OffGridInTheCity Build

italianuser said:
Kudos for the monitoring. Do you also have an alerting system, how do you receive alerts (sms/email/app/else)?
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Great idea. I don't have specific email/text alerts but I could. I have internet cards in the APS UPSs that do email. As an example, these rapid fire APC UPS emails are what alerted me to the AIMS failure.... + I could see the lights flickering. I could extend this idea.
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as a suggestion, you could try https://www.callmebot.com/
I use it in combination with home assistant and it allows me to send whatsapp messages for free to my cellphone when the wifi of my inverter is once again unavailable or my cats mess up with the monitoring probes of my central heating.
 
I offer this post as a cautionary tail - just bricked a brand-new 12,000w SUNGOLDPOWER Inverter....

My AIMS 12,000w inverter died in Dec and no control board or even an ETA available from AIMS support. Discouraging, so I decided to try another vendor. Ordered the cheapest ETL listed 12,000w inverter I could find - SUNGOLDPOWER 48v @ 12,000w US Split Phase 240v/120v


It arrived and at 175lbs it took me a few hours to get it leveraged / manhandled into place. Hooked up the battery and it turned on.... so far so good. In my setup, I need remote on/off so I tried plugging in the AIMS RJ45 jack (with wires 3-5 shorted = turn on) into the "Remote LCD" jack (same label the AIMS have) and....

It lit up, then buzzed, popped, died, and smoke drifting out the side. YIKES!!!!!!!! What an IDIOT I am!!!

Opened it up and found this....
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I could just kick myself thinking it would work or do nothing - after all, it's just an innocuous RJ45 plug - it's not like a lot of amps could flow down that wire. Frankly, a really, really bad decision and a bit of recklessness - e.g. large powerwall / power production is a fairly serious business even at DIY.

Contacted SUNGOLDPOWER Support. Hopefully they have replacement parts better than AIMS does.... If they do, I can pretty easily replace this control board and hope that's all I damaged.
 
OffGridInTheCity said:
I offer this post as a cautionary tail - just bricked a brand-new 12,000w SUNGOLDPOWER Inverter....

My AIMS 12,000w inverter died in Dec and no control board or even an ETA available from AIMS support. Discouraging, so I decided to try another vendor. Ordered the cheapest ETL listed 12,000w inverter I could find - SUNGOLDPOWER 48v @ 12,000w US Split Phase 240v/120v


It arrived and at 175lbs it took me a few hours to get it leveraged / manhandled into place. Hooked up the battery and it turned on.... so far so good. In my setup, I need remote on/off so I tried plugging in the AIMS RJ45 jack (with wires 3-5 shorted = turn on) into the "Remote LCD" jack (same label the AIMS have) and....

It lit up, then buzzed, popped, died, and smoke drifting out the side. YIKES!!!!!!!! What an IDIOT I am!!!

Opened it up and found this....
View attachment 29169

I could just kick myself thinking it would work or do nothing - after all, it's just an innocuous RJ45 plug - it's not like a lot of amps could flow down that wire. Frankly, a really, really bad decision and a bit of recklessness - e.g. large powerwall / power production is a fairly serious business even at DIY.

Contacted SUNGOLDPOWER Support. Hopefully they have replacement parts better than AIMS does.... If they do, I can pretty easily replace this control board and hope that's all I damaged.
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Oh man, that stinks! Glad it didn't cause any issues to the rest of the system or home (or you).
 
I would pop the chip off the board and see if it fires up again, failing that if you can find the new chip send the board to me and i'll get it attached for you
 
hbpowerwall said:
I would pop the chip off the board and see if it fires up again, failing that if you can find the new chip send the board to me and i'll get it attached for you
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Wow - what an offer - thank you very much for the idea and offer to help!

Sungoldpower support sold me a replacement board today. Not sure how long it will take to get, but hopefully this will fix things.
 
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A couple small successes to help offset my Inverter debacle/ troubles. :)

I like lithium-ion / lifepo4 for scooters. ebikes, generators, and the trailer dry-flush toilet as they can sit for year after year and the battery remains stable (if temps aren't too extreme) compared to AGMs.

Scooter - success replacing 4 x AGMs 12v @ 20ah with 4 x Miady LifePo4 12v @ 20ah - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089VXSBC6 in our E-Wheels EW-36 3-Wheel Scooter. They dropped right in size wise and the scooter operated at max load (me riding up steep hill at full throttle to a stand-still) without tripping the BMSs etc. Note: I had to buy a LifePo4 48v charger as the AGM one is not a compatible charging curve.
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Generator - success trying one of the Miady LifePo4s 12v@20ah in our Champion generator (model 100297) wondering if cranking amps might trip the BMS or something. It worked great - both fit and cranking no problem. I've had a smaller Miady in the Honda eu3000is for several years with good success.
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For the record - SGP Control Board that blew up....
FYI - It's been a month and they are stringing me along as far as making replacement boards available - we'll see.

