2000W Pure Sine Inverter - Blown Up! - Let's fix it!

A friend of mine asked if I could have a look at a 2000W Pure Sine Inverter he got off someone for free after it had been connected to a battery the wrong way round.
He thought to himself I know just the man to look at this (which is how I ended up looking at it).
The inverter appears completely dead, let's take it apart and see how much damage has been caused due to reverse polarity! and hopefully repair it!
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#electronicsrepair #electronics #electronicscreators
Novopal Inverter repair
2000w Pure sine inverter repair
dead inverter

[@sadiesherwood8390]

So cool! A free inverter! Just a quick suggestion: I'm an electronics technician, and after a repair, I plug everything in, but I don't assemble a unit before the test. That way if it smokes or sparks during the test, I can see where it came from so I know where to look to find the problem.

[@BuyitFixit]

Sometimes I do a quick test off camera, reason is if I test it and it works then people probably won't watch the rest of the video. Sometimes like on the Milwaukee impact driver I recently repaired I do a test and then do a real world test such as using the tool instead of just showing it spinning. Thanks for the feedback though Sadie, much appreciated 👍

[@shaunclarke94]

And if it doesn't work you don't have to pull it apart again!

[@kendom33]

Same here.

[@AlfistaWayne]

A very helpful video of some good and thoughtful work.

[@Mattlawton-ft6ew]

Absolutely

[@emylrmm]

Nice to see a product like this repaired, not scrapped.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Ralph 👍

[@ovalteen4404]

Yeah especially since soldered-in fuses implies that it's a throwaway product.

[@naste.adrian]

The way you analyse and diagnose is golden.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@ThriftyToolShed]

Awesome! Glad the fuses protected the front end!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks! 👍

[@markm1984]

Wow amazing job, I blew one up by reversing cables also, but they gave me a new one, have a blessed evening, great 👍 job 😊

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@Ricardo-Royco]

Very goog job ! I remark that only fuses are broken. I think that this converter has a good protection ... Thank for this sharing.

[@BuyitFixit]

And thanks for commenting. If you're interested I've done much more interesting repairs than this such as the RGB laser or Thermal camera repair 👍

[@Sortskjegg]

Better than factory! I can understand soldered fuses on a circuitboard as they have space constraints, but in this case I don't see a good reason for it beyond saving a few pennies.

[@wherami]

Ugh. Found soldered fuses on my vauum sealer. What a mess removing them.

[@BuyitFixit]

My thoughts exactly.. cost saving.. although I think I saw one retailer selling these for around £250! fuses should be accessible and easy to change, and not the hassle I had to go through!

[@Mikere5]

Fuses in sockets is not a good idea in an item like this. Vibration and high currents are not good friends

[@BuyitFixit]

While that does make sense to me, I've seen plenty of 30a fuses in cars...

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Saving pennies while also ensuring most customers will have to buy a new unit rather than faf with blown soldered fuses. Planned obsolescence is most common for the more expensive, specialty items. Big Man CEO says to himself: "hey, if the customer can afford one of these, then surely they can afford two" It's gross. It's predatory behavior like that which Apple basically has incorporated into their whole business model. "We're serializing these parts so that stolen phones can't be parted out" I've heard Apple zealots say that if every other manufacturer always serialized all their phones parts, then people would stop stealing phones. Really? Do they think they understand the mindset of a thief? My town is full of homeless tweakers who would steal anything, serialized or not. If they couldn't sell it or part it out, they'd steal it just to take it apart, or just simply because they *could* steal it. There's no way to stop device theft. In my old apartment building, people stole my cat toys to throw them away, simply because they didn't like me. You can't presume that a thief is going to act based on rationality. That is not the criminal mindset. Apple serializes parts for profit, which results in more landfilled devices, yet they want to present a "green" image.

[@johnharrison373]

I would have taken the plastic off the spade connectors and opened up the ring that the wire goes in, snipped it to fit the hole in the PCB and soldered that. It looks a lot neater that way and still makes the fuses easily replacable. Just a thought.

[@BuyitFixit]

Good idea. Ideally I would have used PCB fuse holders but the owner was just visiting for the weekend so this was just a quick fix to get it running again.

[@FHacivelioglu]

Hi, It is good to see that the MOSFETs and protection diodes are not blown. However, I never would do so kind of a repair, i.e., extending the fuses with cables, in such a high current path. The best you can do is to find some quick-fit sockets that are fitted to the AC output cables you removed during repair and then solder them into the PCB by shortening their cable side legs (to let them fit into the PCB holes). Then you can easily put the fuses on these PCB-type sockets that you create. Hence, in a repair, you would also be made removable fuse holders in that board which will be healthier than a cable extension when one considers the high current flowing along these lines. BW

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks, a few people have mentioned the same. I was just going to solder new fuses in, except the ones I had were cheap aluminium and would not solder. I would have used sockets except my friend was only up for the weekend and I didn't have any or time to order any. I used what I had available at the time.

[@ytmadpoo]

@@BuyitFixit Necessity is the mother of invention. I'm sure if you had the time you could have ordered some automotive type fuse holders to properly socket those (or at least inline fuse holders like they use for aftermarket car accessories).

