Solar Inverter Repair / Fix - Aurora Power One (Multiple Faults) and E031 error

In this video I repair an Aurora Power One Solar PV Inverter.
I got this for free from a friend who was going to dispose of it as he got a new one fitted.

The unit has two separate issues. One problem would probably show Error E031 except that the unit is totally dead and does not display anything at all due to other problems which need fixed too!

Please note that what I do in this video should not be attempted by persons who don't know what they are doing (like me), and it is just to show people how I went about repairing it.
My methods may not be the best, or safe!

High voltage electricity can be lethal!

The two diodes I replaced were SMBJ15A (the small rectangle one to the right hand side on the video) and STPS5H100B which was the one that looks a bit like a transistor (larger of the two at the left hand side on the video).

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#electronicscreators #electronics #electronicsrepair

[TradieTrev]

Classic using a drill and washing motor to generate voltage! Love it mate!

[jonnyduncan]

Another great fix. That will be worth a bit of money now. We have a Fronius 4kW grid tied Inverter and after 15 years it's still going strong. The panels have dropped off a bit but we're getting £0.69.a kW/h, still 'neutral' on our Gas/Electric as we get £1000 a year FIT

[Gelf]

My guess would be that since the same pin was burnt on each relay, if you opened them up you'd find this pin attached to a larger hunk of metal inside, which caused a poor solder joint from new because of heat soak into the pin. The board probably went through the wave solderer a bit too fast, to speed up production (a common Sony problem btw). Now I have to decide whether to proactively pull my 10-yo unit off the wall to check it! 😀 Thanks for the video.

[steveharvey]

Nice work! Really interesting repair - fairly tragic relay failure, plus flyback failure. Fun means of testing it too!

[SomnolentFudge]

Nice repair, I love your method of simulating a solar panel (rube goldberg would be proud).
I just had to fix a 10kw growatt inverter, over-tightened standoff warped the board cracking and shorting a single 10uf ceramic cap causing the main smps to go into oc protection preventing a 3 month old $1600 inverter from working. I've had problems like this on about two thirds of the appliances I've brought in recent years, can't help but feel quality control has gone to shit.

[ThorWithHammer]

Outch those relays ..Nice fix. can watch this all day long. right up my alley

[scott]

Really enjoyed that one. You have great general knowledge of electronics it’s interesting to hear you figuring the problems out

[joebloggs]

Another Great fix! Well done. Interesting use of the old washing machine at the end.

[dgaasbeek]

Great video, good job! Currently experiencing the exact same problem with my Aurora inverter. At least now I know where to start measuring. Thanks for helping out!

[loicbru]

Great job, liked to see it could be diode and transitor failures too. I have one of those inverter I put on side for some time, displaying "missing grid" while the gird is well present on terminals. Will have a look to these components! Ah, at the beginning of the video, only powering the inverter via the AC output will never power it. It need DC input (min 60VDC?) to pozer up and display something, even there is no grid at the time of the test. Good job man!

[DavoShed]

Great to see you fixing stuff.
Interesting solar panel simulator. I’m guessing it’s not sunny there at the moment. (When you filmed this)

[Dutch_off_grid_homesteading]

Heya, love these vlog's keep on making them

[MattBrownbill]

Nice one. Sometimes, it's the smallest things. I found it was only a diode that killed an entire set of disco lights. And a small signal capacitor on a music system. I have a TRS 80 portable computer with a PSU issue. Would like to see some more fault finding techniques. 😊

[derekcrane]

Typical lightning strike! As a solar panel installer (retired) I've seen plenty like that. I've also seen the capacitors blown up too. Good earthing is essential, as is in my opinion, lightning protection.

[inothome]

I guess that's one way to get higher voltage DC. lol I was expecting a bench top PS or Variac and bridge rectifier. Good fix as always, you seem to get a lot of less complicated repairs, which is nice. Shame to see some of this stuff get junked for some of these problems. Good saves!

[TheInfoworks]

Very interesting, the relays were very bad, probably the inverter was over powered and mounted in a hot badly ventilated area (a loft). Great extra about the switch mode supply. I use a variac powering an isolation transformer and a smoothed rectifier to simulate the DC. Yes from the same mains that the inverter is feeding into, Good upgrade to the tracks, normally they are double sided, but these were burnt away. Cheers

[gmks]

Thanks I had the same happen on my same inverter. Got it replaced under warranty. I have seen Andy Renolds do a YouTube video and fix on the same fault. It seems that this is a design fault with these relays burning out. Good idea to strengthen the solder tracks with heavy wire. You can use any variable DC power supply to simulate the Solar Panels. Great to see a fix, Aurora seem to have disappeared or been absorbed by ABB who offer little help.

[FreeWhilly]

So when spinning the washing machine what actually causes the physical resistance to turning? You said you could feel the drum getting harder to turn?

Blew my mind when you said that.

[chimpinainteasy]

i worked for a company that had loads of failed victron and other invertors that i asked to have a look at but they just scrapped them. easy fixes really by the looks of it. such a shame. easily 20k worth of stuff couldve been fixed for not very much

[stefanopassiglia]

Great fix and use of the washing machine! Curiosity: do you have an isolation transformer when working with DUT that need mains? I'm planning to do more repairs and I'll need one for sure - any suggestion about which one to buy?