Author Topic: guess who bought a power jack inverter  (Read 196589 times)

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Offline lighthunter

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #540 on: July 17, 2017, 06:32:04 pm »


Can I still run this in split phase adding the second tranny?

I wouldnt do it any other way (unless of course i lived where split phase isnt used)
I dont know specs of each unit you want to team. If specs are all same (volts in,volts out,split etc) then ans is yes you will still have split with more power available.

One thing must not b forgotten tho, with 12v conversion the 12v current is phenomenal.
applying ohms law at face value, 2kw of AC power is 2000divide by 10.5v = 190Amps. Now double that for 4kw so 400A DC for the fets to carry. They have some pretty great specs like 180A per and there are 24, right? Well its an H bridge so you only get to count 1/4 or 6 pieces, then the to220 package they seal em in is only realistically good for 100 give or take an everybody has an opinion, so you have 600A to play with but they will make some heat at even 400 continuous. So keep in mind fet limits.

When considering connecting transformers together think of each winding as a battery for purposes of connecting.  You can connect 2 batteries + to + and - to - and get double the current capacity so long as voltages are identical. Same is true for transformers. You can also stack voltages in series on a transformer same as you can with batteries, taking into account current ability of windings, polarity and voltages.

Im guessing since you asked, one unit is split phase and the other is not. In that case you could add a winding to the non-split unit and make it identical to other unit.   Or you could just add it on as it is. That would beef up power capacity of one of the two split phases while leaving the other with no change. That is certainly an option. Then if you had mostly 120v loads, you would balance with more loads on the stronger side. Unbalancing a split phase really hurts efficiency though, thats another subject.


Also, realistically will I see any improvement to heat or output?
That all depends on your use and setup. If you are normally under 2kw and above only for short spurts chances are you dont have a heat issue and if you do its nothing a high performance fan wouldnt fix. Longer higher output, yeah anything you do to improve cooling helps.

Power handling? The resistance of the primary winding and the lead wires are the biggest limiting factors of power capacity. To get around that problem, you either configure things for higher voltage or lower the resistance by paralleling primary windings and lead wires with more copper. So yes you will imlrove power and efficiency (under higher loads) by adding another transformer. Not sure how u think it b expensive to go up in voltage. I think a 24 or 48v cntrl board can b had for $65 cant remember for sure an 24 irf4110 fets are maybe $15. If you really hate working with boards, you can use small side cutter an clip all 3 fet leads and bolt new fets in and solder overlap leads. Then again if the fets you now have can handle the voltage you wouldnt even have to change those. There are always many options and choices. You have to go with what your needs are and what you are comfortable with.  A running solar setup is always better than one thats not. Upgrades can be well worth it but I think Solomon wrote in the Bible somewhere that its good to grab on to the one without letting go of the other. I guess i never asked anyone what that meant but in our day you might apply it by leaving one inverter original and taking the lesser value unit and modifying it with higher voltage, new fan (some are like tubines) and a winding modified toroid. The single phase units can be made into split without much trouble. 

All fun stuff :)


Health Warning: May contain traces of nut!
LH

Offline solarnewbee

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #541 on: September 24, 2017, 02:38:56 pm »
Hey All!

I'm looking for the mod that allows the pj lcd panel stay on all the time

Thanks
SN

Any day above ground is a day for potential mishaps

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #542 on: September 24, 2017, 04:31:38 pm »
It's a long time since I played with the PJ.

I used to use a 100r resistor from the +5v ( probably pin 2, top left second in) to the LCD back light pin.... probably  second last pin ( 2 in from left )

But it will be easy to find which one. A 100r from the +5v can go to any other pin without any real damage I think.

Here is a pic of the 48v solar controller.... note the 56r resistor from the plus down to L1 on the right hand side... thats the same sort of thing exactly
.7229-0
The pins 64 to 74 represent the outer pins of the lcd screen ( the 4 pins that would have been between the 69 and 70 are not shown/used)


Hope that helps a bit.



..........oztules
Flinders Island...... Australia

Offline solarnewbee

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #543 on: September 26, 2017, 01:52:44 pm »
Awesome Thanks!
SN

Any day above ground is a day for potential mishaps

Offline off the wall

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #544 on: October 09, 2017, 10:47:36 am »
I'm slow on the mark answering a few things. You can mix a 8000 and a 5000 transformer but check if there is a voltage difference and add turns to the 5000 transformer to bring it up to the same voltage. It works and makes a difference.

