just does not work ok, it take 5 minutes to go to full power after a little shade pass over the pannels.
Shorted GTI is usually a shorted MOSFET; I had few ones like this on my DIY ESS
I have 3 of the blue inverters and I purchased them on amazon. They have a monitoring system that you can purchase from Aliexpress. Its called the "Wifi Port Plug for MPPT 1000W/2000W NEW SUN Solar Grid Tie Inverter RS485 connected Web/Phone App on Line Monitoring" and It works quite nicely. Also, I have had to return 2 because they were DOA and would not produce. I cant wait to see your video on these and hopefully the battery limiting functions this inverter can apparently use!
I also bought two of those inverters about 2 years ago and they both ran fine all the way up till I replace them with new ones that ran a higher voltage yes these inverters run extremely hot I've tempt both of my inverters around 140 degrees with the fans running that come installed inside them I have external fans running on those inverters after I discovered how hot they ran and if you run an external fan on them they will only get to about mid-80s which is fantastic for those inverters to run at
Power These units on half Power, Remove 40x40 Fan and install two 120mm Fans, therefor Remote the thin Cover. Run the Fans with DC DC Converter direktly from DC without temerature controll on around 8-10V for 12V Fan, it will Last forever. If one Fan fail there is a Second
I have one of those with 10 100w solar panels no batteries. It has been running for over a year and a halve. With no issues. I love it
Ruben Salazar how many watts do you actually get I have 3 325w and only get 750w out of them I have. Gotten 980w before on output I connected an extra 325 and now I get he 1000w I have like 20 325w solar panels I dont use
Ruben Salazar also have you found any interference mines causes a lot when sound stereo is plugged in
@@nightmareinaction629 I have not noticed any interference in stereo, tv s or computers. I also run a 600w inverter at night with batteries and its own solar panels and charger. No interference or static .
@@nightmareinaction629 I do not know how many watts I get out of my 10 100w panels. I,m sure it is not 1000w. That would be perfect conditions. And they are not name brand panels to begin with. I will have to measure on a sunny day and see.
Lovely video. Thank you.
Id love to see an off-grid example with the bigger model gridtie you showed. Lets say you have a strong 24v battery bank and 3000 watt inverter. Then you add 2x 2000watt grid tie inverters >WITH< limiters to your off-grid system, drawing from the battery bank and now you can pull 7000 watt or just below.. and easy to expand, just add one or more grid tie inverter. At Least that's my thought.
I've had two of these and I run them inside my house but they've been going strong for over 2 years and I just checked them and they are still running in great condition. running about 400 watts each
mine is a simular china model...working since 4 years ...2 Times i had to replace the fans, and one time i had to repair a minor defekt on the internal Power regulation...at this point 1 year ago 7 also renewed the heat transport cream (i do not know the correct term :( ).
7 am verry happy with this devices....easy to repair and for this price extremly reliable.
i got it outside ...only protected from rain or snow...no case around....only problem is i have to remove bugs and spiders from time to time...i live in the Bavarian forrest in Germany....so please excuse my poor english;)
i have the same product and i've been using it for about 2 years now and its still working perfectly fine. with regards to the fan, it only runs when it gets hot and it automatically turns off as it cools down
So I just went through a failure of their 600 watt version... I did some backwards engineering and discovered a few things....you will see that you have 5 yellow transformers...each transformer is a separate inverter power supply with two secondaries....when running 120 volt the two halves are tied in parallel, on 220 they run in series with each other...each yellow transformer is good for around 200 watts of AC power 5 times 200 you get your 1000....the inverter can partially fail where one or more power supplies will go bad....mine actually smoked the pc board after a repair attempt.....the transformers do run hot under load... they should actually have heat sinks and fans directly on them to preserve their life....in my next iteration I am going to Walmart and buy a $12.00 box fan and remove the inverter covers and force copious amounts cooling air on everything inside.... I think you will find the second unit is toast as well.....good luck and thanks for everything you do. it is very much appreciated....
