1000W Renogy 12v 1000 Watt Inverter (ECO) Shorted Out

[featherlite]

I am posting this just to document the fact that my two year old shorted out, presumably because I accidentally overloaded the unit?

I have a 12v 1000W Renogy, pure sine wave inverter, 2000 watt surge.

The inverter shorted out when I plugged my heat gun into the AC outlet. The heat gun has high and low setting, 825 watts on low and 1150 watts on high. Off on on over the last few days, I had been running the heat gun on low for a few minutes each time, but occasionally for 15 minutes in a row. Once or twice, I turned the heat gun on high for a few minutes to test my breaker trip curve. At no time did the inverter shut down or trigger any alarm.

Today, the inverter immediately shorted out when I turned the heat gun switch on. I intended to turn the switch to the low setting but might have accidently turned the switch all the way to the high setting. I dunno.

Maybe I abused the unit too much and it finally shorted out due to previous cumulative abuse. Again, I dunno.

In any event, now when I close the breaker to the inverter, my BMS immediately disconnects all loads and displays the warning "shorted out"; after repeated attempts to restart the inverter.

My testing has ruled out any problem with the BMS, the wiring and/or the breaker to the inverter. I did so by successfully replacing the inoperable inverter with another working inverter.

I opened up the inverter on my work bench and saw six 25A mini ATC type blade fuses, soldered onto the circuit board. All six fuses tested good, with a continuity meter with probes on the underside of the circuit board. Even though the fuses appeared to be good, they all had a blackish brown spot on the top. I saw no other visible burn marks and smelled nothing amiss, at least to my untrained eye.

See the six fuses in the attached photo. The fuses are soldered onto the circuit board. Otherwise i would have tried to replace them. Later on, I may try to replace the fuses and see if it fixes the problem, although I do not have one of those solder sucker tools I have seen on youtube. I have very little soldering experience.

The inverter is two years old with a one year warranty. The original cost was $180, whereas a replacement unit now costs about $230.

I decided to replace the unit with an identical new Renogy unit with the same specs, primarily because the footprint matches my existing mounting location and wiring runs in my trailer with limited space.

There are at least two other posts on this forum saying that their Renogy inverter with eco mode failed. Their units had a switch to turn eco mode feature on and off. My unit automatically turns eco mode on and off, depending on the load.

Do 1000 watt inverters typically short out if overload by 150 watts?

 

[MisterSandals]

Do 1000 watt inverters typically short out if overload by 150 watts?

I would be more likely to say that economy inverters should not be run at more than 75% for any length of time.
It’s FAR more likely to be overrated than underrated, IMO.

 

[crossy]

If the power devices have identifying marks the chances are good that it's an easy repair.

Fix it / get it fixed and you have a spare for the next time

 

[Sabre36]

don’t hold your breath on the warranty claim. Renogy is awful at standing behind what they sell.

 

[crossy]

The chances are good that the BMS "protected" the fuses leaving at least one intact. Replace them anyway.

You need to remove and test all the power devices. To be honest, they're cheap enough to just replace the lot, power it up on a current-limited source (bench power supply) for test.

Plenty of YouTube videos on repairing similar units, time to get a solder sucker and start watching

 

[HRTKD]

I had a Xantrex ProWatt 1000 modified sine wave inverter in my RV for a few years. It was darn near indestructible. I put loads on it that we well above it's 1000 watt rating. It would simply shut down, showing an overload light. Turn it off and back on again and it was ready for more. What finally did it in was a 1 awg cable that wasn't securely fastened down (strain relief) and it came loose and caused the terminal to melt. My fault, not the inverter's.

Why do the fuses in your first picture look broken? Did you try yanking on them?

 

[v_green57]

You can't check the fuses while they are soldered to the board. Other components in the ckt often present a false almost short ckt which will mislead you.

While it isn't any fun, you gotta pull at least one out, not damaging it in the process. If it's blown, the rest almost certainly are as well.

 

[50ShadesOfDirt]

Many of the HF inverters have a 1-year warranty ... don't know how you feel about warranties these days, but I'd say you got your money's worth if it exceeded the manufacturer's warranty period ... that's a "win".

That's also the state of warranties and implied quality these days ... if 1-one (or less, who would believe there are 6-month, 3-month, or 1-month warranties, but they are out there), it's lower quality stuff; if 2- or 3-yr or more, it's higher quality stuff. I tend to be happy if I get the warranty period, and everything after that is gravy.

One of my strategies with these things is to try and buy the exact same model again, as the first unit is now a "parts stream" for the successive units. It does take some skill development, but it isn't hard at all to get an electronics work bench going, desolder those fuses, and replace them. Plenty of online tutoring for just about anything (like soldering/desoldering). As suggested, if it doesn't get fixed, it's still parts.