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes totally. I've had to get creative a few times. Like when I repaired a solar inverter and only needed the service password and the response from the manufacturer was 'it's out of warranty, buy a new one' I did a video on that too 🙂👍

[@danielross868]

Its a matter of heat. You are only using a small pen iron. The wide tracks suck most of the heat. You needed to use a bigger (much bigger) tip iron with plenty of heat...@@BuyitFixit

[@grahamhall2662]

@buyitfixit Yes I moved house some years ago and had a similar situation with the house alarm. Sat there one evening with it on my lap after taking it out, a four number code gave maximum of 9999. Took me about 20 mins and learned the code, got up to about 1500, bingo. Still using the alarm to this day - stuff the installer firm. Good repair, hope it works for may years.

[@johnrobert2768]

Thank you so much, this has been really helpful. Different 'brand' name, different power rating. But the one I have has all the exact same major components, the same manufacturing methods, even identical packaging and info. markings. Clearly out of the same factory. It is so difficult to find reliable repair info. for this kind of stuff. So surprised at the cheap fuses, when the build quality is comparatively good and the majority of components are actually reasonably good quality. Ship, spoil and 'hapeth' of tar spring to mind. I am 90% sure there used to be a copper automotive spade jumper available - very short, all one piece, male at one end, female at the other. These would have soldered directly into the board slots and effectively made 'sockets' for the plug-in fuses.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks John Robert. I'm glad you found it useful. If you like electronics please check out some of my other videos. Hopefully you'll find those interesting too!

[@ovalteen4404]

These manufacturers tend to take actual work and then run off a bunch of 1-offs of their own to sell under their own name. Compare Aims Power (inverters sold by an American company) with SunGoldPower. It's identical down to the case design. Only the color is different. Yet another reason it's bad to run an economy on outsourcing.

[@johnrobert2768]

Totally agree. But its generally 'ignorant' pen-pushers in 'accounts' that win this argument. But even then it only ever 'pays' in the short term and the hidden costs of lost domestic jobs and GDP deficit etc. are left for the taxpayer and government to absorb. Not to mention the illicit acquisition of 'free' technology. And thank you for for the observations about the 'original' brands. Sooner or later their more comprehensive technical data and possibly 'spares' will be invaluable in fault-finding and repairs to extend the working life of these units.

[@shaunclarke94]

PCB mount ATC blade fuse holders would seem a better option than adding so much extra length. You also seemed confident putting it all back together almost fully before testing. Haha. But glad it worked and an easy fix.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks Shaun 👍Fuse holders would have been my preferred choice but my friend who brought it up was only up for the weekend, so didn't have time to order any. I just used what I had available.

[@TheOriginalEviltech]

@@BuyitFixit You can solder the spade connectors directly to the board, i have seen many inverters made that way. Just take the insulators off and straighten the tabs for crimping so they could feed trough the holes in the board.

[@BuyitFixit]

@@TheOriginalEviltech Thanks for the suggestion 👍

[@donnymeyer1984]

​@@TheOriginalEviltechYes, put two spade connectors on each fuse, put them through the board and solder. The fuses themselves hold everything in place while soldering. The fuses are all much easier to replace.

[@the3sounds]

@@TheOriginalEviltech That's a brilliant idea! Thanks.

[@inothome]

I was expecting a blown revers polarity diode, but a handful of blown fuses is even better!

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, I had been expecting the same, and possibly blown mosfets too!

[@Johny333-xk9js]

@@BuyitFixit how to know if mosfets are blown?

[@BuyitFixit]

@Johny333-xk9js check between the pins with meter on diode check. You shouldn't get shorts between the gate pin and source and drain. Sometimes you can trigger the mosfet with an test meter but you shouldn't get a short between the source and drain pins either.

[@Johny333-xk9js]

@@BuyitFixit thank you :D btw i fixed heater same problem broken fuse :D

[@BuyitFixit]

Nice 👍

[@Popeyes66]

Nice one Mick. I thought you were gonna open a whole can of worms there,but just fuses. Jobs like that are great but dont happen often enough.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yea, to be honest I was expecting to replace a load of mosfets and possibly some driver IC's so I was a bit surprised too!

[@petejones1957]

Well done you!! super job. Looks like a really well put together inverter, and a super display, but what a terrible design with those fuses, wonder why they didn't use fuse holders. Can you imagine what a car would be like if they built one! haha

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍Yes, cost savings perhaps? Or unless it's designed to be a throw away unit like most things these days 🙁

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

Resettable fuses might be a good upgrade for the unit if you are keeping it. Just to add I would have thought it would be designed with reverse polarity connection protection but obviously not in this case.

[@BuyitFixit]

Good idea on both counts. It's not mine, I was just looking at it for a friend. I've since returned it.

[@imag555]

that is also my though .Good idea

[@dantronics1682]

Actually it was the reverse polarity protection that kicked in and blow all the fuses, you dont need resetable fuses for reverse polarity protection since you shouldnt be connecting it in reverse all the while. if the fuse blows in normal usase then you have a fault,

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

@@dantronics1682 if correct reverse polarity circuitry is installed it will not run by design and indicate such a fault in a similar fashion to better designed battery chargers.

