Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

I don’t want to get my hopes up because I think I tested it before and it was fine. So it may have blown from the megger testing

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

No luck. Still that stubborn GFI LED

[CapLeaker]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

Dang. Back to the drawing board. Would have been nice to have it fixed. I am out of ideas right now.

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

I hear ya! Well, if you get any more ideas please don’t hesitate. You have been incredibly helpful and I don’t know how to thank you enough. I know you spent hours of your time in this. I do very much appreciate you!!

[CapLeaker]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

One more I got. You said you changed that CT? Is it installed facing the right way? What I mean its like a current clamp, face it the wrong way and the measurement is negative.
I think the appreciation goes both ways. Plus you were delivering answers as fast as we asked the questions and you spent many hours as well... never stop learning and thanks to you too for hanging in there when things got tough! I like a little challenge once in a while. Specifically something that is on the rare side of things. It would be nice to figure this out, but without a schematic things aren't looking great as we running out of options.

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

One more I got. You said you changed that CT? Is it installed facing the right way? What I mean its like a current clamp, face it the wrong way and the measurement is negative.
I think the appreciation goes both ways. Plus you were delivering answers as fast as we asked the questions and you spent many hours as well... never stop learning and thanks to you too for hanging in there when things got tough! I like a little challenge once in a while. Specifically something that is on the rare side of things. It would be nice to figure this out, but without a schematic things aren't looking great as we running out of options.

Hi CapLeaker, by the way I love that handle!! Anyhow, yes I am sure the CT device is installed the correct way. I took extra care with that and made sure I had the new one in hand before removing and unwinding the old. My memory is failing so I did not trust myself and wanted to make it as exact as the old one was.

I did make a mistake with that zener however. I had mistaken it for an 18v zener and replaced it with that value. However I tested the adjacent ones and they measure at 12v. Some other data sheets confirmed this. Not sure if it will make any difference or not but I went ahead and replaced it with a 12 V. However, when I installed it and powered it on, unfortunately, I did not beat the sun and it will not power on because it's dark now. Now I'll have to wait until the morning, oh well, I suppose I need a break anyway. We all do.

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

On another thought, I recall reading in the manual about the Riso low GFI error. I read that this error of the GFI LED will come on at below 1 megaohm. This would indicate a leakage to ground on the PV side. The way, I understand this, is that the inverter is made to work on 1 megaOhm or above. When I power it on, and it does the RISO check, it comes back at 20 megaohms which is good and normal. So I guess what my point is, the 1 megaOhm that I am reading with the megger when the second board is connected may be normal.

[CapLeaker]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

On another thought, I recall reading in the manual about the Riso low GFI error. I read that this error of the GFI LED will come on at below 1 megaohm. This would indicate a leakage to ground on the PV side. The way, I understand this, is that the inverter is made to work on 1 megaOhm or above. When I power it on, and it does the RISO check, it comes back at 20 megaohms which is good and normal. So I guess what my point is, the 1 megaOhm that I am reading with the megger when the second board is connected may be normal.

I am not so sure about this. There is no real guideline one fits all approach. To me anything that’s 1 MOhm or below inside the inverter, is garbage in my book, but then I don’t know your inverter either.. If you look for a specific value, you find these are all over the place. But generally speaking the 1 MOhm is what most people go by unless they only deal with one unit or know it well enough to know the exact threshold, ins and outs, etc.

What really gets me is that the GFI error comes on right away, but yet no error codes. That leads me to believe it may be something the computer doesn’t monitor. Some older units have a 1A fuse installed between neutral and earth ground, but I don’t see it in your unit. Next on the list are the MOV’s and they all measureing fully open, no resistance at all. Could be leaking caps, IGBT, diodes, a bad relay, but so far nothing.
So all I can come up now with is this: these charcoal burnt spots. Is there maybe a via or trace where the black goes from the hv part of the relay to somewhere as carbon is conductive. Just very little moisture on the exposed black PCB can give you a reading on the DMM or better the Megger. Try it with 99%IPA and you will be surprised.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

CapLeaker

You might have something hear me hear me out what if you have a relay or more than one relay that has carbon tracking inside of it but it not enough to test for but enough for the micro computer to see because we do not know exactly how it doing it’s self test and where it is getting it test data from ( you might just have to replace them )

You could also have a situation where if there is an issue with the IGBT module or ic chips are having internal issues and like I said we do not have any idea what the self test is looking for unless you find a testing procedure that is this particular IGBT ic chip the only thing you can do is replace them

As far as the capacitors are concerned how to check them for leakages under load situation I am not sure exactly how you would do this without just replacing them because we do not know exactly what the self testing is looking for