The 12V units are simply limited by 12V in starting big things. Go to 24V or 48V

As for switching over between grid power and inverter power, within this thread I published the diagram of the double pole switch using contactors which enables absolutely safe switching and is as close to zero crossing and minimum downtime for equipment not to notice a glitch in the supply.

Question - I've been helping someone using solar panels as primary power with a battery bank that's under-specified more in the nature of voltage stabilisation rather than power storage. I've advised that the inverter should switch off as soon as the battery voltage goes below 25V on a 24V system. Buried in this thread are details of the two resistors which govern the battery low cut-off voltage setting on the inverter . . . is there anyone familiar enough with this thread to point me to the post . . . and better simply to be able to identift which resistors and what value one might be changed to?

Many thanks

Best wishes

OTW

Offline Dr_Zogg

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #545 on: February 04, 2018, 03:52:58 am »
I have just put my powerjack stuff in the classifieds if anyone is interested. I am open to offers.

Cheers,
           Sam
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most

Offline solarnewbee

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #546 on: February 04, 2018, 11:55:59 am »
Going thru my new 2017 15kw PJ I wondered what the advantage is of 2 main boards over 1 and why is my toroid so loud. I haven’t removed the cover to see if it is potted but if it’s not could that be it and what could I pot it with. For this unit the fans are 24v, loud and throw some cfm’s. I’m installing an Rpi3 to control these fans, monitoring temps thru a server.
SN

Any day above ground is a day for potential mishaps

Offline Pete

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #547 on: February 04, 2018, 06:59:31 pm »
Hi Oz, just wondering if you are still using that regulator you mention on the first page. If possible could you do a short article on how to build one. I have moved and am planning on a new system here, I already have a Powerstar W7 and PowerJack inverter, both 12 volts, and 600 amp hours of batteries. So I will get a bunch of panels soon, planning on a 1.5 to 2kw system and regulators seem completely over the top expensive. Yours looks pretty simple and sounds like it works well.
Hope all is well over there on the island. We can almost see you, haven't had a clear enough day yet, but we are high up on Mount Barrow, so you never know.
Cheers
Pete

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #548 on: February 04, 2018, 10:16:38 pm »
Yes Pete, they are all over the island now... so I should do an article on them.

They can control as much as you want. just keep adding fets.

I now use a board that can be used for DC control, " whatever voltage at whatever current ", and can also drive a GTI for reverse grid feed... which I recommend for 12v systems to keep the solar panel currents down, and has mppt as a bonus, that really works better than the DC:DC ones.


........oztules

Flinders Island...... Australia

Offline Pete

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #549 on: February 05, 2018, 06:23:52 pm »
Hi Oz I saw some of the posts on the GTI inverter regulator setup. Just wondering how they are working, and also concerned that it is adding another layer of complication and more things to turn into smoke. As you have it running you can hopefully say more on the reliability factor
Pete

Offline mhayen

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #550 on: March 19, 2018, 08:55:35 pm »
hi there few year later in canada ... here some photo of 2018 version of 6kw 24v lf psw have some question i dont really know electronic like few there so be gentle. i want to know if mosfets need heat to work better or if i m able to get them at 20c even with big loads it s  the best because i m thinking to put liquid cooling on them , and make the toroid mod and if it s easy gonna try the grid tie mod but not really need it till 3 year (probably just get on grid when i ll produce a way more than i can use) so probably never. for the toroid what else use big toroid like that (gonna see if i can find one at scrap). want to know to if the 15kw board fit with what i have and if someone can send photo of 8kw 2018 version to see the difference would be cool sry if i put lot of photo right now showing inside of 6000w 2018 24v  lf spw on the top view the power board is removed and want to know if in this 6000w model i got the big toroid or the small and the kw usable  with this one thanks for all info on this forum by the way and sry if it s hard to read i m french

Offline mhayen

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #551 on: March 19, 2018, 11:43:14 pm »
by the way another newbie question about the mosfets they are ru75n08r 660 2j642 do they are the same than that http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/445976/RUICHIPS/RU75N08R.html and if yes do those one fit in there just by unsold the older and put those one (in case of mosfets burn without collateral damage) http://www.ruichips.com/pic/RU190N08R.pdf they look like to have more capability and another question why there is ferrite ring on center leg of mosfets negative side and don t  on positive side just for learn a little

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #552 on: March 26, 2018, 11:48:31 pm »
Cheap replacement fet I use would be HY4008.
High frequency suppression is the ferrite... no idea why and how they use it in this case.