[@dantronics1682]

@@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse true but "correct reverse polarity circuitry" would require a diode in series which would need to have a forward current capability of at least 100 amps and then dont forget there will be a junction voltage drop which desipate energy. so having the diode in parallel to blow the fuses is the simpliest solution

[@chox2001]

I think the fuses were soldered in because sometimes the fuse holders don’t get great connections and melt. I’m guessing the manufacturer had issues similar so they soldered righ to the board as a quick fix.

[@BuyitFixit]

Could well be, I think a few people had the same thought.

[@blg53]

I must confess I have never seen a broken electrical device of any kind where only fuses were the broken bits. I am truly amazed that it is actually possible. Normally fuses are blown as an after-effect of some other problem.

[@BuyitFixit]

Reverse polarity was the problem 🙂 I had similar with a Milwaukee LED flashlight I repaired fuse had gone OC, but as you rightly say they normally blow for a reason. Wish I had a penny for everytime someone has asked me too look at something and said 'it's probably just a fuse' 😂😂👍

[@blg53]

@@BuyitFixit So they build this expensive 2000W (pure sine!) invertor but could not be arsed enough to include a reverse polarity block? I do realize that at these currents that is not a trivial thing, but considering sophistication of the unit it is very strange.

[@BuyitFixit]

@blg53 someone suggested using a diode and a relay to ensure it was connected correctly, I thought it was a pretty neat solution.

[@blg53]

@@BuyitFixit Yes, seem good although if it is really 2000W then at 12V battery voltage it should be able to commutate currents close to 200Amps. So we are talking about a relay the size of a car starter one. Its possible I guess.

[@hannatree478]

I find myself incredibly excited and hopeful that one day with some tuition from a local electronics genius, I will be able to repair expensive (and those awful cheap) gadgets that are so often written off, when they break, by the companies/repairers that make or fix them. I've lived for 35 years with offgrid solar systems. Watching the horribly expensive demise of seven high quality inverters in that time, mostly due to lightning strikes and irresponsible installers, has become too much for me financially and in principle, NOT to try to do something about fixing them, so I'm learning how. While I'm waaaay off fixing the old SEA inverter that blew up mysteriously a short time ago ($6000 to replace it with a similar model and $2000 quoted for the capacitors and presumably other components plus labour), I had a win today fixing a big spot lighting torch I found in a skip, by resoldering two broken wires on the control boards, and replacing the battery and a spade connector to one terminal. Someone threw it away. I was able to get it working again. That's where I begin. Simple is a good place to start. The exercise is learning how, even if the thing cant be repaired. The inverter it seems may be able to be repaired for a few hundred dollars if I do it under the tutelage of a qualified electrician who can make sure it's a safe repair, a process that is underway. I'm already some of the way forward when I can diagnose what went wrong and that's why I pull things apart, BEFORE I throw them away. And I find so much that can be recycled in the componentry. Videos like this help by teaching me what's what and why it's there and what is possible with some out-of-the box thinking. As soon as I saw the soldered spade fuses, I thought "oh that's silly, what if... and voila! simple is best. A great way to see how it's done by the experts. Thanks.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks for your comments and kind words. I've actually repaired a couple of solar inverters and did a video on one if you haven't seen it. Perhaps it may help in diagnosing one of your inverters? I'm not and expert but I've got a fair bit of experience in repairing things 🙂

[@wherami]

Love the improvement!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks j s. Yes I wasn't really happy soldering the fuses back in. Fuses should be there to be easily changed, not having to remove boards etc etc etc...

[@BQQTS]

I know you probably went with what you had, but you can get a car blade fuse PCB holder it would have looked so much better

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, totally agree 👍

[@TinShackVideos]

I can't believe they soldered automotive fuses straight to the board!

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes 😂😂😂😂

[@NicksStuff]

7% load out of 2000W for a can opener running in dry air sounds a bit much, doesn't it?

[@BuyitFixit]

Very true! Perhaps it uses Chinese Watts for measurement 😂😂😂

[@christopherleubner6633]

One thing you can do with these is use it to excite an isolation transformer and use that to get grid tie type inverters to give extra juice from a whole house type solar panel system if the grid goes down. Need an isolation switch and a simple battery charger to keep the inverters battery source charged. So long as your draw is about 70% of panel capacity this works fine.❤

[@tactileslut]

I tried that once without adequate isolation. The inverter tied DC- to HVDC- and AC-ground which led it to overload itself when the house shorted neutral to ground. It put a notable voltage between the body of the car and the floor. At the end of the day the charger was dead too. Whoops. More stuff to fix.

[@AntoninKral]

Had a same issue recently, different brand, very similar construction ... just ordered a bag of PCB fuse holders :)

[@BuyitFixit]

Great idea! I thought there would be something like that available but I just wanted it off my bench :) . They probably didn't bother adding them to save a few pennies...

[@TheOwlman]

@@BuyitFixit _They probably didn't bother adding them to save a few pennies..._ The problem with that type of fuse is generally with the holders - depending on the environment that it is used in it would be possible for corrosion to introduce a high resistance into the main current feed, and at 2kW (which I seriously doubt unless those fuses were rated in excess of 160A) this would lead to some serious heat from the dissipation. When I changed the batteries in my UPS I noticed the fuses were soldered in, and it is a reputable brand and not a cheap unit.

