overdrive

Thanks for the guidance. I took a working panel, made a fimware dump using stm32cubeprog and blew the backup to the dead unit. All working fine now. Thanks!

Hi. I have a Axpert King 1 5KW with a display running a GigaDevice chip. I updated the firmware (02.89) and it stated successful. Once I power cycled it, the screen does not turn on. No light nothing, just dead. I am sure I flashed the wrong firmware (for the ST chips). My other inverters have the st chip but the newer ones I bought has the GigaDevice. Is there a way to reflash it with the latest compatible firmware (looks like 02.83)? Any advice would be appreciated.

Got the faulty MPPT unit back today. I disassembled it and found 6 X irfb4115 (104 A, 150 V HEXFET) and 4 X V30200C Diodes "clamped" to the hearsink. One of the fets on my controller blew for sure, still need to test the rest. The Fet was barely clamped to the heatsink. I am actually surprised the controller lasted 6 months without popping. They use plastic clamps and what looks like a mica isolator strip. No thermal paste. The rest of the design looks like 80A would be within reach so I can not for the life of me understand voltronic's claim that they require 3S solar panels. 2S 6P gives you +- 76V and at a max of 4000W you would only do 52.6A... they are looking for trouble by making silly statements.

A friend of mine looked into the Fets on the MPPT controller and found irfb4321 (Vdss @150v) and irf640npbf (Vdss @200v). I am waiting for my unit back to take a look at what is populated. If the components match then the spec printed on the inverter is, as you say, very close to the margin. He also made a valid argument that heat, i.e current, is a bigger killer of fets than volts. Maybe why voltronic insists on a 3S solar setup. I also looked at the fans and thought "why are they backwards?". Yet another baffling design "feature". Bottom line, King = trouble.

This is my view as well, hence my posting it here to highlight how dodgy they are.

Looks like they are selling products with incorrect specifications and should be pulled from the market. Under the CPA they do not meet "fit for purpose"

3S is where people get issues with the king going to 0W output. I had that for 1 month and went to 2S no issue for 5 months. Q: I have a 145 V max PV model. Why doesn't my inverter-charger use any/all of available PV some of the time? A: I note that the 145 V figure is the absolute, never-exceed maximum. It's not a "let me see if I can squeeze under that limit" thing. At a panel voltage of 145 V, PV power is limited to zero. At 144 V, the power is restricted to 6.7% of maximum. Even at 130 V, where the power is not restricted at all, the solar charge controller seems to run much hotter, and may limit itself due to temperature. PIP-5048MK (Axpert King) models seem to be particularly sensitive to high PV voltage. What this means in practice is that with 72-cell panels (or 144-half-cell panels), which are the most common type as of 2020, you can only wire them 2S (two panels in series). You can wire as many strings of two panels as needed, but as per FAQ 5, don't exceed 10-20% of rated PV power (rated power is now usually 4000 W for 5 kVA models). Wiring 3S (3 panels in series per string) will almost always lead to trouble if you're using 72-cell panels. 60-cell panels can be run in 3S, and will probably work better in 3S than 2S. Remember also that the Voc of a panel is given at standard operating conditions and 25°C; panel voltage typically increases about 7% at 0°C. This problem is becoming worse as panels become larger and larger in power output. Part of how this is achieved is that the cells output a higher voltage than their predecessors.

Lol. Name and shame works for me. Is it allowed on here? CPA yes, false claims of capabilities and misleading marketing. I bought the unit from an online vendor who is a reseller, very good service. He is willing to pay for the repairs. It is his supplier that is making these statements together with voltronic. It really bugs me, my configuration should not come close to the technical spec unless they are doing something dodgy. I have asked for the blown unit back to do an autopsy.

My thought as well. I want to take this further out of principle.

Hi I installed a Axper King inverter with 12 x JAP72S09-340/SC 340W panels in a 2S-6P configuration. The MPPT controller blew 2 weeks ago after 6 months of operation and I sent it back for a warranty claim. The supplier responded with "We need to change your Solar Charge Controller that got damaged due to the wrong connection of the solar panel configuration. Incorrect input Voltage and Current. The ---5KING inverter should be 3 in series with a maximum of 4 strings in parallel of +- 330w – 360w solar panels." I responded with the manufacturer spec stating a 60-115v PV voltage with 4000w limit. My panels are 37.74v max power and with 2S at 75.48V. Well within the manufacture spec. The supplier then contacted voltronic and they responded with: "Hi ----- For this kind of panels we suggest 3 in series and 4 strings. The current of 6 strings is over the limitation of the solar charger, it may increase the risk to the MOSFET in the charger controller.. Thanks." So by Voltronic's own admission their device can not function under the electrical specifications they themselves provide? Any opinions on this matter?

Update: Inverter got re-flashed, working as expected. When the lifepo4 battery runs down to the 30% DOD it is set at currently (due to "back to grid voltage" limitation) it does not start charging again from utility if the inverter is in eco mode. When I interrupt utility in this state and bring utility back when the DOD is at 10-20% the inverter charges at the preset max ac charge rate for 10 minutes every time. I can live with this. Seems like the initial firmware upgrade was wonky.

Ignore please. New issues came up with this firmware. The inverter is now stuck on charging from utility no matter what.

Hi all After experiencing this charging issue with my setup I contacted the local supplier/re-brander of my King 5Kva inverter about this issue and pointed them here and to the numerous other forums where people have issue with this inverter behaviour. They contacted voltronic on my behalf and they were supplied with firmware 71.92 that fixes this issue when the inverter is set to Eco mode. So far my inverter is behaving as expected. I do not have the firmware to share but I am sure if you approach your vendor they can make a plan.