When I do this for just about any electronics device these days, I get about a 1/3 fixable (fuses, etc.) success rate, a 1/3 are a smoking gun (I see failed IC's, etc.) failure and most likely not fixable (determines whether or not I buy from them again, but possibly still good for parts stream), and a 1/3 are a mystery (not enough skills to troubleshoot at the board level, not fixable, but still good as a parts stream).

I recycle everything ... it's all taken apart, which helps determine whether or not I buy it again. My electronics work bench is stuffed with spare parts (and some of these are hard to source these days), and everything else goes to its recycle stream (plastics, metal, etc.)

I recycle fuel generators the same way ... requires picking a good manufacturer, sticking (where possible) to same model.

In your case with this renogy inverter, it costs you nothing to attempt to replace those fuses ... and, as others suggest, I'd find some ratio of real workload to inverter rated wattage, and don't exceed it (for example, 50% load limit, so not much more than 1000w) ... at least for the HF type inverters. Many do the same for fuel generators, to get more life out of them.

Hope this helps ...

 

[TacomaJoe]

Aren't those fuses on the input side? Blown fuses on the input side should present an OPEN to the BMS not a SHORT.

 

[Minimoose]

I am posting this just to document the fact that my two year old shorted out, presumably because I accidentally overloaded the unit?

I have a 12v 1000W Renogy, pure sine wave inverter, 2000 watt surge.

The inverter shorted out when I plugged my heat gun into the AC outlet. The heat gun has high and low setting, 825 watts on low and 1150 watts on high. Off on on over the last few days, I had been running the heat gun on low for a few minutes each time, but occasionally for 15 minutes in a row. Once or twice, I turned the heat gun on high for a few minutes to test my breaker trip curve. At no time did the inverter shut down or trigger any alarm.

Today, the inverter immediately shorted out when I turned the heat gun switch on. I intended to turn the switch to the low setting but might have accidently turned the switch all the way to the high setting. I dunno.

Maybe I abused the unit too much and it finally shorted out due to previous cumulative abuse. Again, I dunno.

In any event, now when I close the breaker to the inverter, my BMS immediately disconnects all loads and displays the warning "shorted out"; after repeated attempts to restart the inverter.

My testing has ruled out any problem with the BMS, the wiring and/or the breaker to the inverter. I did so by successfully replacing the inoperable inverter with another working inverter.

I opened up the inverter on my work bench and saw six 25A mini ATC type blade fuses, soldered onto the circuit board. All six fuses tested good, with a continuity meter with probes on the underside of the circuit board. Even though the fuses appeared to be good, they all had a blackish brown spot on the top. I saw no other visible burn marks and smelled nothing amiss, at least to my untrained eye.

See the six fuses in the attached photo. The fuses are soldered onto the circuit board. Otherwise i would have tried to replace them. Later on, I may try to replace the fuses and see if it fixes the problem, although I do not have one of those solder sucker tools I have seen on youtube. I have very little soldering experience.

The inverter is two years old with a one year warranty. The original cost was $180, whereas a replacement unit now costs about $230.

I decided to replace the unit with an identical new Renogy unit with the same specs, primarily because the footprint matches my existing mounting location and wiring runs in my trailer with limited space.

There are at least two other posts on this forum saying that their Renogy inverter with eco mode failed. Their units had a switch to turn eco mode feature on and off. My unit automatically turns eco mode on and off, depending on the load.

Do 1000 watt inverters typically short out if overload by 150 watts?

I went with a 3000 watt inverter that will never see more than 1500-2000 watts. It's overkill, but hopefully it will never be straining or overheating.

 

[featherlite]

Thanks for all the replies.

The fuses are not physically damaged.

The fuses appear to bridge the positive bus bar to the circuit board.

I will keep the failed unit for spare parts in case I ever figure out the function of all the components/do hickies. Right now, given my limited knowledge, the screws, bolts and nuts are the only things I know how to repurpose. LOL!

FYI, I looked at the Victron Phoenix 1200Va invertor with its 5 year warranty for $391, and decided not to buy one at this time. Maybe when the new Renogy I ordered fails.

I just rewired and upgraded my electrical system and do not have the stomach for rewiring and installing a different brand of inverter.

 

[hugemoth]

My 1000 watt sine wave Renogy inverter did not have the "eco mode" but did fail after 14 months of use. Internal fuses were not blown but one MOSFET popped which stopped all AC output even though the red error light did not come on. I have doubts about the quality of Renogy inverters.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Running a 1000 watt appliance on a "2000" watt inverter is really running it on the ragged edge, the "2000" watt surge capability is only good for a few micro-seconds, not a few minutes. You might make it work once, but repeatedly? Not a chance. Always get a bigger inverter than you need. I just ordered a "small" 12v inverter for the barn, I figured I might use about 900w max, so I got a 2500 watt one. It will run cooler if the loads are easily handled. I can live with the 14 watt idle current.