[@BuyitFixit]

Fair comment. Could well be the case.

[@ezzeldin101]

Flux is your friend, always use flux after sandpapering or grinding as you did to stick solder with soft surfaces that isn't pre-solderd like those fuses

[@BuyitFixit]

The fuses were aluminium. I did order some special aluminium flux to try and it is possible to solder to aluminium with it. Normal flux doesn't work.

[@RixtronixLAB]

Nice video, well done, thanks :)

[@BuyitFixit]

Thank you too!

[@Totogita]

Thank you for posting these videos. I have a 600 watts with the fault light on that I have to fix, any clue ?

[@BuyitFixit]

Probably blown mosfets. I've got a faulty 600w inverter too that I'll be looking at soon. Stay tuned 👍

[@Totogita]

I swapped the p19nb20 with a irf640 it is working but only 100 volts out 😢😊

[@Tom-jd1rm]

Never understood why the fuses are not easy to get to and replace 😕

[@BuyitFixit]

Might be a better business model if you just bin it and buy a new one 🤷‍♂️

[@KM-bb2iq]

top video, thank you. I have the same inverter only with 24v and 3000W. The display no longer lights up, 6 months after the warranty expired. Is it easy to replace the lamp? Or do you have to replace the whole display? or does the display on/off switch no longer work?

[@bobwarren2590]

I had a 2000 W unit that had same problem and it blew all of the fuses and that was the limit of the damage

[@misterbonzoid5623]

Why didn't it have reverse polarity protection? Page 1.

[@BuyitFixit]

It kind of did.. in the way of fuses 😂😂😂

[@simont1108]

Those fuses will solder but only with using flux and a high temp. iron. The designers are helping the accountants more than the consumers.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@johnshaw359]

Soldered fuses that require a 120w soldering iron to change them after dismantling, not recommended for camping etc.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, or emergency use 😂😂

[@cajuncoinhunter]

I was wondering why you were using a iron to take fuses out ...... I guess they want to do all the work themselves ....... That's not covered under warranty , so that means they can charge for the repair ...... Are the fuse holders available ??

[@BuyitFixit]

I'm not sure, I would guess they are, unfortunately I didn't have time to look and order any because the owner was only visiting for the weekend.

[@MikeyMack303]

Nice, easy fix!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks! 👍

[@jacquesb5248]

i have 3kva devel hybred inverter. it blew some/all it's mosfets on the one rail. havent tried replacing them yet. when it was working the thing uses about 5A just being powered up!

[@tobiassommer2821]

Probably wired it in reverse. I once did the same accidentally and the DC-wires started glowing😂 Because of the transistors/diodes it pulls a very hight current when wired in reverse, maybe so the fuses will pop to stop or minder the damage

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, that's exactly what happened, although I'm not sure if they had the glowing wires 🙂

[@1998eclipse1998]

You can solder aluminum but you need lead free solder and somethings a flux compatible with aluminum

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍

[@Firewall5000_]

Is it just me or did the manufacturer make a blunder wedging those capacitors in-between transformers AND underneath those cables? Seems like they're at risk of over-heating and having their lifespan reduced.

[@BuyitFixit]

Probably not the best designed device, although I'm no expert on designing electronics 😂😂

[@MBANZUKE]

Connected mine inadvertently the wrong way round and it blew the 3x25amp fuses - I thought it was a goner - so I replaced the fuses and it was still OK..! Always check the polarity and if the unit is US check the fuses before giving up.!

[@BuyitFixit]

I've just got another smaller inverter to look at, hopefully this one is a bit more than just the fuses 🙂

[@andytipping70]

think they solder the fuses to reduce contact resistance and so heat generation from iffy joints. by extending the cabling, I think you have significantly increased the resistance on the input side - so the output will turn off at lighter loads or higher supply current.

[@BuyitFixit]

Would that not be the about same as having the incoming supply lead extended by around 6" ? I did use fairly thick cable and x2 on each contact. Someone also mentioned about soldered in fuses but I've worked on plenty of cars that don't have the fuses soldered in. I know the resistance would be lower but I don't think it will make that much difference.

[@si12volt1]

Chinese units don't last cheap parts they use... fail .....lucky you get a year out of anything Chinese with out some kind of problem

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes some of the quality just isn't there, although I've had some stuff which has been quite reliable too. I recently bought a 4000W dimmer (to run a 3KW heater) which came in a nice metal case with a red LED voltage indicator. I tool it apart and noticed the switch was only rated at 6A at 250V which is only 1500W! The plug was a cheap unfused one with a thin lead too, and also had an inadequate heat sink which got very hot after a few minutes of operation. I ended up pulling it all apart, putting the dimmer board in a larger case with a larger fan cooled heatsink and pretty much re-building it.

[@johnkinslow3483]

Howdy, I have the same issue with my Renogy 2000 w inverter. My fault, I was standing right there as a friend hooked it up to the battery, to busy talking and not paying attention! My unit has 10 ea 25 amp mini blade fuses wired in parallel all blown. Hopefully it's just the fuses as I've had this unit for a couple of years and never used it. What is the reason for this wiring system? I know the total is 250 amps. Designed for a slow blow or fast blow or ? Thanks for any input

[@BuyitFixit]

I'm not sure if automotive fuses are fast or slow blow. I'd check the mosfets with a meter for short circuits first, before fitting fuses and trying it.

