Ralf Posted May 13, 2022 Posted May 13, 2022 Hi all, I have a problem with a faulty "Branded" Axpert King inverter. One evening I logged into my ICC Pi4, that is connected to my 3 parallel King inverters and noticed that we were drawing excessively high current, which did not look right. The next day I went to our container that houses the system and found an error on the Primary inverter's screen (can't remember the code), I switched the inverter off and tried to switch it on again, but with no luck. It just would not restart again, display also dead. I sent the inverter in to the place I bought it from, they said it was no longer under warranty (apparently 1 yr warranty, it is just less than 2 yrs old) and that they sent it in to a repairer. After 3 weeks I was told that the inverter would cost in excess of R7k to have the inverter repaired. I asked for a detailed report on how and why and was told that report would cost an extra R1k. I have tried to find other repair centers to send my inverter to, to get a second quote (for my insurers) but to no avail, as they say it is a "branded" Axpert king and they can't repair it because of differences in firmware etc etc. Can anyone assist me with my dilemma? Thank you Quote
Irocmaster Posted May 14, 2022 Posted May 14, 2022 11 hours ago, Scorp007 said: In which area of SA are you based? Quote
Ralf Posted May 16, 2022 Author Posted May 16, 2022 (edited) Ceres, Western Cape Edited May 16, 2022 by Ralf Quote
Scorp007 Posted May 16, 2022 Posted May 16, 2022 10 hours ago, Ralf said: Ceres, Western Cape Sorry. In Gauteng we have some workshops that I know of. Quote
Etiennet Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 On 2022/05/16 at 6:52 PM, Scorp007 said: Sorry. In Gauteng we have some workshops that I know of. Can you please advise for Gauteng? Quote
Scorp007 Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 3 hours ago, Etiennet said: Can you please advise for Gauteng? Check the PM I sent. Quote
Ralf Posted June 13, 2022 Author Posted June 13, 2022 Hi all I decided to take my inverter apart myself and found that the comms board had a blown connector to the SCC board, so I replced the comms board and it still dedn't work, so I stripped the whole inverter down to the main board and found it had blown in various places, presumably because one of the soldering points protruded to close to the casing and shorted out. I then replaced the main board re-installed all parts and then restarted the inverter and everything went well untill I re-cnnected the PV array and then sparks started flying. Immediately disconnected all connections, striped the SCC board and found blown parts there aswell. Replaced the SCC board, put everything together as per service manual. Then re-installed inverter, started it up, all was fine until I connected it up with the other 2 inverters in parallel, gave an error, found the problem was the cable between parallel card and main board was inserted in the wrong socket, one of two next to each other, once this was done and reassembled, rebooted all 3 inverters and voila, all working an back to normal. I can honestly say that I could probably strip and reassemble a King blindfolded now! Just to set things straight, some repair centers and suppliers said that Kodak, Mecer, Axpert etc parts aren't interchangeable, well all the parts I have replaced on my Axpert king were Kodak OG 5.48 Plus parts excepting the parallel board which was a Mecer board. The parts are relatively cheap, the comms board was R44.52 excl shipping. The main board was R2500. All in all I repaired my inverter for R4k Cheers Calvin, Steve87, Piper and 5 others 7 1 Quote
Steve87 Posted June 13, 2022 Posted June 13, 2022 Great stuff Ralph, yes you are correct, Kodak are selling a Voltronics original machine and all the parts are the same as the Mecer, RCT, Full Circle Solar, Sunlar just to name a few. Good on you for your patience and perseverance. The Kodak Suppliers can just about rebuild an entire Voltronics machine from scratch in parts. The only thing, is your have to know exactly what part you are looking for. But great value you have found. Top Post !!! Scorp007 and zsde 1 1 Quote
Ralf Posted June 14, 2022 Author Posted June 14, 2022 Thanks Steve. I just thought that someone could benefit from my "school fees". One concern I had, was the firmware/software version on the new parts as opposed to the existing two inverters, so before I connected the "repaired"inverter in parallel with the other two, I double checked that the firmware/software versions were exactly the same and they were. I was lucky as I could see which parts were faulty and I also had two other inverters to compare when re-assembling the faulty unit. zsde 1 Quote
Steve87 Posted June 14, 2022 Posted June 14, 2022 Must admit many a person would have given up because you reached many stumbling blocks. 3 hours ago, Ralf said: One concern I had, was the firmware/software version on the new parts as opposed to the existing two inverters, so before I connected the "repaired"inverter in parallel with the other two, I double checked that the firmware/software versions were exactly the same and they were. You mention a very important point here. If you run these units with unmatched firmware, you can experience some very weird operations. I dropped in a third MAX 7.2kW on a site and changed config from 2 in parallel single phase backup to a traditional 3 phase one on each phase. The first 2 had the same firmware, the last new unit had a different firmware. Yikes, I was pulling my hair out. From earth leakage trips to 2 blown AC fuses inside 2 of the units. Simply put, parallel ops ties the machines together to work as one. There is synchronization and the units need to be on the same page. Firmware is the hymn book they will read from. If the firmware is different you get chaos Jacques Ester 1 Quote
