Hello everyone,

My Axpert Mks IV 5600 was working fine for two months.
Still is but the display is not showing all info since 2 days now.
The bottom line info is corrupted, also the menu's.
I have smartEss app, and i can do everything from there, and also i can see all necessary info. 

But if i would like to fix it if its something i could do.
Anyone had the same issue before?

On 2022/12/23 at 2:02 AM, Leog said:

But if i would like to fix it if its something i could do.

I don't know these new round displays well. But all these displays work much the same: there is a long serial data stream sent to them at high speed (SPI or I²C I think). Typically there will be three wires for this serial bus: ground, data, and clock. I believe that the round display is actually two or three of these displays; it looks like it's just the lower one playing up on your inverter. I would find these cables, take them out and re-insert several times, and/or squirt with something like CRC contact cleaner (NOTE: nothing that's oily and would leave a residue).  Also look for damaged wires, repair or replace as needed.

If this doesn't fix things, the other thing that happens is that the conductive rubber block that connects the transparent but conductive traces on the display glass to the display PCB can move out of place, or not make proper contact. These things conduct from top to bottom but not side to side. Fiddle as required. This repair probably requires more things to be taken apart, so leave this one last.

Of course, you could also return it under warranty, but at this time of year, that could take a long time, plus repair facilities will be overloaded with inverters boxes with bad lead acid batteries, from all the load shedding.

Good luck. 

Edit: It seems to be a known issue; see this post below.

Edited December 30, 20222 yr by Coulomb

On 2022/12/23 at 8:22 AM, Coulomb said:

I don't know these new round displays well. But all these displays work much the same: there is a long serial data stream sent to them at high speed (SPI or I²C I think). Typically there will be three wires for this serial bus: ground, data, and clock. I believe that the round display is actually two or three of these displays; it looks like it's just the lower one playing up on your inverter. I would find these cables, take them out and re-insert several times, and/or squirt with something like CRC contact cleaner (NOTE: nothing that's oily and would leave a residue).  Also look for damaged wires, repair or replace as needed.

If this doesn't fix things, the other thing that happens is that the conductive rubber block that connects the transparent but conductive traces on the display glass to the display PCB can move out of place, or not make proper contact. These things conduct from top to bottom but not side to side. Fiddle as required. This repair probably requires more things to be taken apart, so leave this one last.

Of course, you could also return it under warranty, but at this time of year, that could take a long time, plus repair facilities will be overloaded with inverters boxes with bad lead acid batteries, from all the load shedding.

Good luck. 

Not willing to open the inverter at this point.
Went ahead and restarted the inverter. Closed everything off, even the discharge on BMS to fully shut down. 
Guess what , started working again.
Next day same problem occurred.

May this be a software issue?

If you disconnect solar input, does the issue persist?

15 hours ago, Leog said:

May this be a software issue?

I'd give it about a 5% chance. The only 130.* display firmware that I have is 130.06, just one minor revision ahead of yours. It was extracted using JTAG, so it's not packaged up as a reflash file. I suppose I could package it up if you're desperate.

It's a known factory issue from Voltronics on the MKS4. They getting interference on the PV side as they have housed the MPPTs too close to the main display. There is noise that is generated & unfortunately, their fix is to add a capacitor to smooth out the ripple & to add a steel backing plate to shield the display from the interference. They have however, depending on the year model, already made these changes to the design & some have the Mod from the factory & others don't have it. 

Now depending on where this inverter was purchased you can get that repaired of modified without any issue. However, if the supplier is a glorified post box then you have a problem. Because all they will do is wait many months & nothing will happen too fast & these days having a working inverter is priceless. 

On 2022/12/29 at 8:21 PM, Steve87 said:

It's a known factory issue from Voltronics on the MKS4. They getting interference on the PV side as they have housed the MPPTs too close to the main display. There is noise that is generated & unfortunately, their fix is to add a capacitor to smooth out the ripple & to add a steel backing plate to shield the display from the interference. They have however, depending on the year model, already made these changes to the design & some have the Mod from the factory & others don't have it. 