[@chelseamewsbodycorporate9851]

What is the blue mat you are working on?

[@BuyitFixit]

Just search on Amazon silicone soldiering mat 👍

[@cbsolo5628]

I've had my share of Chinese inverters on my bench. Never the fuse, always the MOSFETs

[@BuyitFixit]

I was expecting MOSFETs to be fair. I was quite surprised when they tested OK.

[@timd1833]

With 2 large input connectors and coloured RED & BLACK, how could anyone connect the power leads wrong way 'round? 🤔🤔🤔

[@BuyitFixit]

Colour blindness? 😂😂😂😂

[@Pulverrostmannen]

Most fuses like this are not aluminium, They are usually plated copper or the likes. your problem in most of this is your absolutely tiny irons, it´s among the smallest ones I ever seen for such a heat demanding job and the fuses you had never got hot enough to accept any solder (aluminium or not). My first reaction was: wow that small thing never gonna get the fuses off and then oh here comes the bigger one that was just a "normal small iron" to compare my "small" daily use pro solder station is 60 watts up to 480C, it can have tips from 0,5 to 4mm size, and when that is not enough I have bigger ones like 80 or 100 watts that I would use in a job like this where it is thick heat absorbing areas of the PCB. Solder never gonna stick correctly to anything if you solder too cold as you did here and you are just going to struggle. you can also Pre-heat the board with hot air when needed. I always say you can never be better than your tools :) if you work a lot on electronics you would love a good temperature controlled solder station with at least 50 watts and swappable tips :) BTW the Inverter were saved by the fuses for sure, the reason all of them blew was because there is a "body diode" in all mosfets that conducts like a regular diode if the chip is put in reverse bias and they act as a direct short to ground that way. if there were no fuses the fets would have exploded instead. it is actually a pretty good design they made except they should have put fuse holders on the PCB instead. They likely omit these as both a cost and performance reason as wires and connections all have voltage drops in high power applications such as this. Keep making repairs! if everything was designed to last the environment would be a lot better today. Everyone that makes repairs instead of throwing away things are heroes!!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍Agree most automotive fuses I've came across aren't aluminium, however these were 100% aluminium. I guess it was a cheap set from Ebay or Amazon and they made them from aluminium to save costs instead of copper as you rightly said. The iron I use is a temperature controlled one, with removable tips based on a JBC I think (aixun T3A). Funny enough I did a video on repairing it as it stopped working on me. It did manage to solder the two wires onto each side of the PCB which would probably have more thermal dissipation than the leg of one of the fuses. I do enjoy trying to repair stuff and I volunteer at the local repair cafe trying to repair broken items for people in the community. Thanks again for your thoughts and comment. Best wishes. Mick.

[@Pulverrostmannen]

@@BuyitFixit No problem :) Repairing stuff is becoming a pretty rare thing today so I do what I can to learn what I can to those who have this interest. it is actually possible to solder aluminium with regular tin if you know how but I would not use such fuses in a device like this anyway. too bad they were that cheap on them in your case

[@CATA20034]

Not good, remove the cable from the fuses as they add allot of inductance. You are decoupling the capacitors with those fuse leads. This will result in transistors failing due to over-voltage stress during high load. Try to use smd 30A fuses or fuse holders. I would go by removing all the fuses and just use an 100A fuse over the cable, but this could result in fire, if one fet fails, as it's winding from the transformer will melt ( they have separate winding for each fet leg).

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks for commenting. I was going to solder fuses back in as original, but the fuses I had seemed to be aluminium. I would have preferred to use fuse holders but the owner was only visiting for the weekend so I used what I had lying around. I've done much better fixes than this but KZbin seems to like pushing this video for some reason. Check out the FLIR camera repair or RGB laser which are much more interesting.

[@OH2023-cj9if]

Is it a decent sinewave as some inverter circuits give a modified square and some things will not run correctly.

[@BuyitFixit]

One thing I didn't check was the output waveform with the scope. I did on a couple of other inverters I looked at like the sterling one and that one was pretty much a modified square wave.

[@ovalwingnut]

Soldered-in fuses? 8 no less! Oh my j:Oo So the fuse(s) blowing pretty much makes this a "throw away" for most folks. That's a shame. But a GR8T FIX. A labor of ♥You RoCk. Cheers from So.CA.USA 3rd House on the Right. p .s. I looked up that company on the Interwebs and NOVOPAL stands for "No Voltage, PAL!". See, now it all makes sense :)

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 😂😂😂😂😂@ NoVoltPal

[@VLC8792]

The reverse polarity/soldered in fuses is a penny pinching exercise.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, I think so too!

[@nexxterra]

reverse polarity??? Consider that blindfolded, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right, yet the person did this while actually looking at what they were doing...

[@BuyitFixit]

😂😂😂👍

[@MikeBanks2003]

I solder wires to the places, then crimp a spade socket on to the wires, then plug in the fuses. That makes the fuses replaceable. D'OH!! Should have waited for the rest of the video!!