Added a 120mm fan in the bottom thin panel in the bottom. Cooling seems to be the issue in keeping these running and as close to Max as possible. More cooling the better.
Swap shorted MOSFET immediately against a slightly better MOSFETs. Find shorted MOSFET with multimeter. I also improved the bad airflow on my inverters. But now runs another 80x80x10mm fan and ensures permanent airflow from below. It not only cools, it also protects against moisture and morning dew. Otherwise these "cheap inverters" are not bad! I have already successfully repaired some of my grid tie inverters.
im on the look out for the best Chinese inverter for off grid for the best price, I have 2 im testing atm we will see if they are worth it or not, Love this video and love your channel, If you come to Canada and wanna stop in I would love it!
Cant wait for the video.
Thanks for the update. I noticed your outdoor box for your units has a fairly small air volume when closed, limiting air cooling. Is there some sort of outside air access for the fans to move much cooler ambient air through and over the units that we can't see or do they only have access to the internal volume of air? Bigger/better fans would help, but cooler air access would have a greater effect, IMHO.
When you get them new pull the fan blades off put a dab of moly grease in the bushing pop it back into place won’t have a problem with the fans
I like such fast videos. Good summary!👍 would be good if 1080p but actualy 360p is also enough.
The video is 4k. 360p means you are watching the video just after it was uploaded and the video hasn't been fully processed by youtube.
@@jlongjr27 oh ok sorry for the misguiding coment then. And thx for info.
Would you consider putting together a starter/hobby kit to buy? Excluding batteries, panel, inverter and charge controller? For getting started and learning.
I would have bought the Noctuas advertised on that Amazon page, they tend to flow a lot of air quietly & a tachometer output could be rigged to an alarm circuit to cut the inverters if the fans fail.
+1
Thank you for sharing this. So fan is something to watch out for. not bad for the price.
The extra money is because of the ball bearings which make the fans last a long time. I need to put my 1000 watt Accurate Tools pure sine wave inverter through it's paces to see if it's any good. I got it on ebay action for 115 us dollars
With the shorted inverter you should take a multimeter and beep out the components on the heat sink. If there's a dead short, replace the pair of components with new ones. I'm surprised the fuse didn't go.
Mine is still working but man can you hear that Fan, when I hear it, I think... I'm making major power!! listen to these things!!!
I have a few in the garage and work fine..
use your thermal camera on the 1000w grid tie inverter. If the inverters use MosFets made in China, they will run hotter. Chinese Mosfets have higher resistance in the ON state which generates more heat. There is a theory that you can parallel these Mosfets for much lower on state resistance.
yeh i watched a guy on youtube swap out the mosfets using a USA brand i think by memory the name was texas instruments or similar sounding name ,the temp was cooler and efficiency significantly increased, you get what you pay for
@@closertothetruth9209 can you find that video ? I would like to watch it
I'll be waiting for your next video with the blue inverter.... was going to buy it, I will wait... let us know👍🏽
the diodes are marked 80 but are 300v or more piv rated. Gets pretty hot under load.
I have a few inverters and battery chargers that I simply run the fan either directly off the input or off of a buck converter from the input, So they are always running when the device is on. my bigger devices I put a small flow meter and dual fans on them.
Probably mosfets or dual diodes that make that short
Don`t get the 220v one, get the 110v, this is with limiter. So you place the current sensor one the one phase that it`its a feeding and it matches the power that you are consuming. Great inverter though
Shorted, my first guess is the transistors failed, as this is not uncommon. Also it is better to mount them with one end up so air can blow through naturally. Also ball bearing fans are better than sleeve bearings for long usage. I would like some failed but not burned up inverters to repair and modify. Also save me some money.
Correct on all counts. To note though, regular sleeve bearing fans don't like being run vertically. The oil drains out the sleeve and they sieze, so if he's going to run them vertically, it's best to buy fluid dynamic bearings or ball bearings.
