This topic is about repairs and modifications to the internal electronic hardware of any of the 48 V 5 kVA PIP, Axpert or equivalent inverter models. It was started by Walde, with this post and the title PIP Inverter Error "error 09" bus soft start failed. We later moved all the internal hardware related stuff from the PIP-4048MS and PIP-5048MS inverters topic to this one, and renamed it to be more generally about the internal electronics, but not the firmware, of all these related inverters.
There are other topics for aspects other than internal electronics, for the
PIP-4048MS and PIP-5048MS inverters (also called the Axpert MKS 5K), and for the
PIP-5048MK inverter (also called the Axpert King 5K), and for the
PIP-5048GE/GK/MG/MGX inverters (also called the Axpert VM II 5000-48, Axpert VM III 5000-48, Axpert MKS II 5K, and Axpert MKS III 5K), and for the
Voltronic InfiniSolar inverters.
Index
Hardware
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Rinaldo's post with the 2015 service manual
Coulomb's disassembly and reassembly instructions for removing and reinstalling the main board.
Weber's post about upgrading the battery-side capacitors and MOSFETs for longer inverter life (updated March 2017).-
Also deciding which MOSFETs to replace.
February 2017 model has upgraded parts.
Holmoe suggests that power supply capacitors, or possibly all capacitors ≤ 1000 μF, are the ones that fail.
Coulomb's post on replacing several capacitors in the main power supply of a PIP-4048MS (Power Forum).
Fan replacement and direction-
Weber begins discussion
T1 Terry's post (see also Weber's post immediately after).
Coulomb's post on the Arctic Cooling fans and their connections.
2015 model Fan "Rectification", i.e. changing direction from blowing down to blowing upwards.
Original fans put back, due to the fan locked warning issue. It's possible that this post (see also the following post) has the reason why this was needed.
Comparison of temperatures with downward and upward fan direction.
Video of fan replacement without taking the inverter off the wall (7 minute).
Repair: Fault code known-
Sorted in order of fault code:
Mariusvaida reports that bad power supply capacitors may cause fault code 03 (error 03). Also fault code 06 (error 06).
BritishRacingGreen reports that fault code 03 (error 03) will result if -12 V power is removed. So faults with the -12 V power supply can trigger this fault code.
Rodriale found that replacing the burden resistor fixed fault code 07 (error 07).
Suggestions for repairing fault code 08 (error 08) by Kamil. See also below.
Vissie fixes his fault code 08 (error 08) problem with two resistors: introduction, and solution. See also this battery voltage sensing schematic in a 48 V model.
Also on fault code 08, if the fault is triggered by leakage from panels to earth after rain, a diode may help. You may not even have to open the case to try this (use an MC4 diode).
Kamil said finds fault code 09 (error 09) caused by a shorted power supply diode. Usually fault code 09 is caused by shorted IGBTs and/or MOSFETs.
mihaigsm2003 reports fixing fault code 11 (error 11) by swapping EEPROM chips.
User reports fix for fault code 51 (error 51: overload/surge) (AEVA and Powerforum). MARCO82TNIT's summary of when fault code 51 does and does not occur.
A topic all about fault code 51.
Cactus fixes fault code 51 by replacing battery capacitors.
Cactus also fixes fault code 52 (error 52, Bus Voltage too Low) by replacing battery capacitors.
Kamil fixed fault code 56 (battery connection open) by replacing battery sense resistors.
R79 reports that In some cases fault code 72 (error 72) may be fixed with a capacitor across the PV terminals.
Fault code 72 can also be caused by a faulty control board.
ThomasHaller fixed his fault code 81 and fault code 80 (error 81 host loss and error 80 CAN fault) by replacing one paralleling board. He suspects that the problem was age related gradual loss of Current Transfer Ratio in the opto-couplers.
Repair: No fault code-
Coulomb's post of the PIP main board repair, with the power flow explanation. Also the Power Flow Topology, block diagram from a service manual, and Coulomb's "all PIP/Axpert" block diagram.
Repair continues. Repair completed with Replacement of the 230 V inverter IGBTs, this time with integral diodes.
Testing inverter gate drivers when the battery-side MOSFETs are removed.
Another repair and a few testing hints.
Cactus's notes on resistors to check when replacing MOSFETs
Coulomb fixes a parallel board damaged by nearby lightning.
Two solutions for zero charging current by Kamil. Second solution is in the next post but one.
Holmoe on ESR testers including a link to how to make one.
If the output is around 180 VAC, then it may be the low-side IGBT gate drive power supply.
BritishRacingGreen notices a PCB fault with Axpert MKS IVs; the trace is so thin that it corrodes or fuses, losing the neutral to earth connection in battery mode.
Kamil Said found that zero charging current in a model with high PV voltage was fixed by replacing U12, the opto-driver for the buck transistor.
Gugliposta found that excess ripple current was over-heating the bus-side capacitors. It was traced to an open circuit gate resistor. See the exploding capacitors.
BritishRacingGreen proves that when the display shows max battery voltage, it's a - 12V rail problem, probably dried out capacitors.
Kamil finds that zero amp MPPT charging on a high PV voltage model is due to a blown ULN2003 on the control board. It might be fairly common, as a presumed good replacement control board had the same problem.
Problems with Starting or staying on, restarting, resetting or flashing of display.-
BritishRacingGreen finds that it's often C79 (1000μF 16V) that causes this problem. That post also has a photo of Coulomb's with the location of the usual suspect power supply capacitors.
Reader Ertjie fixes inverter restarting repeatedly: 5 V voltage regulator chip. Kamil replaced capacitors to fix a similar fault, and later found the UC3525 chip to be at fault.