[@BuyitFixit]

😂😂😂👍

[@jose83771]

Good work like always, they should had installed those fuses on the exterior like car amplifier, which this is almost the same thing

[@BuyitFixit]

Yeah I would have thought something like that would have made a lot more sense.

[@cerulyse]

That's a serious amount of current to get 2kw I would have tried to mount "TTW' if there's wires come off and short on case it will be magic smoke+++

[@BuyitFixit]

Originally I was just going to solder the fuses back in, although I would have preferred to fit proper sockets. The owner was only visiting for the weekend so I had to use what I had available.

[@Dennis-mq6or]

Don't ever buy an inverter where the fuses cannot be easily replaced! They should always be socketed, and hopefully in a place where they can be replaced without taking the unit apart....

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes totally!

[@SPEXWISE]

All well and good that you fixed it but WTF is the thing in the first place? What does it do? What's it for? I probably need one but just don't know it yet.

[@BuyitFixit]

It's used to power mains equipment from a car battery. It converts the 12v into 240v.

[@SPEXWISE]

@@BuyitFixit Then I'll be needing two. Cheers. Now to tell the Mrs about the upcoming expense. Just out of interest, how long can a 12v car battery last under load from one of these things.

[@BuyitFixit]

It would depend on what you have connected to them and the size of your car battery or batteries. For a rough example a 100ah car battery would be 12v x100a = 1200w so it would run a 100w TV for 12 hour (probably less because the inverter itself uses power) or it would run a 1000w microwave for about 1h. It might be even half of this because you aren't supposed to discharge a lead acid battery more than 50%

[@DigitalIP]

Youd think something like that would have reverse polarity protection that doesnt rely solely on fuses.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, exactly. Someone suggested a relay and a diode so when the power the correct way the relay would click in powering the rest of it, but it would add extra cost I guess.

[@jaynelson4175]

When testing generators I like to use a paint stripper. They have a constant amp draw and are easy to control.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks for the tip. I recently looked at another one and used a 520w cupcake maker (resistive heater) for the load.

[@chrishartley1210]

I might be wrong, but that didn't look like 30A cable you wired to those fuses. I expect they will get VERY warm.

[@BuyitFixit]

It was 2.5mm mains cable, and 2x on each side of the fuse :)

[@chrishartley1210]

@@BuyitFixit Maybe soldering the spade connectors into the board might have been a better idea, if there was room. Just a thought if you ever have to do another.

[@BuyitFixit]

@@chrishartley1210 I would have used proper sockets the owner was just visiting for the weekend so I just used what I had lying around.

[@davidbrewer7937]

There is no excuse for a power system like this which does not have polarity protection is a really crap design... a diode driven relay at the input end ensures there is no voltage drop as associated with a simple diode protection.

[@BuyitFixit]

Great idea! I never thought of that. Thanks for sharing 🙂👍

[@davidhollfelder9940]

Hmm. Do we need to make a dim bulb tester for 12V, using incandescent brake lamps?

[@BuyitFixit]

Good idea, although brake lamps are usually 21W so I think it would take quite a few

[@inverterfactory]

This Inverter factory design the fuses on board directly, it's not easy to replace fuses.

[@BuyitFixit]

I just repaired another inverter and that one seemed to be much better built and had fuse holders 🙂

[@Equiluxe1]

I had the same problem blown fuses, I got some female spade connectors for PCB mount and put them in.

[@BuyitFixit]

Nice. I would have preferred to do that,but unfortunately didn't have time to order any as the owner was only visiting for the weekend.

[@DeutschlandLife]

This looks like my EDECOA Inverter. I had one with "3000W"! I think it could do the power theoretically. I wanted to power a big amp with a big toroidal transformer... it worked one and a second time, but on the third time it went booooom. Smoking the Sh*t out of the IGBT and the IGBT Driver. I replaced everything and it worked again. So I tried it a second time. The same, after 3 cycles it went boom again. After loosing enough money because of these cheap inverters I bought a Victron MultiPlus, because I don't want to burn my camper down, and now all is fine. It uses a big toroidal transformer for step up and step down, and I think it has a few advantages for driving heavy loads.

[@BuyitFixit]

Nice. I've recently upgraded my solar system to a Victron 5kw with a nice big battery bank. They seem decent kit.

[@gunnardannehl372]

Nice job! Interesting to see the fuses blow before the semiconductors. So they seem to be rated reasonably. My suggestion to the soldered-in fuses is the usecase of these inverters. In car or motorhome application with a lot of bumps and vibrations they cannot come lose.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍good idea but fuses in the vehicle's fusebox would suffer the same bumps and vibrations.

[@richardsandwell2285]

It is a shame the manufacturer did not make the fuses removable. soldering them in like that almost makes them pointless.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yeah👍. I suppose they did do their job though as there wasn't any more damage luckily.

[@nsy123]

some fuses on Cheap Chinese inverters wont even blow despite obvious high current draw due to shorts.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes I think I saw something recently about fuses that were rated at a certain current not actually blowing until at least 2 or 3x their rating. I think it was somewhere on KZbin.