I like your videos I do wish they were all 12 minutes long it's hard in one place for half an hour or an hour or two
Those fans you're looking at are ball bearing fans and should last. The sleeve bearing fans in the cheap units always dry up and die, so avoid the Ali 5-pk!
Wow, doing a lot of new stuff. Cool!
P.S: Stop using the 1kw cheapie inverters for oars when your paddle breaks in the canoe, will ya?
Could it be that the fan creates small low pressure zones where the humidity condenses?
How do you limit the current from your battery pack to run the less than a 100%. What do you use. Thanks. I want to use 400w ones in 200w. What can I use.
Free shipping to the US: 15 days.. you are doing just fine, here in Romania it takes between 40 and 60 days :(
The shell is basically a heatsink, if you strap a large fan to the outside it will help.
wait, these only work if you have a loard inside the house right? or they just dumb what they produce into the grid if you have no load in the house?
Those blue grid tie converters, will work off a charged battery alone!! So' you will not burn out the MPPT circuitry, that's used with the solar panels. That's a good idea, as' the sun don't shine at night-time!!
No to sound dumb, but how do you limit the inverter to run at 75% or something less than 100%. Correct me if I’m wrong ( trying learn and understand this) when you connect your dc power source and plug the ac side into a receptacle, it will operate at 100% until the dc power source is spent right?
I run 7-800 watts in mine, no problem. Once a year I pull the fans and put a drop of synthetic 80 weight synthetic gear oil in. I got hit by lightning a couple of years ago and blew a few FET's. $5 and was back running. 7 years on them so far. I track my solar here: thingspeak.com/channels/34247
Guess the failed unit protected the second unit through shortcut, else the would probably both have failed...Fans are a poor protection; they collect dust over time and or fail. Larger cooling ribs preferable.
I am about to get one. One question; does this inverter give pure sine wave or modified wave? I have a few UPSs connected to the grid and they have to get pure sine wave current in order to work... It says it on the description, but is it really?
When a MOSFET fails (or any other kind of semi conductor), they tend to short out. Happens a lot with the cheap Chinese MOSFETs. Do you happen to know what kind they are using in this device?
Hey Jehu (or like minded fellow)
Do you think it matters that those inverters perform more efficiently within its MPPT range? Because I believe those inverters are designed to run directly off of solar panels. Normally if they are connected to Li-Ion batteries, you (for a part of the upper and lower ends of the cycle) are operating outside of the specified voltage range. So I wonder if that has anything to do with its lifespan.
They are designed to run directly off solar panels. Below voltage the unit will not turn on. (Well, if they operate normally, they will turn off. If that fails, it will kill the unit. I suspect that is the part failing in most units, which leads to the latter components failing in the inverter.)
I got my never used 24v xantrex 1800w off eBay for 350$ but a year later still haven't installed lol
Cool overheating inviter.
The (10-14) mosfets do Short out easily on them...
Do not order the grid-tied limiter inverter off Amazon the seller does not sell the second generation version that has battery option on it!!! Order off eBay
1 year 24hr x 365 days 8760 hours run time cheap fan for sure, but given the price point something had to give.
I bought a 50 amp power supply whose fan ran all the time and after a year it started squeezing so removed sticker off back of fan an put drop of sewing machine oil been running smoothly for 8 months now.
I need a 2000w inverter with custom voltage ranges. Need to be able to power a space heater, a microwave, and an ac(not all at once). Building a van.
Ok
Yes' a good priced converter, but' they don't last long!! Any circuit info available to try and repair them? What about bolting them to a large metal structure to help keeping them cooler.
Best practice would be replace fans with knowen high quality onhanglow fans and bearings all fail. ON large bearings most times no grease is in sealed bearings or some insufficient ammount.
also A skf bearing i fitted to my car and i had to disassemble the hub again splitting the sealed bearing in the process . revealed also just dry clumps of poor grease. The product was made in taiwan. The bearing was cheap as it came from usa . I seen cheap car starters "new" who failed with "zero" grease in bearings .