Coulomb Posted June 14, 2022 Posted June 14, 2022 17 hours ago, Ralf said: The parts are relatively cheap, the comms board was R44.52 excl shipping. The main board was R2500. All in all I repaired my inverter for R4k Wow, that's amazing. I assume that the R4K didn't include a value for your time. Well done, Ralf! Quote
Ralf Posted June 14, 2022 Author Posted June 14, 2022 Thanks guys I had a whole long message typed and for some or other reason it just disappeared. Anyway, keep well until the next time. Quote
BritishRacingGreen Posted June 15, 2022 Posted June 15, 2022 10 hours ago, Ralf said: Thanks guys I had a whole long message typed and for some or other reason it just disappeared. Anyway, keep well until the next time. The Courage of your Convinction had been clearly on display here. Well done !! Puts some extra winds in my own sails observing what can be done. The old English saying : "Cometh the Hour , Cometh the Man " Ralf 1 Quote
Krokkedil Posted June 15, 2022 Posted June 15, 2022 Hi there Ralph. will you please tell me where you purchased the boards from. I have a inverter that needs a new main board. I live in Cape town as well. Quote
Ralf Posted June 15, 2022 Author Posted June 15, 2022 Thank you British racing green! It was make or break. Quote
Ralf Posted June 15, 2022 Author Posted June 15, 2022 Hi Krokkedil I got it from a wholesale company, where we are a registered reseller and installer. But you can buy it from Shumata ( link attached). I buy from them quite often, their prices are very reasonable. Their service and delivery is brilliant. Never had a problem with them. The links I have attached are for the MKS and the King 5Kw 48V inverters. The King is called the Plus in Kodak. They also have for the 3Kw Axperts and just about every replacement or component. At this moment they have stock of the main boards. If you need the service manual to do the replacement, let me know. Let me know if you need any help and I will gladly share what I have learnt. Regards https://shumata.com/product/kodak-main-board-for-ogx5-48/ https://shumata.com/product/kodak-main-board-for-og-plus5-48/ Jacques Ester and zsde 2 Quote
Ralf Posted June 15, 2022 Author Posted June 15, 2022 Coulomb, I am sorry, I totally forgot to reply to your msg. You are right, the R4k did not include my or my helper's hourly labour. Had I added that, it would've been cheaper to have the repair company do the repairs. Quote
RiPMonsteR Posted June 19, 2022 Posted June 19, 2022 Hi Ralf please can you tell me where you got the comms board? i have searched quit a bit to find nothing. thanks Quote
Ralf Posted June 20, 2022 Author Posted June 20, 2022 Hi RiPMonster I got mine from a wholesale suppliers, but they wont supply directly to the public. For which inverter do you need it for? Here is a link to another supplier and the comms board they sell. https://shumata.com/product/kodak-comm-board-for-ogx5-48/ This is not for the Axpert King! https://shumata.com/product/kodak-comm-board-for-og3-24-og5-48/ This is the comms board for the Axpert King. I see they are out of stock. Here is another link to the comms board that is in stock. https://shumata.com/product/kodak-comm-board-for-og-plus-series/ I think it is the right comms board as there is no pic. https://portal.segensolar.co.za/Reseller/docs/Service manual - AXPERT KING 3KW&5KW.pdf Here is the service manual for the Axpert King. Let me know if you don't come right. PhillipMarx, Calvin, Jacques Ester and 1 other 2 2 Quote
RiPMonsteR Posted October 11, 2022 Posted October 11, 2022 Hi Ralph Thank you for the response (a few months late) I will go forward and check through that link and try see if they will supply for me. Thank you once again for your response truly means a lot to me and i apologize truly for the delayed response. another quick question do you guys happen to know as to why my inverter gets so hot but the fans do not turn on i put a temp sensor and put it by my inverter and it registered at 120 degrees and its fans just didn't kick in and after that then my inverter started randomly charging differently, by saying this i mean it will reach 90% after using it all the time but some days it takes 10 minutes to charge and other days it takes 2 hours to charge the exact same 10 % needed to be full. another query is and it might sound weird but every time i light a cigarette anywhere in the house my other inverter fans kick in the whole time until my cigarette is put out, why is this ? Quote
Ralf Posted October 12, 2022 Author Posted October 12, 2022 Hey RiPMonster No problem. So if the fan does not work when the temp is that high, does the inverter publish an error code on the screen? On the King it would be either a F01 which is "fan locked" or F02 "Over Temp". If the inverter/s don't publish an error code, then it might be because they haven't registered an over temp, or there might be a bigger problem. Have you possibly checked if your fans are free, as in freely rotating. When last have you done a firmware update on your inverter/s? What inverters do you have? My inverters are connected to a Pi4 with ICC software and the software actually displays the inverter temp and the main dashboard, as shown on the screenshot at the top center of the dashboard. It might make sense, depending on the make and model of you inverter, to purchase and install a Pi4 with ICC software. The people at ICC, in my experience, are very helpful and approachable and I have no complaints about the software, it works like a charm and I can log-in remotely and change parameters as well. ICC have kits for sale, depending on your set-up, make of battery etc. Best contact them, before ordering. Regarding the lighting of a cigarette, Hmmm that is a difficult one, unless you light your cigarettes with a flamethrower I can't think of one reason why that would happen. I hope you are able to find the problem/s, if any. I am truly inquisitive to know what the connection between lighting a cigarette and the inverter fan is? Good luck and please let us know what transpires, or if you need anymore info. Regards Quote
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