*****
I once had a machine that that had an IO module fault and even technically support had not seen this issue before so they were not sure exactly what to replace except for the fact that a secondary Servo monitoring module had no interface indicator lighting up and the main Servo main switching power supply was showing all systems were functioning correctly
Well not exactly this micro controller had different levels of fault tolerance and the main Servo controller switching power supply system interface was not reporting properly the fault issues because it was that system fault and once I replaced the Servo switching power system the secondary monitoring system came back on line and finally did the complete self testing procedure and the machine came back on line *****

I posted this about the machine that I had to repair and how a self testing process can be derailed because of something else that really is not the issue and what it thinks is wrong and I have wondered if this is what might be happening here with this inverter ( the machine case issue I disabled the “ enable signal to the Servo switching power supply and forced it recognize a different set of faults because the self testing process hauled and it could not reset it properly to start from the beginning and do the self testing properly ) now how do this on this inverter I have no clue what and how to proceed with next I wish I did because I have been following this post from the beginning I wish I could tell what should be next to try

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

CapLeaker, I agree. With you in that it is very strange that the LED comes on immediately before any tests are performed is strange. I saw some videos online where the red LED did not come on until after it performed. It’s RISO test. I do need to mention that there is actually a third board on the unit. I guess I assumed you guys already knew this from the pictures but that board appears to be the computer board and there is a ton of SMD components on there. I wouldn’t even know where to begin on that board, but my gut tells me that it is likely not the issue. However, anything is possible.

Thank you SAM. You as well have been a great help. I think all of us are on the same page in feeling that it is erring out before it gets to its computer checks. I have tried my best to find bad components and clearly I am missing something or else it would be fixed by now. I will have to be more thorough. I wish I could identify those seven modules that are clamped to the heat sink. They have no markings on the top. I have lifted the clamp a little bit to look and could not see anything. If I can identify them then I could figure out how to test them.

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

CapLeaker, I agree. With you in that it is very strange that the LED comes on immediately before any tests are performed is strange. I saw some videos online where the red LED did not come on until after it performed. It’s RISO test. I do need to mention that there is actually a third board on the unit. I guess I assumed you guys already knew this from the pictures but that board appears to be the computer board and there is a ton of SMD components on there. I wouldn’t even know where to begin on that board, but my gut tells me that it is likely not the issue. However, anything is possible.

SAM, Thank you! You as well have been a great help. I think all of us are on the same page in feeling that it is erring out before it gets to its computer checks. I have tried my best to find bad components and clearly I am missing something or else it would be fixed by now. I will have to be more thorough. I wish I could identify those seven modules that are clamped to the heat sink. They have no markings on the top. I have lifted the clamp a little bit to look and could not see anything. If I can identify them then I could figure out how to test them.

By the way, all the black relays are new. As for carbon, yes that is suspicious as well but I could not see any small traces that might be shorted by this carbon. That’s why I was looking for other layers within the PCB. For good measure I will go back and read this entire thread again. I feel the answer may be right here and I am overlooking something. Wouldn’t be the first time. Lol

[mitsu2k]

Re: Power-One solar Inverter driving me NUTS!!!

Here is what I am referring to as the computer board.

[CapLeaker]

Hmm… are there a few posts missing? At least one of mine is.

[petehall347]

Hmm… are there a few posts missing? At least one of mine is.

yes posts are missing .. took me 24 hours to log back in .

[CapLeaker]

I can’t log in with FireFox period. It just rejects me, Used a different browser and all is good, besides I have to keep login back in once in a while, even so “remember me” is ticked off.

[petehall347]

I can’t log in with FireFox period. It just rejects me, Used a different browser and all is good, besides I have to keep login back in once in a while, even so “remember me” is ticked off.

same here wont stay logged on . it was telling me wrong password entered for 24 hours and locked me out .
anyway the missing posts . one or 3 were mine and was looking at what actually drives the fault light on am guessing something like mcu and transistor etc . then was going to try and see what triggered the fault for the mcu to turn on the light . guessing it will be a high or low state trigger of some kind .

[sam_sam_sam]

It is going to take some time to get used to this new system for the BadCap forum but I do not which one is worse a website that was getting really hard get on or a new website that you have to get use to the format

[CapLeaker]

I agree... Well, now I am able to sign in with Fire Fox no problem. lol
Anyway... at this state I think it is almost impossible to figure out unless we have a working unit or schematics. Unless we get a lucky shot.

[mitsu2k]

Wow, took me a while to sign back in also. Anyhow I traced one of the pins of the GFI LED directly to some optocouplers. Two of them. It seems like the VCC pins on each of the two optocouplers in the photo are connected directly to one of the LED pins that I traced. Not sure if this is normal or not. I have to wait for my daughter to help me because I need 4 hands to test these using two multimeters. Photo attached

[petehall347]

looks like maybe switched through negative then and using same positive as the optos .