Now depending on where this inverter was purchased you can get that repaired of modified without any issue. However, if the supplier is a glorified post box then you have a problem. Because all they will do is wait many months & nothing will happen too fast & these days having a working inverter is priceless. 

Ok now this makes sense.
Not wanting to get it back to Spain i bought it, and send it back to Voltronic. This would be a nightmare. Is there any fix i should attempt?
I did install Solar Assistant today so the display is pretty much useless now as i have realtime info.

The fix involves a Capacitor being placed in parallel with the incoming PV DC input. I will try to source the specs of this capacitor & also a metal backing plate to be fitted to protect the main display unit from the interference. I will get you some pics once the suppliers are open again. I will need to service the same for @madness_za because his experiencing the same issue & as the installer of his system I take ownership of this modification. 

Now I know propably why they put ferrite filter on PV HV connectors in VM IV 5,6kW clone 😀

Noticed that I've got this same issue on my Mecer branded MKS IV since yesterday even though I am not using PV yet

14 minutes ago, Deen said:

Noticed that I've got this same issue on my Mecer branded MKS IV since yesterday even though I am not using PV yet

Hi, @Steve87 will issue me a MKSIV machine to investigate a further solution to this problem, i will report on my 'axpert repairs: journey started' thread.

I have picked up this disturbance on Friday while testing a repaired MKSIV under 2kw pv load. It looks nasty.  But i am sure the problem is not limited to pv use only. Its a general EMI problem. 

3 minutes ago, BritishRacingGreen said:

Hi, @Steve87 will issue me a MKSIV machine to investigate a further solution to this problem, i will report on my 'axpert repairs: journey started' thread.

I have picked up this disturbance on Friday while testing a repaired MKSIV under 2kw pv load. It looks nasty.  But i am sure the problem is not limited to pv use only. Its a general EMI problem. 

Unfortunately even if we do find a solution, it will only be for machines that Steve and myself covers, or if a machine is already out of warranty. 

So you may need to bring the defect to your suppliers attention if your machine is under warranty. 

On 2022/12/23 at 8:22 AM, Coulomb said:

I don't know these new round displays well. But all these displays work much the same: there is a long serial data stream sent to them at high speed (SPI or I²C I think). Typically there will be three wires for this serial bus: ground, data, and clock. I believe that the round display is actually two or three of these displays; it looks like it's just the lower one playing up on your inverter. I would find these cables, take them out and re-insert several times, and/or squirt with something like CRC contact cleaner (NOTE: nothing that's oily and would leave a residue).  Also look for damaged wires, repair or replace as needed.

If this doesn't fix things, the other thing that happens is that the conductive rubber block that connects the transparent but conductive traces on the display glass to the display PCB can move out of place, or not make proper contact. These things conduct from top to bottom but not side to side. Fiddle as required. This repair probably requires more things to be taken apart, so leave this one last.

Of course, you could also return it under warranty, but at this time of year, that could take a long time, plus repair facilities will be overloaded with inverters boxes with bad lead acid batteries, from all the load shedding.

Good luck. 

Edit: It seems to be a known issue; see this post below.

The interesting part is that only the bottom 20% of the display area gets currupted.  If the serial message got corrupted it would affect random patterns. There is actually no sign of wrong info being displayed. The correct optics just flicker randomly. 

It would appear that the EMI therefore corrupts the display multiplexer directly. 

Also noteworthy that this bottom part is very close in proximity to the MPPT switcher. 

Edited January 15, 20232 yr by BritishRacingGreen

8 hours ago, BritishRacingGreen said:

The interesting part is that only the bottom 20% of the display area gets corrupted.

I think that the large "colour" round displays are actually three separate monochrome (but different single colour) display boards. So it may be that only one of the three sub-displays is being affected. Perhaps that display board is a little light on with bypass capacitors (wild guess).

