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error Code 90 on 5Kva Axpert inverter


Clement

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@Coulomb A good friend of mine has helped out with a Proline Inverter which is exactly the same as my Mecer. NOW...! This Inverter is showing the exact same symptom as the Mecer. Utility Input connection reads 230v Output Connection 230v .In the pic of WatchPower the Utility flashes 5 times, the battery charge percentage remains at 91/92. I am completely lost to what the issue can be. When I switch the Circuit Breaker off for the Inverter, Utility Input 0v Ouput 230v . I will probably receive a call from Mecer informing me that there is nothing wrong with my Inverter, 😩 What makes it worse, we have Stage 4 Load Shedding which can continue till God knows when.

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20 hours ago, Kawaman said:

When I switch the Circuit Breaker off for the Inverter, Utility Input 0v Ouput 230v .

Do you mean the circuit breaker on AC-in or on AC-out? If it's on AC-out, then you must have some weird wiring problem that connects AC-in to AC-out after the AC-out breaker.

If you turn the inverter output off (using the rocker switch under the inverter), that presumably sends the output voltage to zero... with the breakers on, does it also send the AC-in to zero?

Ah! I've just noticed on the screen above that the input and output frequencies are 40.5 Hz. I went back to your WatchPower screen, and it's 40.3 Hz. That seems to indicate a severe timing problem with the DSP chip. Perhaps the crystal is broken or some such, and it's defaulting to some internal RC oscillator that is wildly off in frequency. I can't see how this relates to the input voltage, but I suppose it might. If the DSP is running say 20% too slow, then it could be that some tasks never actually get run time between interrupts, and one of the low priority tasks might be to calculate the AC input voltage.

I assume that while your local grid might not be the greatest in quality (when it's even running), I assume it's never actually that low in frequency. Could you use a multimeter or a pug-in power meter to verify the frequency of the AC mains and of the inverter output?

Side issue: the above shows the main DSP firmware version as 32.40 (if I read it correctly). Is that one perhaps a PWM model (as opposed to an MPPT model)?

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Hi Coulomb,
When I switch the Circuit breaker off, it is the Breaker in the house DB board for the Inverter. I made quick video clips to show you https://youtu.be/jh4ECtSlim8 https://youtu.be/DbiiQa8nKOI
As I type we have Load Shedding, the Output on the Inverter is 230v with no Power to the house??. Circuit Breaker in the house DB board is up, measured the voltages at the Circuit Breaker, top and bottom 230v.
Just so you know I am not an Electrician but I try please be patient with me LOL!


Edited by Kawaman
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I am by no means an electrician, but there is something about your wiring that bothers me. I see a blue and yellow wire going into the alternate supply cb and a red and black one coming out. Then I see a red and black going into the inverters input and a blue and yellow one coming from the output?

If it is the same cable going into inverter input and inverter output, then this is incorrect. You are supposed to feed your inverter from the main incoming supply through a cb, then have a return cable from inverter output going through another cb to feed the loads.

Edited by GVC
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5 hours ago, Kawaman said:

What should the AC frequency be ideally?

It should be 50.0 Hz, plus or minus about 0.5 Hz. So around 49.5 to 50.5 Hz. Most of the time it should be 49.9 to 50.1 Hz, but that might be a bit ambitious for South Africa, I would not know. My strong guess is that the frequency is actually correct, but the inverter's reading of its own and the mains' frequency is faulty.

As @GVC has said, your DB wiring to the inverter is quite strange. It's hard to believe that this was working for 5 years; has the wiring changed recently? [ Edit: or are we now talking about your friend's place, which hasn't been running for 5 years, as yours has? ] As GVC says, it looks like the breaker connects the AC-in to the AC-out when it's switched on. Is it possible that you've not been using solar power all those years? That would explain why you have 230 V on the inverter output, and no loads in the house are powered during load shedding. It looks to me that your loads are only connected to Eskom, not to the inverter output. I can't be certain without being there, pulling wires to see where they go.

As an aside, those bare earth wires in the bowels of the inverter scare the hell out of me. Perhaps it's standard practice in South Africa. I'd still prefer to see some insulation on the bare wires, lest they work their way into a place where they contact live wires.

I recommend that you get someone to check out your DB wiring, and add the missing breaker. There is still plenty wrong with your inverter, but perhaps you can get it to at least power the loads when you get the DB wiring sorted out. 

Edited by Coulomb
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Hi Coulomb, 

I am now in communication with a Solar installer, hopefully they identify the problem as you have mentioned, I really appreciate your time trying to help me and pointing me in the right direction. 

You rock and the people on the Forum. I will keep you posted. 