So if these are no good, what is the best cheap way for a DIY'er to setup a grid tied system? I have ~3300w of solar panels I am getting ready to mount on my shop roof.
Hey brother, GET YOURSELF SOME DELTA SERVER FANS .. THEY LAST DO MUCH LONGER
Def gonna get the warranty ..thank you
How do you limit these if they are connected to grid and to a big battery?
Was also looking for an answer to this question. Did you find a way to limit the inverter so it runs at e.g. 700Watts max?
Are those fans meant to be vertical? That could be why they are dying. I think I remember reading somewhere that certain types of PC fans can have premature death if running in the wrong orientation.
I think if you flipped the inverter 90 degrees it would last longer, so like = instead of ||
Yeah man otherwise they not running on the bearing properly
You should just take the enclosures off the units and run larger fans in your own housing. They’ll probably last a lot longer.
The average cost of electricity in the u.s. is 12 cents per kilowatt hour. Running the inverter at half capacity will save you $0.06 per hour. You'll need to run the inverter for 1667 hours to cover the cost of a $100 inverter. 5 100 watt solar panels at $100 each is another $500. That's another 8333 hours for a total of about 10,000 hours. That comes out to 417 days but since you don't get full sun 24 hours a day you kind of have to multiply that 10,000 hours by 6 which is 60000 hours. That comes out to 2500 days. A little over six and a half years not counting days that are overcast. Call it 7 years in a really good climate. If you calculated another way, 500 watts of solar panels on average will provide about 2 kilowatt hours per day, 12 cents per kilowatt hour is $0.24 per day. So yeah about 7 years. Anybody gets a different answer let me know. Since these are all averages your mileage WILL vary.
49 cents a kWh for me
N00b question here. Can these be installed legally in the us? For example would an electrician hook these up? Or if one of these blow up will your insurance tell says it's your fault. Keep up the great videos!
I'm not from US but i dont think anyone can generalize like that and say it's okay or not for whole US, I think it depends a lot where you are and you should check your local laws :) For example here where i live in EU, they are ofcourse quite picky with what they allow, having a list of tested and approved inverters. Chinese ones are not on it ofcourse. The main issue that grid owners have with these is, that they must not run if grid loses power, so that no technician gets zapped when repairing, due to your system sill pumping electricity to grid. Also meters can get all funky if they are of certain type. Meaning, that they might double read your generation into usage and make you pay for it :D So, know your risks and act accordingly.
Hi everybody ! I just bought this inverter and have a lot of questions that need to be answered? How is the grid quality of the inverter when used for a long time ?? I from Vietnam use electricity 220v 50hz! Use google translate to comment ^^!
Hey" my friend, " The first one died" & that saved you're second, one.... By cutting it off.!! But it won't stay running long if ya, don't give it some fresh-air, with a way to protect against the water.
LOLOL.... I'm glad you got to save one, anyway.... LOLOL. It gives me HOPE...
I'm all butterfingers...and I'm doing a WATER-Damage repair on an 1987 R.V.
Hopefully I can finish it by next mo,.
I'm thinking of finding a "permanent home" for it at a lake, campground, somewhere around N.C. MOUNTAIN'S.
Does anyone have any tips for the REBUILD.??
Hey Jehu. Saludos de Palmview Texas.
How can you wire these to the grid? I've read alot of conflicting things. I've read they will get your home insurance dropped. Can cause over voltage of circuit and cause fires and that without special metering will cause your utilities company to charge you cash for, "use" of powered even though your putting power into the grid. Any help you can give would be extremely helpful!
Mine also stopped working exactly after an year.. it blew up actually :P
i HAVE 8S 24P battery Bank using Samsung ICR1875s and have 4 100 watt Panels. I also purchased a EpEver 20 A MPPT solar charger. Will this grid tie converter work for an off grid system. Is there a way to disable the power off function of the grid tie so the AC can be used off grid.
After replacing the fan, did the fan start to rotate?