Your transformer is too small for 6kw continuous, more like 2.5-3kw, with short 6-16kw surge.

RULE no1... keep fets  as cool as you can, and the same for the big electro capacitors.

........oztules
Flinders Island...... Australia

Offline mhayen

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #553 on: March 27, 2018, 05:11:32 am »
nice thx for the answer and for your post. I m guessing do it is possible to put the toroid in tank of circulating non conductive oil, and do it really need to be at 70c (temperature) to get the best result asking because in this case i will have to put sensor and flow controlling on my set up and for capacitor do those one can fit in  or the uf must be the exactly the same? thanks again to take time to answer all our question https://www.ebay.com/itm/22000uF-80V-Electrolytic-Screw-Capacitor-Audio-Amp-50x80mm-Power-Supply-105-/152818478976?hash=item2394b0ef80 i know they will not fit cause of screw but it s not the question want to know if they fit or if i have to get 18000uf exactly like the original

Offline off the wall

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #554 on: July 30, 2019, 07:26:12 am »
This thread has become very much a resource for the PowerJack inverters and is so comprehensive that it's intriguing that no-one's added to it.

That photo of the 6kW PJ unit with the AS2 transformer is exactly what has been going wrong at PowerJack and possibly increasingly for a long time.

I've got a 5kW unit with the same transformer. :-) And that transformer is fit for only 2kW continuous with 3kW for intermittent use.

PJ developed what looked like a superb 15000 unit beyond their old unit with three transformers. The three transformer unit was good and delivered 6kW happily. The new 15000 unit had double sets of power boards and one big transformer. This could deliver the goods, probably 8kw at least.

I bought two, one to sell and one to keep and use myself.

The new units were heavy beasts and were inadequately packaged, so one was damaged in transit. Cher very kindly sent me replacements of the damaged connectors etc.

Through ebay someone bought one of the units and he came to collect it, to send to his house in Africa.

I demonstrated and tested the unit, and at 2kW the inverter failed with LEDs on the power boards starting flashing. We switched to the other unit which was fine. It went to Africa and served well. Until, that is, someone connected the output of a generator without a proper changeover switch so that the generator and inverter output were connected together. They bought new parts through Cher and fitted them and the inverter worked unreliably and did odd things.

Meanwhile Cher sent me replacement electronics to fit into my unit which had failed at 2kW. It was a lot of work to fit all the mosfet boards and some screws were impossibly tight. When finished, on test the inverter failed again at 2kW. I assume there's a dodgy winding insulation in the transformer.

Cher was highly embarrassed. PJ themselves were their usual selves for which they have earned a reputation, and after a couple of months Cher has left PJ.

Meanwhile on my own installation I have a 200m cable between the battery installation and the house. A junction box had become damaged allowing ingress of water, causing insulation to break down. I had intermittent brown outs which recovered and should have investigated but didn't. Eventually the cable end caught fire in the junction box (outside so not dangerous) and shorted, and this blew the electronics of my 8000LF to which I'd added an extra transformer. Luckily I had a spare set which I have nearly finished fitting.

However this caused me to enquire of another contact of PJ who told me that the 8000LF 24V version wasn't in production and they were only making "4000" units at the moment. I told them that this was regrettable and the lady said that they would be reconsidering restarting production of the 8000LF.

However, there is another company making inverters with sound ethics, that specifies their inverters correctly, Solinba. I have one of their 24V 3000W units on test at the moment and it's flawless. A lady by the name of Lily with the company is very helpful and I'm trying to encourage her to get the company to build a 6-7kW unit.

As a matter of interest she told me that her company uses copper transformers but PJ had turned to aluminium transformer windings. It's for this reason that although there is an Amazon stock remaining of the PJ 8000LF units, I'd wait until seeing what Solinba might come up with.

Best wishes

OTW