 

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Hi Coulomb,

My Inverter went to Mecer for the Flashing Green LED and possible Control Board replacement. A friend of mine that has a 48v Inverter, a Proline Energy told me I can use it, as he doesn't have enough panels for it and I can have power whilst Load Shedding takes place. Sadly, his inverter shows exactly the same symptom as my Mecer was showing.

Now, going back to "Error 90" I was unable to obtain power on that day from the inverter as well as NO Eskom mains supply and it was getting dark quickly, I called an Electrician friend of mine to please help me out and put mains power on. He told me he only removed the Black and the Red at the bottom of the Alternative Supply CB and Eskom Mains power to the house was on. At that time I still had my Mecer Inverter and after disconnecting its power my decision was take my Mecer to Mustek for Control Board check and Firmware.

Upon acquiring my friends Proline Inverter, I temporarily connected the Inverter the same way as my Mecer as they are identical (I took photographs of the wiring). Then I asked the Electrician over the phone (as he was working on site), to be sure what to connect the Red and Black wires and which colour to colour at the CB (Live is Yellow to Red neutral is Black to Blue) Ever since then I have this Flashing green Led light and Mains symbol flashing with no power to the house, the same as what the Mecer was doing after removing error code 90 and all those firmware changes.

The batteries are being charged by the Solar Panels but for some reason only reach 93% and never 100% in the state the Inverter is in at the moment.

So, I wait for an answer from Mecer for my Inverter results and hopefully the Solar installer will arrive and look at my DB board.

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Hi Coulomb,

AT LAST!

The Solar Installer came to the house last night and he practically flipped his lid when he saw my DB Board. He connected the wiring correctly as you suspected and VOILA! The Inverter is working as it should 😂. See the pic of the wiring now, compare it with the previous one, a huge difference. AC/ Hz is at 50Hz all good now.

I will have to phone Mecer and tell them the story.

Again thank you for your patience with me Coulomb and I hope others on the Forum will take heed from my 2 week anguish.

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5 hours ago, Kawaman said:

He connected the wiring correctly as you suspected and VOILA! The Inverter is working as it should

Um, I hate to be picky, but didn't you say that the yellow was live and the blue was neutral (AC-out from the inverter)? If so, it looks like yellow and blue are swapped at the top of the residual current breaker device. Maybe he swapped yellow and blue at the inverter end as well? I have no idea what the colour conventions are in South Africa.

5 hours ago, Kawaman said:

AC/ Hz is at 50Hz all good now.

That's really interesting. The crazy measurement must be some artefact of measuring its own output. That will be really good to remember for the future.

So as a point of interest: how did the wiring get messed up? Perhaps despite photographing the wiring before the change, you didn't copy it correctly? I thought surely the wiring couldn't be as it seemed, because it had been working for years. [ Edit: I think I'm messing up the sequence of what changed when. ]

Great to see it's working at least.

Edited by Coulomb
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Hi Coulomb,

My guess is when the electrician (The first one) who got me out of darkness possibly and more than likely moved more wires around than what he told me. The Inverter wires were not touched.

I am just glad that I am back to Solar 😊, we are now experiencing Stage 6 Load Shedding meaning, 2  1/2 Hrs in the Daytime and 2  1/2 Hrs at night 😩

Happy Man now

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@Coulomb Hi Coulomb,

Just a heads-up on my Inverter, collected it on Thursday and connected yesterday. The Mecer Technician mentioned whilst Flashing the new Firmware to the Control Board, heaven forbid Load Shedding started unabated and corrupted the Control Board in the middle of the Flashing 😤 So, I have a new Control Board and Firmware which by the way, was sent from Voltronic as the correct firmware for my model Inverter 72.61. lastly I was not charged a cent for the work done 😃

If you will Coulomb, please check my WatchPower settings, (attached pics) today is a cloudy day my charge settings is Utility and Solar. Dishwasher heating came on hence the high percentage load.

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On 2019/12/15 at 6:19 PM, Kawaman said:

The Mecer Technician mentioned whilst Flashing the new Firmware to the Control Board, heaven forbid Load Shedding started unabated and corrupted the Control Board in the middle of the Flashing 😤 

Huh. I wonder if they tried restarting the flash process; it can look really dead if the reflash process is interrupted, yet be perfectly OK.

Quote

So, I have a new Control Board and Firmware which by the way, was sent from Voltronic as the correct firmware for my model Inverter 72.61.

Well, it's good that you have a new control board. Hopefully it has the latest bootstrap loader, so if you're up for it, you should be able to load 73.00 (factory) or 73.00e (patched). [ EDIT: Actually, since it came with 72.61, that seems unlikely in retrospect. So perhaps stick with 72.70 (factory) or 73.00e (patched). ]

Firmware 72.70 supersedes 72.61, and as far as I know 73.00 supersedes 72.70. So sorry I don't agree that 72.61 is the best firmware for your hardware. It is "a" correct one at least.

