Power Jack PSWGT-1200 manual/repair guide

I have no idea what current sense transformer PJ used in their GT inverters.

All that I DO know is that the CT clamps PJ uses are custom-specced and sourced by PJ from various Chinese manufacturers.  Any part numbers (if any) on the PJ CTs generally mean absolutely nothing--i.e. you won't be able to find a datasheet for them, as they aren't a "general stock" item.

Thanks Sid and everyone's input on my issues. The LCD is alive once more once I had fitted the new crystal, all good. Thanks again everyone, you are legends.

Kind regards

Col.

Hi guys,

Back to the inverter again after a long break. Im not sure what is going on with this inverter, I have a 270w panel connected to it, but the led blinks about 3 or 4 times green, then blinks once red, then the cycle starts all over again. I have one of those plug in watt meters, and it shows that the output ramps up then drops suddenly then builds back up and keeps doing this. At the same time there is a very quiet kind of 1 second pulse of a sound like a tap on a can. I reviewed your you tube tutorials and thinking it might be something to do with the PSWGT-control board, but you guys are the experts not me. Its driving me crazy as I cant see anything that has failed component wise.

Let me know what ideas you have.

Many thanks

Col.

I have honestly never seen a PSWGT control board--or one of those inverters, for that matter.

Sounding a lot like something is shorting out the power supply, causing a reset/restart of the processor.  Likely this would be a higher voltage power supply (i.e. not the MCU's 5v rail!)  Can you confirm something of this sort, i.e. is it shorting out the panel voltage?  There'll be a ~200vDC boosted bus internally from which the output AC control is driven from--but if you're getting output AC power, I'd have a hard time fathoming that these output parts (IGBT/FET--don't know!) would be faulty.  Likely something in the boost converter circuitry...throttling up, but too hard, and reaching 100% duty cycle??

Hi Sid,

Thanks for your reply. Sean had one of these on the channel a few years ago. Its really a strange one, I thought I had got this sorted with your great advice on the crystal for the lcd panel. All worked well, I even found a suitable CT clamp for it too that was missing. Just this strange tap sound, every second, but the dual colour led goes 3 green flashes and a red momentarily, or 4 green flashes and a red. It does produce output, but the sound doesnt seem right. The piezo buzzer on the lcd cherps now and again?

IGBT's? This one has a 4 mosfet board arrangement, its either that or the plug in control board. I should be getting more power than I see i am generating.

Sean might have one of these kicking about somewhere.

Many thanks

Col.

Hi guys,

Just a quick follow up, I know these Power Jack PSW 1200 inverters are old, but, it seems that they are only happy when the input gives a stable 200w plus. As at that level things seem to be fine, but I will thank everyone including sid who helped me on the display issue I had, and that I think everything is fine now.

You guys are fantastic and I see on youtube, there maybe a garage sale of some old power jack 1200's.

Many thanks,

Col.

Hi everyone who has chipped in to help me. As a reward I have managed to piece together a manual covering these PSWGT 1200 flavor of inverters.

Here is the manual that has been a holy grail.

I hope it helps anyone in the future in my same position.

Cheers

Col.

Hmm, literally just replacing fuses and FETs.

What was the issue on your unit?  The part that had me confused was that you said it was actually producing power for a few seconds before shutting down--which to me ruled out blown FETs, or it'd be CONSUMING power before shutting down.  (Oh, that's right...clamp meters don't have AC phase "polarity" info.......!)

Hi Sid,

Sure the manual is a beginners guide to electronic diagnostics, etc. but I wanted to get to the bottom of this battery storage thing with these inverters, but that will be for another day. The inverter that I have is the later PSWGT-1200 with the LCD panel. I only have one 270w panel connected to it, but it seems the mppt on this bounces from 100w, down to 40w and back again in a loop, and doesnt stabilise until its about 160w plus. I have a plug top energy monitor that seems more accurate than the lcd display. Although I think there is an issue with the lcd as I get corrupted characters sometimes and then either the display locks up and doesnt respond, or just reboots to the powerjack startup logo.

Very strange, needs further investigation, any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Colin.

Probably EMI and/or bad 5v rail filtering on the LCD MCU (assuming it's separate from the main MCU).

Biggest issue for me is that I have never seen one of these units in person, so I can't offer any hands-on suggestions.

Think I need to check the electrolytic caps on the lcd, and maybe the voltage regulator, thanks for the heads up. Let you know how I get on.

Cheers

Col.

Like I've said...I've never had one of these units on my desk, so I'm just purely guessing.

But the display locking up / showing gibberish and/or resetting pretty well sounds like interference or poor power supply filtration.

Many thanks, great advice, im going to investigate. I did see some spare LCD panels in the spares shop, but I think they are too new, mine is 2014 I think.

Cheers

Col.

Careful...I would expect (hope!) that the LCD panel in one of these grid-ties would have different programming than an LCD panel for a PJ low-frequency inverter...

But as I've never had one in hand, I don't know if there is any difference.

Hi Sid,

Thanks for the advice, I will battle on. I have checked the electrolytic caps on my lcd and all appear in spec, puzzling. However its only a display not a controller as such so really its just a pain. Unless it is a controller of such?

I have 2 power jacks, a 2012 one and the 2014 one with the display. I thought I would try and resurrect my 2012 one with replacing 2 IGBT's that had shorted G60N100 with FGL60N100BNTD. However, I replaced them, checked the dc and ac side and all in spec. I connected it to the grid without a solar panel just to see if I get anything, and pop. Just blew 2 IGBT's at 9 pounds a pop in the UK. Am I missing something here, cause this is going out the window freestyle, I cant believe this is so difficult.

Im doubting my electronics knowledge here and I thought I was quite good at this stuff for over 20 years, maybe I am fooling myself.

Cheers

Col.