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Forum Index : Solar : Second Inverter Blew Up Too!
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Jaffasoft Senior Member  Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
Second inverter just blew and i want to get to the bottom of what is causing it! I have an RV that runs 12Volt 400 Watt Solar Panels on the roof - down to a Morningstar Regulator - charging at up to 15.2V into two 6V Trogan T105 Batteries hocked up in series for a 12V battery - I connect an inverter direct to the batteries neg & positive terminals. When i connected a 'first' inverter, a 600 watt from DickSmith's it ran a while then every time i switch it on it beeeeeeps & goes on a Red Fault light and wont work. The i bought a brand new inverter from JayCar after explaining to them that my last inverter blew up and that i thought i needed a regulator to step down the 15.2V (when charging) to 12.8V or so when the inverter might be in use while the batteries are charging. I only bought this last week! JayCay said no it's fine the inverter they sell me would work, well it worked for a week and now it does what the Dicksmith one did and goes to fault red light on and nothing works. Seems blown up to me!! Then my brother looked at it because i am travelling and went to his place for a stay. My brother gave me a Pure Sine Wave 600watt and 1200 watt peak and said here this'll be right, just use it. I have connected it up but i worry that in a week it's going to blow that too. I only just connected it today and i'm charging the laptop off it as we speak now! What and why my system is causing inverters to blow up? and what can i do perhaps to correct the problem please? I believe it's because the Trogan Batteries recormendation is to charge them at 15.2 with Temperature Compensation so in colder weather it's even been up to 15.3Volts. Because the inverter is hocked up to 15.2 volts it mist overload break them!? |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
You may have a spike in battery voltage. This can happen if the batteries are fully charged, you have a big load on the batteries, and the load is suddenly reduced. I've had a similar problem here with it tripping out my inverter. What happens is your battery bank has been charged up during the day, so they are pretty full, and the charge controller is maintaining a boost/absorb/float voltage. It only needs to trickle in the power from the solar panels to maintain this voltage. If you load up the battery, the charge controller ups the power fed in from the solar panels to maintain the boost/absorb/float voltage. If the load is suddenly disconnected, the solar controller may not be quick enough to cut back on the power from the solar panels, so your battery bank voltage can go very high for a second or two. This only happens with fully charged batteries. Did the inverters die after a few hours sun light, when the batteries were charged? I dont know of a easy fix, and I'm not familiar with the Morningstar controllers, some one with more experience may be able to help. I could suggest putting a couple of big capacitors across the inverter input, may help take the edge off a big spike. I fixed my system by improving the response time of my solar controller, its a home made one. Dont know if this is of much help, but it may give you some clues. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
I don't know for certain if it died after a direct few hours sun light when the batteries were fully charged but the batteries are topped right up charged mostly with only a 12V fridge going 24/7 now in the warmer days. I'd say it did for sure go through the cycles as above yes! I only run to charge a couple little appliances - charging electric tooth brush, laptop, so no big draw on the inverter! I did have a day or two when the system was down during this last inverter going down and discovered a negative wire going off the solar panels had rattled loose. Maybe it was cutting in and out as i was driving up some bumpy tracks. I soldered it today and installed the new inverter. Capacitors sound sensible if it steadies a constant flow and now spikes. I don;t know much of how to set these up so if any can shed and light on how that goes and or any other solution that would be good! |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
A bloke told me a couple weeks back to get a regulator that they used to use in old cars/holdens. just a little sealed box of wax or something about two by three inchs in size that drops the volts to 12.4 or whatever? |
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| davef Guru  Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
Do any of your dead inverters have a high voltage disconnect rating? Or the new one? I had a problem with my PowerMaster PM-3000L-24V shutting down at high voltage (30.2V). It needed to be manually turned off and then back on again before it would restart. Possibly due to Glenn's suggestion or ripple from the MPPT controller just pushing the high voltage detect over the edge at high battery voltage. Are you having to add water often to your batteries? If you really want to charge your batteries up to 15.2V, maybe 2 really big silicon diodes (100A rating) to drop the voltage about 1V, in series to your inverter plus heatsinking for 30-50Watts or so. Which MorningStar controller are you using? My little MorningStar SHS-10 doesn't go above 14.3Volts |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
Told the new one has a high voltage disconnect rating. I haven't read the documentation of the second one that's blown! |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
Yep sun just kicked in at new inverter at 15V and inverter beeeeeping - turned it off because i heard/seen it this time! |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
15 volts is a bit high, you should really only see over 15 volts during a equalise cycle, once a month or so. I would change the charge controller to drop the voltage a little. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
Yep i rekon i might do that i just got to find the documentation of the section sequence illustrations! According to the Trajon battery's specs 'it's charge in at14.8 V' but it's comes in higher for it to get that last hour and temp compensation. This is waht tops the batteries to a "complete charge' for battery duration. It's the recommendable setting, the problem is Australia's parts... the inverters on the shelve are not designed for it. I am supposed to get a Morningstar 300Watt inverter which i know from https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/ that it suits this system and hard wire it in but due to travelling and a slow budget on this one haven't settled enough to get it posted out a few days. But i'm financially able to afford to add it to the system now! I think your suggestion is right and i will lower the setting down to get it under 15V it won;t hurt for a while! |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
I had it set at 3up 4up 6up and the rest down just got to set it down now! Tristar 45-TS . |
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| Jaffasoft Senior Member Joined: 03/11/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 102 |
OK i set it at 3UP to set it at a 12V system and 4Up for 14.6V... 0.2V lower. See how that it goes! |
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| davef Guru Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
Comprehensive manual! Later on they talk about using more equalisation cycles for flooded lead-acid. There is a link to a useful site on page 51. |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
If the voltage is 0.4volts higher on temp compensation you are looking at about 10 deg C measured at the sensor (down from the 25 C spec). Does that seem about the mark? unfortunately the high volt disconnect on a lot of bargain basement inverters is frustratingly low in the 15v-15.3v range with a plus or minus 0.3volt margin. However they should disconnect and reconnect thousands of times without a problem. it could be a reactive load ie switchmode power supply that the modified square wave inverters are having trouble with. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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