prosine 1800 inverter fault

[magnetman]

I have two old prosine 1800i inverters on the boat. Both ex ambulance as far as I know (eBay secondhand not very expensive type of thing working ok when I bought them ages ago).

 

One of them has stopped working. Nothing from the 240 side. The fault light flashes and nothing can be done to make it work.

I had it apart and its not a fuse but I don't know enough to check much more than that. Nothing went pop and no electronic smell or burnt circuits anywhere.

 

Is it worth looking to have it repaired or just bin it?

 

Its quite old equipment now so maybe an upgrade is worthwhile ? I am concerned that a lot of the more recent gear is poor quality.

[frangar]

I had one of the smaller prosine inverters...it was rubbish at start up surges....my old portable CRT TV used to cause it to cut out. I'd personally think about a more modern unit given how little an equivalent unit is nowadays....my prosine wasn't even true sine wave as I recall.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[nbfiresprite]

I have two old prosine 1800i inverters on the boat. Both ex ambulance as far as I know (eBay secondhand not very expensive type of thing working ok when I bought them ages ago).

 

One of them has stopped working. Nothing from the 240 side. The fault light flashes and nothing can be done to make it work.

I had it apart and its not a fuse but I don't know enough to check much more than that. Nothing went pop and no electronic smell or burnt circuits anywhere.

 

Is it worth looking to have it repaired or just bin it?

 

Its quite old equipment now so maybe an upgrade is worthwhile ? I am concerned that a lot of the more recent gear is poor quality.

These inverters are fitted with a LCD panel as standard. Which would display the fault. From the sounds of it the seller kept the panels to sell on, leaving the remote panel fitted.

 

Where about are you? If your not to far away I could pop over with my spare panel to get the fault reading.

 

These are very good units which produce a very clean output, hence the use in ambulances and aircraft. I have fitted many over the passed 15 years.

 

As for Frangar comments, The smaller 1000watt unit has a surge rating of 1500 watts for 30 minutes. And handles a 1400 watt circular saw with no problems. My own unit has been running a fridge freezer (which is a far heavily surge than a small crt tv) for 16 years and was one of the first units made.

 

As for wave output I have check this with a scope. The output is pure sine with less than 3% distortion, which is cleaner than you get from national grid.

[magnetman]

These inverters are fitted with a LCD panel as standard. Which would display the fault. From the sounds of it the seller kept the panels to sell on, leaving the remote panel fitted.

 

Where about are you? If your not to far away I could pop over with my spare panel to get the fault reading.

 

These are very good units which produce a very clean output, hence the use in ambulances and aircraft. I have fitted many over the passed 15 years.

 

As for Frangar comments, The smaller 1000watt unit has a surge rating of 1500 watts for 30 minutes. And handles a 1400 watt circular saw with no problems. My own unit has been running a fridge freezer (which is a far heavily surge than a small crt tv) for 16 years and was one of the first units made.

 

As for wave output I have check this with a scope. The output is pure sine with less than 3% distortion, which is cleaner than you get from national grid.

Thanks for that

 

Both my prosine units have the LCD panel which does display an error on the faulty one. I think it was DC DC fault shutdown or similar. I can check this at the weekend if it will help point to what is wrong with it.

I did get the feeling they are good bits of kit which is why I still have the faulty one despite it not working

 

Would be most pleased to get it working in case the working one stops

[nbfiresprite]

Thanks for that

 

Both my prosine units have the LCD panel which does display an error on the faulty one. I think it was DC DC fault shutdown or similar. I can check this at the weekend if it will help point to what is wrong with it.

I did get the feeling they are good bits of kit which is why I still have the faulty one despite it not working

 

Would be most pleased to get it working in case the working one stops

 

DCDC Shutdown indicated 'An overload or system Fault'

 

Possible problems that would cause this:

 

• The DC power source is intermittent or weak
• The DC power source is run through a distribution panel or isolator (Voltage drop)
• The wiring from the 12VDC source is too long for the size used

Another thing to take in to account is that as both units have spent a number of years being bounced about in the back of a ambulance. The Input Reverse Polarity fuse may have failed due to age and need replacing.

[magnetman]

Ok thanks

I have tested by wiring direct to battery with heavy wiring so pretty sure its not the 1st 3. I will have a look for the reverse polarity fuse then.

[rusty69]

On 30/07/2015 at 07:19, magnetman said:

Ok thanks

I have tested by wiring direct to battery with heavy wiring so pretty sure its not the 1st 3. I will have a look for the reverse polarity fuse then.

I know this is getting on for ten years ago, but did you solve the problem or just bin the unit?

 

I bought an 1800 statpower unit the other week to replace my 1000 xantrex. It's been running fine for a couple of weeks, but suddenly getting the DCDC shutdown error. 

Edited April 21 by rusty69

[Tracy D'arth]

I have no idea what that message means, is it in the instructions or if you ask?

Try disconnecting it from the batteries for an hour, it may reset.  Are the batteries fully charged?  Did it do this because the engine was running? It must be either over volt or under volt trip.

[magnetman]

I didn't ever fix it and it remained on the Boat when I sold it. 

 

the reverse polarity fuse thing is interesting. 

 

I've got another Statpower prosine 1800 which works alright. 

[rusty69]

13 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I have no idea what that message means, is it in the instructions or if you ask?

Try disconnecting it from the batteries for an hour, it may reset.  Are the batteries fully charged?  Did it do this because the engine was running? It must be either over volt or under volt trip.

Yes, there is reference to the fault in the instruction manual (see attached), though I'm not sure how useful it is to diagnose the condition.

I left the inverter disconnected (positive terminal only) from the battery last night for approx 12 hours with the same problem by the morning.

Yes, the batteries are fully charged, reading good voltage on the inverter terminals. No, the engine was not running.

 

I will go through and check all the connections. If that fails, I'll stick the other unit back in.

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

I didn't ever fix it and it remained on the Boat when I sold it. 

 

the reverse polarity fuse thing is interesting. 

 

I've got another Statpower prosine 1800 which works alright. 

Where is the reverse polarity fuse?

[magnetman]

I don't know. It was the other poster who mentioned it. 

 

 

On 29/07/2015 at 23:37, nbfiresprite said:

 

 

Another thing to take in to account is that as both units have spent a number of years being bounced about in the back of a ambulance. The Input Reverse Polarity fuse may have failed due to age and need replacing.

 

This wants investigating although the unit must be getting power if it is capable of illuminating the control panel...

[rusty69]

43 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I don't know. It was the other poster who mentioned it. 

 

 

 

This wants investigating although the unit must be getting power if it is capable of illuminating the control panel...

 

Well, for future reference there is a 225A MEGA fuse (dunno if this is the reverse polarity fuse referred to), in the front of the unit.My one is intact, so it looks like it's bin time for my inverter. That'll teach me to buy seconhand cr@p. Actually, it probably won't. Victron, here we come.