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Yesterday we received a 25 kw PJ inverter I won on an eBay auction. I’ve got to tell you It’s quite a monster and awesome just look at. I think we were just curious enough to explore the technology and to see how it performs against my outback 48v VFX inverters.
A little background : I’ve been an installer for many years and have always lived off grid. This is pretty much off grid country by necessity. We run our home and a full light machine shop with a variety of systems, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It arrived with some minor shipping damage and didn’t include a manual or at least a manual from a different model of PJ inverter, so we’re in the exploring, figure it out stage, most things are pretty straightforward, but I had a few questions before putting it to the test.
1. can anyone explain this AC switch arrangement on the front panel. There’s 3 separate switches labeled 110v that I suppose some combination of which turns on the 110vac on L1 or L2. The 220 switch I presume activates the 220 ac between L1 and L2, but are the 110vac legs available as well?
2. What exactly is this power save mode?
3. when can I expect the fans to come on, always or just when unit is hot?
4. The bolt insulator on the bottom crushed in shipping (which I will contact seller for), but does the bolt have any electrical purpose ? It seems to be there just to hold the mega transformer in place. Provided the unit would never be moved would there be any issues if it were just removed. It would seem it might even improve cooling with all that stuff out of the way.
5. any tips or suggestions before we power on something. Thinking of running our 3hp 240v table saw.
6. thanks in advance for your attention. This forum is incredible.
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I think we were just curious enough to explore the technology and to see how it performs against my outback 48v VFX inverters.
Ah. Let us know how it compares 😉. I'm expecting a good bit of "flicker" in LED lights due to an oscillation in the output regulation code. There are no settings to speak of that you can adjust (apart from the knobs on the front), so it's really simplistic in that case.
an anyone explain this AC switch arrangement on the front panel. There’s 3 separate switches labeled 110v that I suppose some combination of which turns on the 110vac on L1 or L2. The 220 switch I presume activates the 220 ac between L1 and L2, but are the 110vac legs available as well?
I have no idea what's been done here...would need to see the internals to figure out what's going on. (Whew, that's a HEAP of 4.7uF output filter caps--the no-load is going to be pretty high on this inverter!)
2. What exactly is this power save mode?
Frankly, it's half-baked, and not very usable. I've never had success with stock PJ "power-save"; the basic concept is for the inverter to "run" if there's a minimum threshold load...which if the load drops below this threshold, it shuts off for a certain time period...then turns back on to "check" for a load...either staying or turning back off again based on the load. Basically, this "saves" the no-load current if there isn't a load on the inverter.
3. when can I expect the fans to come on, always or just when unit is hot?
Again, we'd need to see internals to say for sure...BUT likely the fans are controlled by a thermal switch--which isn't rated for 48vDC and has a tendency to "stick" on, requiring a rap with a screwdriver to turn off.
4. The bolt insulator on the bottom crushed in shipping (which I will contact seller for), but does the bolt have any electrical purpose ? It seems to be there just to hold the mega transformer in place. Provided the unit would never be moved would there be any issues if it were just removed. It would seem it might even improve cooling with all that stuff out of the way.
Your assessment is correct; the bolt is just there for holding the transformer in place. You can remove the bolt safely, and it'll be fine; note however that if you do NOT remove the bolt, the insulator must be replaced...or you're going to have a potential fire hazard. (The transformer mounting + the bolt will make one full turn around the transformer core, and without the insulator become a short circuit carrying several hundred amps of current. No-load current won't go up by very much, but after 5 minutes, you'll definitely smell heat...and touching the bolt likely will burn your finger. Continuous operation would be a fire hazard.)
5. any tips or suggestions before we power on something. Thinking of running our 3hp 240v table saw.
Well, first...don't get your hopes up too high. This is a Power Jack inverter...consider yourself very fortunate if you manage to get 1/2 the rated power at continuous output without it overheating.
. The bolt insulator on the bottom crushed in shipping (which I will contact seller for), but does the bolt have any electrical purpose ? It seems to be there just to hold the mega transformer in place
I just remove the transformer center bolt on my 15kw Powerjack after 2 years . The insulator was broken and did not know till I take the bolt out . The insulator was in 2 pieces . Now the transformer temperature never get to 170 degree with 4000 watts . Before the Powerjack shut down after one hour .
Please show photos of the connection to your control board and is this version 11.1 or the ver 10.3 control board ? Thank you .
Wow ,thanks for the prompt reply and most useful info. I’ve attached a few internal pictures that I know it’s a little hard to see anything since it’s pretty crowded in there. I think you’re right about the high no load draw. I haven’t put a shunt on the dc input yet to measure, but I can tell it’s pretty high just by how much it draws the batteries down and the significant hum. Any tricks to reduce this?
larry
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Thank you for the sharp photos . Your photos show the ver 11.0 control board . This ver 11.0 has the same connection as the 10.3 control board . Most of the Powerjack inverter for auction on ebay has the older control board ver 10.3 or are returned and is shipped from Walnut Ca. The newest 25kw PJ has the ver 11.1 control board where the mainboard ribbon has an adapter ribbon that I do not know if it will work as a replacement for the ver10.3 control board . The mosfets on the 15kw 20kw 25kw 30kw will blow up if overloaded or if the LF Driver is bad ( loose capacitor) or due to overheating .
Yeah, it is pretty confusing in there........
I have no idea why there's 4 separate breakers. You might be able to trace the output circuitry.
Wow ,thanks for the prompt reply and most useful info. I’ve attached a few internal pictures that I know it’s a little hard to see anything since it’s pretty crowded in there. I think you’re right about the high no load draw. I haven’t put a shunt on the dc input yet to measure, but I can tell it’s pretty high just by how much it draws the batteries down and the significant hum. Any tricks to reduce this?
Several tricks, yes. Are there any ferrite cores on the transformer low voltage side wires? If there aren't any, that'll definitely bump the no load up well past 5A (probably over 7A with the huge multitude of filter caps). If there ARE ferrites on the transformer low side wires, they likely only have a single turn on them. 2 turns is the "best efficiency" for those ferrites, though with the bigger transformer in this inverter, it may be somewhat difficult to get a second full turn around it.
Another thing would be the output filter caps...I can't clearly see how many there are. Each one of these will add ~0.3/0.5A no-load.