Hi

Does anyone know anything about the Axpert Vp 5000/48 inverters, problems?  Are they any good?

Hi in my personal opinion Axpert brand and type inverters are problematic and unreliable you are better off looking at Sunsynk Goodwe Solis or Kodak hybrids.

You will find many people running Axperts (or same unit under different brand, etc Mecer)

Do some of them have problems? Yes, sure. Do all of them have problem? No

Are there better units available? Sure. Are these more expensive? The ones I am aware of, yes

Would I recommend an Axpert if money is not an obstacle? No. Would I recommend an Axpert if funds are limited? Yes

I personally have been running an Axpert since 2015 without any major problem

I like the Axperts. They usually turn into upgrades somewhere in the future 🙂

My vision at one point was for everyone to replace the capacitors and MOSFETs on all their Axperts before use. But of course, most people don't have the facilities to do this, and like to keep their warranty. So now only a few crackpots like me have done it, by the looks 🤪.

I feel that the Axpert with capacitor and MOSFET mod, at roughly R1000 + labour, is a more reliable model than the factory one, and a far better value proposition.

I wonder if one day one of the resellers will realise this, and order them from the manufacturer with these upgrades. It would then be only say R200 dearer (probably less), and of course there would be no labour involved in ripping out the lower spec'd parts. But perhaps the market will decide that "Meh. This model over here is R200 cheaper, and seems to do the same job. I'll buy that one and take my chances."

21 hours ago, Shockin said:

Does anyone know anything about the Axpert Vp 5000/48 inverters

The VPs are "value line" PWM models. The PWM means you don't get maximum power point tracking (MPPT). There are a few die hards who believe that you get better power from a PWM system, but I'm certainly not one of them. You are also then confined to 2S wiring of your panels, and larger panels may be wasted on these PWM solar charge controllers because most of the time the panels are connected directly across the battery, and any extra voltage headroom is wasted. The price saving of a PWM model over the equivalent MPPT model is slight.

The value line models can't be paralleled, so that's a consideration for the future. They may also have poorer fan control. Lastly, they are not popular models, so if there is a problem, there will be few other buyers to compare notes with, and firmware updates will be hard or impossible to obtain.

So all in all: if your budget is desperately tight, it will probably do the job for you, just. If you can spend a little more, other models will be better value, in my opinion. I also agree with the other posters that if you have a lot of extra money to spend, or you demand high quality / long life, then other brands would be better choices.

On 2020/07/25 at 2:38 PM, Coulomb said:

 

 

I wonder if one day one of the resellers will realise this, and order them from the manufacturer with these upgrades. It would then be only say R200 dearer (probably less), and of course there would be no labour involved in ripping out the lower spec'd parts. But perhaps the market will decide that "Meh. This model over here is R200 cheaper, and seems to do the same job. I'll buy that one and take my chances."

Recieved the capacitors and upgraded 1 inverter today . The MOSFETs K100E08N1 is not upgraded . Will do the spare inverter later this week .

15 minutes ago, Chris Louw said:

Recieved the capacitors and upgraded 1 inverter today . The MOSFETs K100E08N1 is not upgraded . Will do the spare inverter later this week .

Hi Chris

would you mind helping me understand please what the benefit of the capacity (and MOSFET) upgrade is? Longevity? And if yes by approx how much? Any other benefits?

This is a suggestion of @Coulomb . The existing capacitors have a life of 2000 hrs . The upgraded capacitors 10000 hrs . I believe a lot of MOSFET and driver breakdowns is caused by faulty capacitors . Coulomb is the electonic brain and I believe .

3 minutes ago, Chris Louw said:

This is a suggestion of @Coulomb . The existing capacitors have a life of 2000 hrs . The upgraded capacitors 10000 hrs . I believe a lot of MOSFET and driver breakdowns is caused by faulty capacitors . Coulomb is the electonic brain and I believe .

Great - thank you for the feedback 👍

On 2020/07/25 at 2:38 PM, Coulomb said:

My vision at one point was for everyone to replace the capacitors and MOSFETs on all their Axperts before use. But of course, most people don't have the facilities to do this, and like to keep their warranty. So now only a few crackpots like me have done it, by the looks 🤪.

I feel that the Axpert with capacitor and MOSFET mod, at roughly R1000 + labour, is a more reliable model than the factory one, and a far better value proposition.

One further question on this, @Coulomb (as I am trying to understand all related messages on AEVA): Are these capacitors only relevant to the MPPT-side of the Axpert or the overall DC-bus? Meaning that if I am not using the MPPT in the Axpert, would it still make sense to upgrade the capacitors to help increase the lifetime of the Axpert?

3 hours ago, wolfandy said:

Are these capacitors only relevant to the MPPT-side of the Axpert or the overall DC-bus?

No. They mainly protect the MOSFETs that form the low voltage end of the battery-to-bus DC-DC converter.

Quote

Meaning that if I am not using the MPPT in the Axpert, would it still make sense to upgrade the capacitors to help increase the lifetime of the Axpert?

Yes, it's still worth the upgrade.

8 hours ago, Coulomb said:

Yes, it's still worth the upgrade.

Thank you for the feedback

Then I will try to find someone in my neck of the woods that can do the replacement for me 

One follow-up question, @Coulomb: Is my understanding correct that the caps are the ones as per below (from page 12 of the Axpert service manual)?

I've found someone locally that can do the replacement for me and the shipment from Mouser should arrive during the course of this week

22 hours ago, wolfandy said:

Is my understanding correct that the caps are the ones as per below...

Yes, that's the ones that protect the MOSFETs, and that you should replace.

22 hours ago, wolfandy said:

I've found someone locally that can do the replacement for me

Great!

8 hours ago, Coulomb said:

Yes, that's the ones that protect the MOSFETs, and that you should replace.

Thank you 🙂