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lastly I was not charged a cent for the work done 😃

That's nice! And fair, since you didn't do anything wrong. But now you don't have equalisation for your battery. I assume that your new Deltecs are flooded lead acid, is that correct?

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If you will Coulomb, please check my WatchPower settings

I'd have to know more about your battery. In particular, what is the maximum recommended charge current, what are the recommended bulk/absorb and float voltage settings, and do they recommend equalisation (if so, how often, what voltage). If you don't have this handy, just quote the exact battery model or post a photo.

Edited by Coulomb
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Sorry, because of a question on another post - Did Mecer figure this out, or did your solar installer (you didn't make that clear)?

  • Battery charging should be within specifications of the manufacturer (how many amps, what voltage, etc)
  • I might have missed a post where you discussed your batteries, and I tend to be very conservative with mine, so I can only advise as follows (voltage of the bank is not relevant as we are discussing charging current):
    • Please bear in mind that these are generalities and the manufacturer specification should be followed first. This is only when you have no clue.
    • For Lead Acid and most derivatives, a 100Ah bank should be charged at about 10A maximum. This can reasonably be expanded based on the rule Ah/10 (eg: 200Ah at 20A)
    • I might be wrong, and some people on this forum may disagree, but I prefer a max charge of about half of the above (5A/100Ah) to slower charge for normal use, and some batteries need a "push" every month or 2.
    • Depending on the battery type (eg: Lead Acid / Lead Acid Gel, and others), you DO need to push this up to the max, maybe even double, about once in 2-3 months. There can be sulphate buildup on the plates, and at the bottom of the battery, that can create a problem.
  • The above is incredibly general information, and assumes a basic Lead Acid battery or similar. Please come back to us with your battery info and we can advise slightly better than assumptions above. There are many good quality brands that you need to treat slightly different, so this is the closest and least advise I can give.
  • Lastly, when calculating your battery banks Ah, please keep in mind the maths... The Ah remains the same for ANY batteries that are connected in parallel (eg: 12 x 4 x 100Ah batteries - is only 100Ah at 48V) - So still generally must be charged at 10A if only considering current.
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Hi @Coulomb @KLEVA,

Coulomb about my Control Board it is what I was told at the counter when receiving my Inverter.🤨 I will consider flashing 73.00e after the silly season. and once again thank you for replying.

My Batteries are Deltec 105ah sealed Lead Acid 1250 Highcycle I have taken some pics. On the 4X4 forums they are highly recommended for their durability and almost run flat situations and recharge rather quickly, for my use I am told they will give me quite a few years 5/6 🤷‍♂️ I'm not sure. Bought two Battery Equalizers one for each bank of 4 connected in series, which is now 210ah. 🤔

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Thanks for Info. My call is to charge the 210 bank with a max of 25A when charging to 58VDC (for removing Sulphates/Equalising), but at 10-12A for normal float and for just a smidge under 54V.

Those equalisers are decent HA02's which I use so know they work well. Forgotten the Axpert setting (the number to set in the programming), but treat them as normal Lead Acid settings (the default) and you should be good. I think the default Axpert settings are just over 58VDC for equalising, and about 54.4 for float - but double check with a meter at batteries to counter for any loss on the cables in case it reduces more than a volt, then you may have to manually adjust the Axpert values in the programming. You have a decent starting setup, I would only add a Victron BMV702 or better battery monitor to make sure the batteries are properly looked after. I have experienced a battery melt due to overcharging a bank when a single battery went faulty.

Next is to check your load (ie: what are you using). Try not to exceed a constant draw of more than 500W on a 210Ah bank... The Axpert works on a Voltage sensor to determine battery state, and in a high power draw from the batteries, it may reflect a lower available power than what is actually available. This is not a bad thing for your batteries, but you might get a far less output time/power than what you expect before the Axpert cuts off.

Input Hz and Voltage in SA needs to be adjusted slightly for the Axpert defaults - We can easily drop to 190VAC on the low side (mine was set to 180VAC) and jump to 250/260VAC on the high side (leave it at 250, anything more and you risk equipment, so rather have the Axpert look after above 250). Frequency doesn't normally go off too bad in SA, but a 48-53Hz range is sufficient, and nowdays the HZ is not as detrimental, so leaving the Axpert open to accept a slightly larger range is unlikely to cause problems.

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@KLEVA

Thank you very much for a very informative and interesting Lead Acid charge setting. I will follow your steps most definitely. 

I have sent an email to to Deltec to the person I purchased the batteries from, he is in charge of the Solar section at Deltec, it will be interesting to read his reply of WatchPower settings. 

As soon as he replies, I will share with you his response. 

From your info, it makes sense and will definitely bring the amp charge down from 40 to 25.

Will let you know soonest. 

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