Good day Everyone

I am a newbie in this DIY pursuit for power independence and joined this forum te reduce my school fees.

I bought a low frequency, 6kW, 48V Five Star inverter (FS181201) with a solar controller on Facebook Marketplace for an amount I couldn't refuse, but when I connected it up at home, it didn't work. When I opened it, I saw a few lightly burnt wires, but nothing serious.

The seller disappeared, but I thought I might get it fixed way below the cost of a new one.

The Five Star agent https://www.fivestarled.co.za/ in the Good Hope China Mall in Johannesburg wasn't interested and lack basic PR-skills. Apparently this model is too old to fix.

So I took it to an electronics technician and he found that we just need to change the microcontroller.

MUST in China, https://www.mustpower.net/ who have built this model back in the day, are still trying to find a chip for me, but they are busy for a while now.

I sent out a few more emails, and is still asking around, but no joy. Since this inverter was available in SA and (later models?) are still available in the market, (picture below), It must be possible to find a unused, secondhand, or damaged one with the chip intact. 

Is there a person who can help me, or point me in the right direction please? 

(sorry for the dark pictures taken during load shedding and the dirty display screen, I stuck tape on it to protect it)

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 20233 yr by Dupre
Pictures too large

If it really is just the microcontroller, the problem is that it needs firmware. It doesn't look like any commonly available firmware would suit this model.

Not only does it need firmware, it needs a special program called a bootloader that is probably not part of the main firmware (for a few smaller models, it is). Can you get any firmware version number information out of it? Of course, if the microcontroller is completely toast, you won't be able to see this.

2 hours ago, Coulomb said:

If it really is just the microcontroller, the problem is that it needs firmware. It doesn't look like any commonly available firmware would suit this model.

Not only does it need firmware, it needs a special program called a bootloader that is probably not part of the main firmware (for a few smaller models, it is). Can you get any firmware version number information out of it? Of course, if the microcontroller is completely toast, you won't be able to see this.

I am always a bit nervous when I see machines that have the DSP and interface circuits integrated on the main board. I think its a pretty important thing to have the dsp as a seperate module to the main board, as is fortunately the case with the bigger machines. And for repairing its also great because you can remove the module, and stimulate certain functions manually. 

1. The manufacturer does not provide firmware
2. You do not need firmware, the processors in these inverters very rarely fail. Very rarely, and after a thunderstorm, they shorten the 5V power supply. It is very easy to check on the 5V power line.
3. The inverter turns on, but does not output voltage and reports an error, right?
4. Probable cause, the power electrical wires at the junction burned out. Look at the photo. It is necessary to crimp with tinned sleeves. The wires are copper, the winding of the transformer is aluminum. Chinese inverter, cheap.

Edited July 8, 20233 yr by biletskiy