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!

Some of the tools I use:

#electronicsrepair #electronics #electronicscreators
Novopal Inverter repair
2000w Pure sine inverter repair
dead inverter

[emylrmm]

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

[sadiesherwood]

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.

[blg]

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.

[naste.adrian]

The way you analyse and diagnose is golden.

[shaunclarke]

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.

[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.

[inothome]

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

[ThriftyToolShed]

Awesome! Glad the fuses protected the front end!

[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.

[markm]

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

[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!!

[hannatree]

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.

[shoukatalihunzai]

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

[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

[ElizabethFert]

i'm so impressed with your ability to engage the audience!

[firestormv]

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.

[miata]

A very interesting solution with the fuses. Well done!

[gunnardannehl]

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.

[nzhillbilly]

Just come across this video, nice to see that inverter repaired, good job.👍

[AntoninKral]

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