Another voltage regulator fault: 7912. Kamil on a VM II with relay clicks then turned off.
Inverter switching off soon after start-up and the UC3525 chip. Substitutions did not work.
Kamil fixed an inverter that stopped immediately after the first beep .
Components / Parts
Holmoe has success buying parts from utsource: https://utsource.com
The STGW80H65DFB has too much capacitance for the gate driver chip.
IGBT KEC KGF75N65KDF.
Cactus' successful transistor substitutions.
Decoding SMD marking codes
MOVistor part numbers.
Reader has specifications for TX6, so you can get a replacement multi-winding inductor ("transformer") wound. (Powerforum)
Holmoe explains how to repair a burned transformer. The transformers and multi-winding inductors are parts that you can't order. See also Comms board transformer repair (Power Forum).
User SW1GSI repairs a PIP-2424MSE with many burned components, including transformer TX7. He was able to order a bobbin from Mouser that was close enough to the original to rewind the transformer and get the inverter working.
Matteog attempts to repair TX1 in an Axpert King. For the truly brave and desperate.
Please suggest other posts to go here as you find them. -
BritishRacingGreen finds that it's often C79 (1000μF 16V) that causes this problem. That post also has a photo of Coulomb's with the location of the usual suspect power supply capacitors.
Partial schematic traces-
Maxo's schematic trace of a PIP-4048/Axpert MKS 5K-48 main board, in PDF format (around 300 kB) and LibreOffice Draw (around 200 kB).
BritishRacingGreen's schematic traces of various parts of an Axpert MAX 7.2 kW. They probably closely match the 8 kW and even 11 kW models:-
Main power supply and the Bus Soft Start power supply.
Power chain and IGBT gate drivers. He reports that roughly 85% of the circuit seems to match the above PIP-4048MS trace, including parts designators (e.g. L4 for the main filter inductor). Colour block diagram and PCB map.
Relays and their coil drivers.
DC-DC MOSFETs and their gate drivers.
Schematic trace of the main power supply shutdown circuit.
Partial schematic trace of the inverter IGBT gate drive circuit.
Small trace of the fan locked rotor detect circuit.
Weber and Coulomb's partial schematic for the battery-side MOSFET drivers and 400-V-side IGBT gate drivers for the main DC-DC converter
Coulomb's partial schematic for the reverse protection circuit (where fitted).
Partial schematic trace near the SCC comms connector, including sniff circuit used during dynamic current control patch development.
The control board end of the above SCC comms connection.
Coulomb's partial schematic trace for a 145 V max 60 A MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SCC).
Partial schematic trace of the Comms Board.
The relay driver circuit, for the "safety" relays.
Boguslaw66's annotation of the VMII series power supplies.
Coulomb's partial schematic for the paralleling boards.
Urbis' partial schematic trace for a 3 kW PIP-3024GK, hand drawn.
Kamil's schematic trace around the current sensor op-amp OP07 (U21), found in only some models.
Typical all-in-one inverter block diagram. -
Main power supply and the Bus Soft Start power supply.
Photos of the SCC board and its pair of relays, and what the relays do.
The red and black wires are NOT SCC output.
If you suffer from Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) (Powerforum). See also the diode solution above.
Control board power supply pins.
Kamil's list of control board pins.
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Serial Communications boards
- Coulomb's post with the RJ-45 and D9 (RS232 serial port) pinouts 2013 model and immediately after
Scott's post on the 2014 version.
Weber confirms 2015 pinout, measures voltage sag on +12 V
Scott's comparison of 4 (now 7) RS232 communications boards.
Replacing your communications board with an Arduino without the microcontroller plugged in. Note safety precautions in the next post.
McMajen able to re-flash again by replacing opto-isolators.
Mustek in South Africa carry stock of communications boards. For 5 kVA PIP-MS, PIP-MG and other models without a removable display.
Removable Display
- Troubleshooting the removable display (PowerForum).
Other Brands
Anchors: repair, repair_no_code, starting, parts, schematics, comms, post Example use: https://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?p=53951#starting
[ Edited Coulomb 1/May/2020: Edited links to https:// ]
[ Edited Coulomb 31/July/2022: Added Components section ]
END MODERATOR NOTES
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[Post by weber]
I note that I am now having second thoughts about the need to scale the voltage like this. But here's the schematic for the battery voltage sensing in the inverter/AC-charger section. It is a differential amplifier with a gain of around 1/40.
[Edit: See a photo of the strings of 1 megohm resistors on the main board here.]
Here are the two 100k resistors outlined in yellow (thanks to Coulomb yesterday). Coulomb carefully soldered a 1M 1% resistor on top of each of these, to give us the 10% change we wanted.
Here's the schematic for the battery voltage sensing in the MPPT section.
We hypothesise that the three differential amplifiers with different gains are there to give maximum A-to-D accuracy for the three different battery voltages this device can work with: 12, 24, 48 V. but what is mystifying is that the 3 gains are around 1/4, 1/7 and 1/13.
Interesting the 20w waste heat increase when converting a higher solar input voltage, something the MPPT supporters have been denying being the case, but simple logic said it must as there is so much more heat sink and/or forced cooling required in an MPPT controller compared to a PWM controller.
That extra 20 watts is only 0.6% of the 3200 watts going into the battery at the time. As Kurt said, a PWM charge controller can waste far more power by not collecting it in the first place. It is dissipated as heat in the panels (but any temperature rise it might cause to the panels is probably insignificant since 85% of what falls on them is turned to heat anyway).
[Moderator note: See this post in the PIP-4048MS and PIP-5048MS inverters topic, for why this modification was not pursued.]