[@wherami]

2000w thats a good amount of power

[@dantronics1682]

2000w surge, those transformers are 300-400w each

[@mattsan70]

these normally have a big diode wired in reverse across the 12V in and basically make the fuses go when wired wrong as in this case saving all the transistors etc - sometimes the diode shorts too - but looks like you got lucky here

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks morenormal👍

[@christopherleubner6633]

Yup. I've noticed they have skipped that reverse polarity protection on newer devices unfortunately. 😢

[@t0nito]

First time I've seen an inverter with popped fuses and good mosfets, it's usually the other way around, blown mosfets and intact fuses...

[@BuyitFixit]

I too was expecting a load of blown mosfets.

[@lezbriddon]

nice to see the required number of HF transformers, usually 500w a piece. But 2000w is at least 160a on the 12v dc side... what size are those fuses.... my 3kw has 8 40a fuses (on the inside but in soldered terminals in parallel) Only had them blow once, when a mosfet was too weak for the early morning coffee, which was caused by the suppliers factory changing mosfets from the agreed design to save money/increase profit. got a refund on it then put in real mosfets.. 3yrs on still going.

[@BuyitFixit]

The fuses fitted in this unit are 30A each. Great job on fixing your inverter 👍

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Nice that the fuses did their job! But a shame they were soldered. Not that soldering is hard, but that ATO style fuse is almost always made of aluminium.

[@BuyitFixit]

The fuses I used to pull from cars I'm sure were tinned copper. I just thought it was probably just this cheap set purchased from Ebay 🤷‍♂️

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

@@BuyitFixit It's sad that AL is replacing copper in many places where it shouldn't. Corrosion and other failures are the result. I do remember the days when almost all the ATO fuses were tinned copper but it seems that those days may have sadly faded away. However, I think certain types of fuses may still be tinned copper, such as the smaller ATM style. I had a car which leaked rainwater into the interior unbeknownst to me. It sat with moisture in the interior for weeks and every fuse corroded terribly due to aluminum fuse tabs reacting to the copper fuse holder terminals. Was a terrible repair.

[@BuyitFixit]

@@davida1hiwaaynet I can imagine, yes the metals seem to react with each other making a right mess.

[@mondotv4216]

You know you can buy fuse holders for them to solder into the board?

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, which would have been my preferred option, but the owner was visiting for the weekend and I didn't have any, so I used what I had available at the time.

[@redneckbryon]

I had exactly the same one, used it once everything was hooked up correctly, when I went to use it a second time, it let out the magic smoke, luckily it was still under warranty from Amazon Canada.

[@BuyitFixit]

Oh dear, not a good advert for this product then.

[@geekay2024]

I would have solderd in some fuse holders easyer to replace after they blow

[@BuyitFixit]

Agree, I would have done so but didn't have any at the time to order any. The guy who owned it was visiting us and was only here for the weekend so I had to use what I had available.

[@general23cmp]

Any theories on why the fuses blew? Input or output side?

[@BuyitFixit]

My friends friend connected up to a car battery the wrong way round, and it went pop. So he was going to bin it, and that's when my friend got it for free and asked if I could have a look at it.

[@dantronics1682]

I think he did say his friend connected it up wrong which blew the fuses

[@Ray_of_Light62]

Device build without any valid engineering standard. I'm a designer of the old generation, when we gave 50% leeway to voltage and power of all components, and certainly didn't save few pennies by skipping fuse holders. Just avoid buying power subsystems from eBay and Amazon and other fortune sellers. You'll thank yourself later...

[@HarshSharma-bq1wy]

Online kese order kare

[@shoukatalihunzai1]

Haha nice! now the fuses are very much accessible for the next time if they blow up once again. Great work gentlemen ❤

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍Hopefully they don't connect it up wrong again 😂

[@Reaktanzkreis]

I bed all mosfets of the primary inverter had gone. This inverter got the same pcb as lot of other inverters of different brands. But in this case only the fuse blown. Congratulation!!

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes I was expecting the mosfets to be shorted too!

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes I was expecting the mosfets to be shorted too!

[@RabbitsInBlack]

You know they make fuse sockets. Right? I just replaced my battery on my rice cooker and it was soldered in but modified it with a real battery holder. I think the reason for the stupid soldered in ways is to save money on producing it. They don't care about the future of that product.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks👍 yes I know about fuse sockets. The owner was only visiting for the weekend so didn't have time to order any so I just used what I had to hand. Not the most elegant repair. I've done much better and more complicated stuff, but KZbin seems to have the hots for this video for some reason 🤷‍♂️

[@ryandunne7558]

i cant believe they solder the fuses on................................ i mean they could just put some fuse holders on

[@BuyitFixit]

Yes, me too 👍

[@mikkolempinen2717]

Soldering them in makes more reliable connection. Leads add resistance and inductance.

[@BuyitFixit]

Good point 👍

[@teemum.9023]

Why does the bench power supply not get that load, I mean you could not run that can opener with the bench supply. Energy does not disappear. It should get the load in the form of amperage if not voltage

[@gilbertcuoco]

Why not solder fuse sockets in? You might blow another few while testing😁

[@BuyitFixit]

I would have preferred to do that but the owner was visiting for the weekend, and I didn't have any or time to order any. So I had to use what I had available.