Edited January 15, 20232 yr by Coulomb

On 2023/01/15 at 8:47 AM, Deen said:

Noticed that I've got this same issue on my Mecer branded MKS IV since yesterday even though I am not using PV yet

Restarted the inverter and it appears to have sorted my issue - apologies at it is therefore clearly not the same issue as the OP's. Similar but not the same

Have had this issue with mine since day 1.  Well a few days after day 1 (installed in August).  I have a RPI with SolarAssistant running which I use to manage my inverter so I never do anything on the device itself.  I have just decided to live with it - it doesn't affect the core functioning of the unit in anyway from what I can see.

To remove the unit now and send to Mustek for a repair and being without backup power is way more of a hassle than the display looking wonky.  My unit is installed in a room attached to my home so I dont see it anyway 🙂

However, it will be an issue if you have to make changes using the buttons on the device (these touch screen buttons are a k@k idea too btw) as the part of the display that gets corrcupted is what shows your settings etc.  However, a cold restart of the system seems to fix it long enough to make the necessary changes if you have to.

As a side note - the 8KVA version that also has this display does not seem to have the same defect. I have a family member with this unit.

I am glad to hear I am not the only guy with the issue.  Other than this display glitch, the inverter has been performing flawlessly for the past 5 months.

Whatever you do - don't try and update the software - its not a software issue - I did it when it first happened and I bricked the screen completely LOL - had to take it back to Mustek for a reload - which I have to say was pretty quick - onlly three days without my inverter.

Cheers

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 20232 yr by Douw G. Gerber

 

did anyone find a solution for screen problem in MKS IV, this issue is happening with me since 8 months, everytime i turn off the inverter and then turn on, the screen works fine for few hours, then suddenly the same problem happened again.

Many have had success with the capacitor modification, especially with this model.

I had this same problem with 2 of my EASun branded MKS IV units in May 2022. For me they sent a PDF explaining how to open the case  and to move some cables around. Fixed it for me, maybe of some help to others.

 

 

 

 

 

SOP for arrange the MPPT choke wires to solve LCD flick(1) (1).pdf

On 2023/04/15 at 6:17 AM, Coulomb said:

Many have had success with the capacitor modification, especially with this model.

can you tell me where to buy the capacitor? Thank you

On 2023/07/03 at 1:22 PM, carrierlost said:

I had this same problem with 2 of my EASun branded MKS IV units in May 2022. For me they sent a PDF explaining how to open the case  and to move some cables around. Fixed it for me, maybe of some help to others.

 

 

 

 

 

SOP for arrange the MPPT choke wires to solve LCD flick(1) (1).pdf 346.52 kB · 10 downloads

I made this change a long time ago, but the display still fails. but it happens much less often.

6 hours ago, tatoviola said:

can you tell me where to buy the capacitor?

The usual on-line electronics suppliers: Mouser, Digi-Key, RS-Online, and Element 14 / Farnell (the name depends on your country).

18 hours ago, Coulomb said:

I soliti fornitori di elettronica online: Mouser, Digi-Key, RS-Online e Element 14 / Farnell (il nome dipende dal paese).

Thanks for the reply. this is fine?

 

https://www.mouser.it/ProductDetail/Panasonic/ECW-FG60225JA?qs=DRkmTr78QATR1iOjN%2Fou%2FA%3D%3D

 

Edited July 6, 20231 yr by tatoviola

16 hours ago, tatoviola said:

this is fine?

I believe that should work OK.

I had the same problem on one of my MKS IV inverters where only the bottom line would start to flicker.

The problem is due to interference which the display microchips pick up. I made a shield of tinfoil and capton tape and put it around the display board making sure it is totally insulated. This solved the problem for me.

Evidently the later versions came from the factory with a shield already installed over the display board

Edited July 13, 20231 yr by CasKru