Obvious damage....
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Does anyone know what the 2 burnt up ICs might be?
Some detail pics
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Backside
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got your PM, replacing the parts is easy, but finding them is hard!
 
hbpowerwall said:
got your PM, replacing the parts is easy, but finding them is hard!
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Yes. The smaller burned chip may be a "LM324DG". LM324DG / AK13N09 as this is the number on unburned U13 and I think U09 and they look similar to U4 burned one. You can find "LM324DG" all over the place but I don't know what the 2nd row "AK13N09" means. For example, this pic of an LM324DG....
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has "AK01B44" in the 2nd row instead of AK13N09. Maybe it doesn't matter that much?
----------------------------

For the 64pin IC XX658 / V00SU I can't find anything. I tried 14658 and other combinations but nothing at all comes up.
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No SGP replacement board so far - I think I may be in trouble.
So I just got in another one - e.g. SGP #2 - and took some pics of the insides before installing it.

Here's the 64pin IC I blew up - it's a 01658 / V00SU - but can't find anything online. If anyone can find this - let me know,
1679710598979.png

And the other one - e.g. U4 is 14011BG? / AN11N26 - at least this one seems to exist online.
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MY NEXT PROLEM...

My SGP #1 (burned up chips) and SGP #2 are Hybrid "8K-12K LPV Hybrid Solar Inverter - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5VS2Y67?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
User Manual - https://cdn.shopifycdn.net/s/files/...NUAL_683b13e8-ece7-43db-be71-1e19db6f54ad.pdf

I hooked SGP #2 to the battery, set DC priority mode and it looks like it's running OK... - e.g. 240v, 60Hz is good for me.
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BUT when I measure the AC outputs with a voltmeter - I only get correct readings intermittently.... and I'm wondering if this "Hybrid" is in "Power Saver Mode" permanently....
HOT1 – HOT 2 should be 240v
HOT 1 – N should be 120v
HOT 2 – N should be 120v

Here are some pics – and yes, the breakers behind my fingers is ON….
HOT1 – N is showing 121.7v….
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But HOT2 – N is showing 1.5v
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And HOT1 – HOT2 is showing 15.2v
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As I probe around, the proper voltages seems to appear briefly switch positions.

Does anyone know the details on this? I might have to attach some loads so that probing 'turns it on' so my ATSs will work? or is it broken?
 
OffGridInTheCity said:
For the record - SGP Control Board that blew up....
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That damage looks so bad, blowing up the main IC isn't common. Often something goes wrong at the input side (where current comes in) or where current goes out (load wants too much current). It's very difficult to say what caused it. There's a small transformer on the board (max temperature 110°C, could temperature be a problem in your box?). Causes could be: 1) a defective component, caps often fail causing damage all the way down the board; 2) overcurrent / spikes / noise coming in at source current/voltage; 3) a defective project, does happen (an updated version of the board could resolve this sort of problem). Could be good to add some extra protection where current comes in (filters, overcurrent / overvoltage protection, fuses, etc.), don't know if it's possible in your case.

OffGridInTheCity said:
But HOT2 – N is showing 1.5v
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Did you try another DMM? Or maybe you're measuring at the wrong moment or when conditions don't permit it (?)
 
Good News!

Took it step by step. Not sure exactly what activates the SGP AC output but I decided to hook it up and it seems to work. I tried a simple fan first and got both 240v and 120v legs.

Tried the remote on/off (the correct way) and that worked. FYI: The remote on/off disables the display on top of the unit and since I don't have a remote display, the unit is dark except for a single 'yellow' (working) light. It's OK for me but interesting.

Finally, tried powering the home circuits by routing the Generator Distribution Box to the Inverter Distribution Boxes - and it seems to work. Not sure how it knows when to turn on AC output because it seems to be polling yesterday as I posted above.
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In any case, I'm relieved I didn't blow another 12K inverter!! Today went much better - step by step hookup and no blowups :)

The final step will be to wire it permanently into Distribution Box 1 instead of routing it thru the Generator Distribution Box - but this let's me test my generator charging 240v/120v wiring infrastructure PLUS I now have an 'inverter test setup' for when I try to repair the dead inverters.
 
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Finished the IoTaWatt setup - using 3 separate Voltage Refs.

I can now see each 120v leg output of both inverters. Plus, I can see the incoming generator (battery charging power) 120v legs.
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This will help me manage when to have one or both inverters active. In addition, I can extract equipment run times for the 3 sources of power. The Red / Black are the wire color of L1 and L2 at the distribution panels so I can trace the metrics to circuit distribution at the panels.

Bonus: I can see the Hz of each power source. Icing on the cake for me as one time I accidentally left an inverter at 50Hz instead of 60Hz and it wasn’t immediately obvious.

IoTaWatt Tip: Finally realized that “Outputs” column is shown in alpha-numeric order from top to bottom and was able to arrange them for my liking by judiciously picking label names. :)
 
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SGP Update - I think the replacement control boards arrived. Got some possible scam emails, will detail that later.

Put the control board in and the inverter shows 240v/120v on the output terminals. Hooked it up to my test rig and I'm getting 240v/120v and confirmed 60hz (by IoTaWatt) up to 4000w.

However, the display is not lighting up. I see this blown capacitor on the display board but can't make out the micro farads.
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Can any of you guess? It's easy enough to solder.

I cut off the wrapper on the capacitor can and flattened it out... seems to say "0O micro farad" / "16v or do you take the "10" on the far end and wrap around to get 100 or 1000 micro farad? Is it safer to try higher micro farad and then work down and see if it works? Ordered this assortment - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBQXQNQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00
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Any advice welcome - how dangerous is it to be 'off' on the uF?

Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can buy the external 'remote display' unit as a workaround. Confirmed that the remote on/off works. All good for my situation.
 
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