[@gilbertcuoco]

@@BuyitFixit Nice solution in any case👍👍

[@supermick83]

It's quite a big unit.... That's what she said😂

[@BuyitFixit]

😂😂😂😂

[@3george136]

Never seen those car fuses soldered in like that 🧐

[@BuyitFixit]

Me either, probably to save a few pennies. The least they could have done was put fuse sockets in there where the fuses just slide into.

[@SeanBZA]

@@BuyitFixit Very common in this case, all are soldered in, as they blow with reverse polarity, so the mosfets have a 50% chance of surviving. Not pure sine wave, just a somewhat filtered sine wave with that big CCA wound inductor, which will saturate at around 1A of load on the output.

[@HDXFH]

Common on inverters cos high current

[@BuyitFixit]

A few people said the same, and I do see the logic. However the fuses are 30a and I've seen plenty of these in cars which aren't soldered in.

[@kennybacchus1488]

2000W. Pure. Sine l better. Blown. Up. ! Let’s. Fix. It!

[@andymouse]

Would have loved to have a look at that "Pure Sine Wave" bet it looks liike shite !....cheers.

[@BuyitFixit]

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I should have put the scope on it 😂😂😂

[@andymouse]

🤣@@BuyitFixit

[@JasonRobinsonidaho]

why on earth are fuses soldered to the PCB???

[@BuyitFixit]

I've came across a couple of devices now that seemed to have done the same.

[@firestormv01]

During an extended power outage of unknown duration, I found the same issue with a primitive MSW 200W inverter. A soldered fuse was replaced with a couple of jumpers and a field-replaceable fuse. Inverter still works! It was an experience standing in a freezing room with battery operated light and soldering iron trying to get this dinky inverter working again.

[@BuyitFixit]

Nice 👍 Main thing is that you got it working again. Well done 🙂

[@teemum.9023]

I have looked into this and thiis type of inverted cannot transfer solar panel power back to the grid. It is not a hybrid inverted. It also does not have the charge controller MTTP or the power management system PMS for the batteries or the smart meter. Also it can only use 12 V batteries and 12 V solar panel configuration

[@BuyitFixit]

They are just pretty much for powering mains powered devices in a vehicle such as a campervan for instance.

[@joeds3775]

And your point is ?

[@XCodeHelpHub]

Ridiculous that they soldered fuses to a board. Manufactuer mut have made it non serviceable or at least.ecpects it will be thrown away. Nice job!

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks 👍I would have preferred to use sockets on the board, but the owner was only visiting for the weekend so I had to use what I had available.

[@XCodeHelpHub]

@BuyitFixit Yeah, that would have made better sense however you improve it drastically.

[@philipnevergiveup8611]

I have one like this can I send it to you so you can repair it????? And how much will it cost me?????

[@qno-oj3py]

There are pcb fuse holders for ATO fuses but usually rated to 20A. These fuses go thru a lot of temperature cycles that will wear down the contracts. This is a cause of problems in cars. Better to solder them in. Temperature is important. Don't be surprised when a 30A fuse is only 20A at 40°C.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks for that 👍

[@JoBo-ug6tf]

The second you said he reversed the polarity I thought: fuses or diodes. Guess you wouldn't want the voltage drop from diodes. Question for you: why are some of the traces not covered in solder mask? I noticed it in the Milwaukee battery charger, too. Does it have to do with higher current? Great that you got it working again, seems like a beefy unit.

[@BuyitFixit]

Thanks, yes I think the solder mask isn't on those traces so solder builds up on them, making them thicker and allowing them to pass more current than the plain copper would allow.

[@Reman1975]

On most inverters, if you reverse the polarity, the fuses pop before anything else is damaged. I had to do this same repair several years back because I bought an inverter on eBay that was "Spares or repairs" due to the original purchaser getting their wiring confused. It sounded like aggro, but it was too cheap not to get and try to fix. All that was wrong was that one was the 3x 30A internal fuses were all blown. As you said, it's a stupid idea for them to be soldered to the board, so I found 3x surface mount blade fuse holders, Dremeled a neat bank of holes for them in the end plate, and connected the holders to the board by soldering (IIRC) 10AWG silicon wire between them. I remember the thick wires made it fun getting everything back together, but it looked pretty much like it was mean to be like that when I'd finished. ...... And after all my messing about to make the fuses easily accessible, Sods law meant that I never had to swap them again. :D . I only replaced that inverter when I wanted one with a bit more power, and I think the friend I gave that one to still uses it to run a PC in his camper van.

[@BuyitFixit]

Nice 👍Thanks for talking the time to comment. I would have preferred to use solder in sockets or such myself but the owner was only visiting for the weekend so I had to use what I had available at the time 👍🙂

[@vargasmongo3435]

as a hobbies PCB designer they should have the FET's part separate by wire so the only thing you do is disconnect the connections and replace a small board of FET's

[@BuyitFixit]

Great idea, but it would probably increase the cost of the unit. I'm sure these are made as cheaply as possible...

[@justicelut]

Ridiculous that the fuses are soldered in.

[@BuyitFixit]

Agree 👍