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You could cut them on a band saw easy enough
Only thing that needs accuracy is the drilling
2 hours ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:They are responsible for producing the order of Genetry inverters that they've been paid to manufacture.
They're just moving way too slow for us--and certainly too slow for what we told our customers. And with no excuse, either.
It might be a blessing in disguise. You won't have to depend on PJ's infamous QA.
2 hours ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:I've been working with several PCBA companies to get price quotes...this part is taking me a little bit, admittedly! It's kinda hard to do back-and-forth conversation when China's 14 hours behind the EST. So it's "little by little, day by day."
Have you checked with PCBWay?
18 minutes ago, JIT said:Have you checked with PCBWay?
Yes. Their quote was a bit of a shock...it's a lot higher than I anticipated. And I've found several reviews online indicating that their soldermask alignment (or lack thereof) can be quite problematic--which definitely won't help reliability down the road.
I'm working with a different PCBA house at the moment that I've only found good reviews about...and which supposedly should be half the price of PCBWay. So far so good, but we'll see...I spent some time last night arguing with them about how to make the PCBs correctly. They kept insisting that the large pads for the relays were a "deep milled slot" (a 0.6mm slot on one side of the 1.6mm PCB) which "is very difficult to manufacture and will result in higher costs".
I don't know how they think they'll be able to mount and solder a 120A relay on a 0.6mm slot....I think I got my message across to them, pictures to explain and all. But that does make me a tad leery of whether they'll screw the board completely up or not.
Only thing that needs accuracy is the drilling
you can make a jig to drill the holes so they end up the same, such as is commonly done with cabinet shelf pegs....
actually a power miter saw with a stop block with a good blade will cut aluminum heat sink stock to predetermined lengths easily also....
22 hours ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:Yes. Their quote was a bit of a shock...it's a lot higher than I anticipated. And I've found several reviews online indicating that their soldermask alignment (or lack thereof) can be quite problematic--which definitely won't help reliability down the road.
If you are OK with JLCPCB then PCBWay is generally no worse. It is more expensive though. But they do full assembly.
22 hours ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:I'm working with a different PCBA house at the moment that I've only found good reviews about...and which supposedly should be half the price of PCBWay. So far so good, but we'll see...I spent some time last night arguing with them about how to make the PCBs correctly. They kept insisting that the large pads for the relays were a "deep milled slot" (a 0.6mm slot on one side of the 1.6mm PCB) which "is very difficult to manufacture and will result in higher costs".
I don't know how they think they'll be able to mount and solder a 120A relay on a 0.6mm slot....I think I got my message across to them, pictures to explain and all. But that does make me a tad leery of whether they'll screw the board completely up or not.
That could be a red flag. It's probably best you go with someone that has done high power inverter boards even at some higher cost.
If you are OK with JLCPCB then PCBWay is generally no worse.
I haven't experienced any soldermask misalignment issues with JLCPCB--ever.
But there's quite a few PCBWay reviews showing serious soldermask alignment issues.
It is more expensive though.
You got THAT right. Goodness sakes are they expensive!
And they completely screwed up the BOM for the few parts that I didn't have "off the shelf catalog part numbers" to. (And I do mean completely!) Parts at 10x-50x actual price...
That could be a red flag. It's probably best you go with someone that has done high power inverter boards even at some higher cost.
Still working with them to get all the parts figured out. They're significantly cheaper--by a lot (and haven't completely screwed up the BOM). And I also haven't found any reviews complaining about soldermask alignment.
Unfortunately, it seems that ANY PCBA company has a 3-4 week ETA. I was hoping to have boards in a few weeks--but alas, time continues to get away from us.
December 12, 2022:
- awaiting further progress reports from the factory.
- We're sincerely sorry to those of you who--like us--expected to have inverters already. Clearly, we weren't expecting "nothing" to be happening.
on my front though, I've definitely made some progress...
- thermistors have been confirmed and verified (thermistor ends, resistance, wire length, connector, pinout)
- should be a few more days and the power buttons should be ready to verify
- the sample 12kw GS inverter transformer has been completed and spec-verified. Looks like it got all bandaged up...I told them that for the sample, this will be OK--but we're just going to remove the outer layer. Plastic is not known for being a good conductor of heat. (Production transformers will not have the plastic covering.)
- The manufacturer now needs to package it up and ship it to me via air. After I confirm everything is good when I receive it, then we can do a (small) bulk order from them.
- This factory didn't even squeak a complaint about the winding specification being "too much wire" or anything of that sort. I really like the high-temp white covering on the main primary wires (not heat shrink tubing!)--as well as all the primary wires being single units, not double (or triple) units.
- they measured transformer idle current at 27W...I was hoping more for the 22W of the ones we've gotten from PJ. BUT...they also tested it at 50Hz, not 60Hz. Hoping that's the difference...
- PCBA company has been confirmed, I confirmed the order last night, and I'll pay it tonight. Production should be complete in 2 weeks...and honestly, I can't complain about the price, because there's no way I'd accept soldering all the through-hole parts on 50 PCBs for $468!
- it's not PCBWay. They made so many errors in the BOM parts sourcing--not to mention just plain marking almost all the parts up an easy 50%. Plus just outright mispricing multiple items (as I said above) at 10-50x actual cost.
- Still trying to figure out a heatsink supplier. The U.S. supplier is very tempting...for bulk stock. As they have the capability, I've asked for a quote to add all the holes, etc.--and while I haven't gotten a response back yet, I'm kinda expecting a unit price quote closer to $60 apiece (if not more). And each inverter requires 3 heatsinks--yeah, you can see that won't work.
- I don't really want to source these from China if I don't have to--but at the current time, it is looking a bit like I may not have an option.
- Sean has been working with a local supplier for cardboard boxes & packing foam for GS inverters. These boxes aren't cheap either--BUT result in a guarantee that shipping insurance claims will be honored. Which should be worth the cost just right there.
Ugh. So much work to do--and we aren't even to the step of putting inverters together....!
Test that transformer before dismissing the plastic coating
Depending on what they used it may not be a heat issue and should make the transformer more damage resistant
I know we would actually VPI our transformers and it helped them in a few ways
Mostly noise but a little better efficiency as well
VPI our transformers
quick bit of research...vacuum pressure impregnated with resin.
Potting transformers in epoxy is actually helpful--like you mentioned, for reducing noise. Interestingly, at least one epoxy I've dug into (no pun intended!) actually had a characterized thermal transfer rate that was 4x better than air. (You still have to get rid of the heat one way or another, though--it just helps move heat faster!)
That's probably how you got slightly better efficiency...through improved thermal heat conduction away from the transformer wire. That wire resistance temperature coefficient is serious business!
Should help with the thermal difference between inner and outer windings as well
The process is pretty straightforward
You get a tank
submerge the transformers
Pull a vacuum on the tank and hold it for awhile (watch for bubbles)
Hang transformer to drain
Bake
45 minutes ago, Steve said:The process is pretty straightforward
You get a tank
submerge the transformers
Pull a vacuum on the tank and hold it for awhile (watch for bubbles)
Hang transformer to drain
Bake
all I heard when reading that was $$$$$$$$$$$ of equipment 😉.
1 hour ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:all I heard when reading that was $$$$$$$$$$$ of equipment 😉.
Vacuum bath is pretty common in manufacturing.
Usually that for detecting leaks though. I presume the GS12 isn't submersible... 😄