Hi all, Me new here🤪

I just successfully repaired a Mecer 5KVa inverter which had error 09. Now I thought I'll do a bit of research here to see who else had such an error and get a better understanding of the circuit but search results return Zero results? Gee you guys are  lucky.

I had a dead main board due to 2 Geckos slipping in there and being electrocuted! Such is life on a farm.

Replaced a few IGBTs and a few bits n pieces and she's running again! Now off to braai!

10 hours ago, Chilli said:

Now I thought I'll do a bit of research here to see who else had such an error and get a better understanding of the circuit but search results return Zero results? Gee you guys are  lucky.

Actually fault code 09 (error 09) is unfortunately one of the most common ones. I think one of my inverters would have shown that code if it didn't blow the 100A external DC rated fuse. I'm still slowly repairing it months later. It's not top priority since I have the other inverter and I rigged its solar panels directly to the battery (after the isolating breakers of course). Mine involved many MOSFETs (I replaced all 16) as well as the 4 full bridge IGBTs. It was affected by nearby lightning (nothing like a direct hit), and in Australia we generally don't bother with lightning protection, as I see you all do in South Africa.

I suspect that a more careful search will turn up more stories. Try a Google search of "axpert fault code 09" without the quotes. Many people may omit the leading zero, or call it an error rather than fault code, making it harder to search for. 

9 minutes ago, Coulomb said:

... and in Australia we generally don't bother with lightning protection, as I see you all do in South Africa.

Hello Coulomb

In Namibia we also don't seem to bother with lighting protection. (Well at least I'm not to pickled 🤪)

You might be spot on with the leading 0 in searching for that dreaded 09 error. I have now found a massive massive wealth of information over there on the Aussie forum where you and Weber (and others) have done exceptional work. May I take this opportunity to sincerelyTHANK you for all your hard work and willingness to share your knowledge

I have about 30 years experience in electronics but these inverters are a new(ish) field field to me. I'm poking around in them to get a better understanding of how to repair and modify them. Will have to since I'm now "retired" and sitting in the bushes completely off-grid).

Next avenue will be to figure out how to (and esp. WHERE) to plug in a cable to dabble around with firmware up/downgrade etc. Seems I need a RJ45 plug.

Where is my sidecutter......

I shall pick all of yer brains in the next few month 😀

6 hours ago, Coulomb said:

in Australia we generally don't bother with lightning protection, as I see you all do in South Africa.

 

6 hours ago, Chilli said:

In Namibia we also don't seem to bother with lighting protection.

This is my view: If you want lightning to strike something - ground it! Lightning does not strike tall trees and light structures at a stadium or lightning spikes because they are the tallest thing around, they get struck because they are all grounded and lightning wants to go to ground.

At my previous house in Heidelberg I lived on the side of a koppie. During thunderstorms that area would be hard hit by lightning. I had 7 TV's in the house. I lost all 7 TV's three times in one year. I had to replace my modem and telephones 8 times, DSTV decoder three times, gate motor 3 times in the same year. At the same time I had 12 solar panels on a solar tracker that extended well above the roof of the house. I never earthed the solar panels and never had a problem with them being struck by lightning.

When I installed my new Kodak system at my new house I went through stuff I downloaded from the internet. Kodak leaflet showed 2 drawings. One with solar panels with an earth wire running to an earth spike with a big red cross over it and in the other drawing, without any grounding wires, with a green tick mark over the drawing. They explicitly stated not to ground the solar panels. Here I am again, solar panels not grounded. Been through e few huge thunder storms lately, no problem.   

Edited February 6, 20223 yr by Don

2 hours ago, Don said:

Kodak leaflet showed 2 drawings. One with solar panels with an earth wire running to an earth spike with a big red cross over it and in the other drawing, without any grounding wires, with a green tick mark over the drawing. They explicitly stated not to ground the solar panels.

I wonder if that's their solution to the fault code 08 problem. Was this leaflet for a model with a higher voltage SCC? 

1 minute ago, Coulomb said:

Was this leaflet for a model with a higher voltage SCC? 

Yes, I searched for info on the Kodak Max OG-7.2 inverter. I will see if I can find it again. 

I'm trying to fix my Mecer 5KVA, it has error 09 on it. Took it for repair but the technician passed on before fixing. Now I don't know which IGBT goes where. It uses 4266D and 4750D. Can someone assist. 

How do I match them here: 

QB2, QD2, QDA1, QC1, Q32, Q30, Q29, Q27, Q28 

11 hours ago, Chitova said:

I'm trying to fix my Mecer 5KVA,

There are at least a dozen different models that fit that description.

11 hours ago, Chitova said:

It uses 4266D and 4750D.

The 4266D has the higher spec (handles higher current), and I'm guessing that you have a PF0.8 model (5 kVA and 4 kW rating). In that case, it's the full bridge (QB2 .. QC1) that needs the higher specification (for the 5 kVA rating). Q32 is the buck converter, it's sometimes even a MOSFET. Q27-30 are the high end of the DC-DC converter; they and the buck transistor can be the lower rated part. The DC-DC converter and the buck transistor handle the 4  kW rating.

QB2 .. QC1 and Q27-Q30 should both be matched sets (all the same part number).

Edited February 14, 20232 yr by Coulomb