I am not going to explain how to fix a Chinese inverter in this Blog posting. I am however going to tell you what was wrong with it and what to be very careful about when you have one or similar Chinese inverter. Now let me make it very clear this is not an inverter which you would install in your household. The reason is quite simple, it is not a good product and you run severe risks to damage equipment or even worse cause a fire that can destroy you house. In my opinion I would rather use this unit outdoors in an emergency power situation. Please note it is not waterproof and care must be taken to protect it during wet or damp conditions. Take note: I do not take any responsibility for any mishaps if you buy such an inverter for whatever purpose or reason.
I had this inverter installed on a trolley and it's main function was to run all my LED lights, inside and outside the house during loadshedding periods. That's all!! No air-fryer, toaster, microwave etc. This inverter ran from a 100 Ah Lead Acid Battery for nearly a year without any problems even during Stage 6 loadshedding phases.
When I upgraded to a self built, larger and better trolley inverter system my son asked if he could have the Chinese "5000" watt Inverter. I told him that in my opinion this is not a "5000" watt inverter. I am of the opinion that the peak wattage is not near 5000 watts no matter what the labels or manual says. By now one should know that specifications on certain Chinese brands are a sales gimmick. I warned my son to draw no more than 2000 watts from the inverter and only in short periods. Well some people listen to advice others ignore it and rather believe the labels on a product.
A week later I received a message that the inverter just died one night while in use. No errors, warnings or LED flashing. It was dead!! Asked how many power did they draw, I got a answer that he does not know as the inverter works from the garage to the house. He brought the inverter to the Shack one day and ask if I would have a look at it. I opened it up and first look at all the fuses. None was blown - strange? Then I tested all the input Mosfet's and components on the input side of the unit. I could not find any faults. Well on to the output side. I removed the four output Mosfet's, measured them and found them all to be open circuit and faulty. Strange but that is what I found. No fuses blown and no alarms?? This raises big questions if you look at all the protection that is advertised. None seemed to have protected the unit. Now to find replacement Mosfet's. The cheapest replacements would have cost me over R900.00. My son was not willing to pay that price and the unit found a new use as a "door stopper', just joking. Before I shelved the unit I noticed that there was an inscription on the PCB that indicate that the unit only outputs 1500 watts.
Moral of the story is that 5000 watt stated in the manual and on the outside label was not correct. I shelved the project and would use it for parts. In January 2024 I found 6 Mosfet's for the unit at R63.00 each. I ordered the Fet's and fixed the inverter today. It is up and running again but this time around I will adhere a label clearly stating that this unit can only deliver 1500 Watts Output.
All that is left is to thoroughly clean the inverter. My apologies for the dust and dirt on the unit in some photos but I did not want to clean the unit until I was sure it works as it should. The fan needs also to be cleaned and oiled as it is making a noise the first few second after starting the unit.
There you have the story of the "5000 watt" Chinese Inverter. DO NOT believe any insignia on Chinese electronic equipment!!
Click on images to enlarge. Please excuse the dust and dirt on the last image but the reason being as explained supra.