I'm using almost the same model and have the same obstacles, so this video was helpful.
Hi nice video thanks for posting this valuable information.
Need help: have 2-500w panel 18-36v system. What inverter should I get 1300(220ac)or(110ac)
You probably dont want to replace the fans with the exact same fans that came with the inverter. You probably want to get better quality fans that actually specifiy decent mean time before failure
Found solution. Get thermostat rated 40 degree C, if ever get hotter than 40 degree alarm goes on. It's real cheap for thermostat.
Hello Jehuu!
I use same inverter and running it HOT. Fan didn't last a month and battery terminals melted off. I have cut a hole for 120mm fan on back and bolted on extra heatsink. After this thermal upgrade it has been working nice, quiet and cool for a year.
It has been engeneerded poorly. NO WAY this 40mm can cool down this amount of heat effectively.
I calulated that my inverter is just earned back its cost in 1,5 years. It is pushing about 2kw/h back to grid in a day. (Central Australia)
Hey where did you buy this in Australia? And is it still running now? Looking to get one also, thanks!
@@Happyantix112
Hi, best place to buy this is Ebay.
And YES, it is still running. You just need to upgrade fan to bigger 80mm or 120mm.
If you running it on 12V battery bank on 12V (18-20V) solar panel, then 600W model is OK. It has input voltage rated 10V to 32V
If you use 36V solar panel, then you need to go with 1000W model, which can take higher input voltage.
The fans blade slide out and you can clean them and they'll work again.
Did you ever order a ECO-WORTHY 1000W like you mentioned you were going to in this video? Curious how it performed for you.
Same, but no review
What about oil immersion for these?
So many powers at your home
Ca you do a video on how to stack 2 or more grid tie inverters. If you plug 2 grid tie inverters into the same grid, wont they oscillate back and forth till one wins out to feed the grid..how do you feed the same grid with two or more inverters?? Help!!
cant wait for the update. thanks dude
i have two similar of what you got from ebay. they all die no more than 2 years of use.
Too bad you couldn't put a little cheap digi thermometer , with temp alert. They beep when you reach a certain temp and have external sensors. I had a project where I connected to the output of the beeper with a circuit which would do various things. With this one I would want it to trip some sort of disconnect. Wouldn't need to be permanent, just long enough for the inverter to cool. I'll do that when I set one of these up. It would control a relay with a timer circuit.
5:47 Your enclosure is not ventilated. you are just recirculating the hot air inside the enclosure. You need a NEMA 3 or 3R with vents
in one of your older video you were using a excel file to mix and match Lion battery . i search for that vidéo were you mention this software , i want to have the best match of battery.
Carl
repackr.com/
Not being put outside I have 4 that have lasted 4 years and are still running.
I have the same inverter. The fans stopped working (They spin fine) Any videos or anyone willing to help troubleshoot why the fans aren't coming on?
Noice!
Need a bigger inverter to give bigger watt hog appliances a chance(hair dryers/microwaves not at same time) to run properly though.
These things need ventilation and you have them in a sealed (weatherproof) cabinet. I'll bet the temperature inside that box goes through the roof, even before the sun shines on it.
How are the new fans holding up now?
Spend the extra money for the good noctua fans
With regard to your battery boards would it make sense to replace the ribbon cable used for balancing with stacking headers like you are looking at using on the power buss side?
On battery they run at maximum power and get way too hot! Has anyone found a way to throttle them so they run at max 750Watts for example?
I have a serious question!!!By putting lithium-ion battery cells in parallel do you add up the current? So like if I were to take two 20A cells in parallel connections would it discharge 40A? I need to know this because I don't want to waste a bunch of money and battery's to add up the current in parallel just to find out that it doesn't add up the current.
For your DIY power wall, what are you using at night to pull power from the batteries instead of (or along side) the grid?
A UPS
jehugarcia oh okay. So is your grid tied inverters output connected to UPS’ input or is UPS connected to mains and you just cut the mains power manually? Or perhaps automated?