The inverter is among the vital device when we talk about solar systems. Ac devices are made possible to run on solar because of the inverter. It is the work of the inverter to change the DC source of the panel or batteries to AC, which we can use to power most of our appliances. Sometimes we do notice and complain about our inverter turning ON but not powering our appliances. So here in this post, we will talk about the cause of this fault and how we can clear the fault.
Reset the inverter by long pressing the reset button. Resetting the inverter fixes most of the inverter faults but if it doesn’t work here. Try checking the inverter cables and their connections. It might have a loose plug connection or melt fuse.
When shall we reset the inverter fault?
The inverter can be reset when it starts to malfunction, maybe after tripping OFF due to overload, short circuit, low batteries, or surge. Sometimes when the inverter trip OFF and is powered ON again, it starts to experience difficulties to ON again. In this case, resetting the inverter is the best option to clear the fault before checking out for other possible problems.
There are two different ways we can reset the inverter fault. Is either a hard or soft reset. Here in this post, we shall see how to reset the two and when to choose a particular reset option for another.
How to soft reset an inverter fault.
This soft inverter reset is very simple and can correct inverter faulty. Is so simple that another body can do it without seeking an attention of higher skill personnels.
Follow the following procedure to reset your power inverter.
Press on hold the reset button for some seconds till the red light starts blinking for the inverters that have a reset button separately.
If the inverter does not have a reset button, long press the ON/OFF button for some seconds till the inverter’s red lights start to blink.
After that try loading the inverter to see if the fault has been corrected. If it starts to work well, good but when the fault persists, is time to try the hard reset method.
How to hard reset an inverter faults.
This method of resetting the inverter fault is more technical than the soft reset methods as it will warrant discounting the PV array and others.
These are how to hard reset your power inverter faults when the inverter is ON but not working.
Turn OFF the AC switch of the inverter and discount all the solar in the device.
Turn OFF the PV circuit breaker, and wait for about 30 seconds.
After 30 seconds reconnect the disconnected power and turn ON the breaker.
Power ON the inverter and wait for minutes and start to ON your loads.
And the inverter is fully reset and ready to work well again.
NOTE: These are just the general ways to reset an inverter fault, some brand inverters have their specific ways of resetting them. Is always advisable to check the inverter user manual for how to reset then.
What are the causes inverter showing light, but not working?
These are the things that can cause the inverter to be ON but not working, i.e the inverter not powering appliances even when the inverter lights show that it is ON. I will explain and suggest the possible way to correct them or prevent similar faults to your inverter.
Dead or weak battery power bank.
Each time the battery bank of a system is weak or dead, the system starts malfunctioning. A weak battery will not take time to discharge the whole charge even when a small load is connected to it. This is because the cells of the battery are weak and cannot hold their charges for a long time. So the inverter will stop working each time the battery discharge is too low.
The cause of a battery dead or weak battery bank is overcharging and discharging without using a good solar controller to regulate their charges. Again the life span of the battery also contributes to dead or weak cells. When the battery lifespan has reached this type of issue will be occurring, telling you that the battery needs to be replaced with a new one.
You can test to know the ones that have weak cells and replace them with new ones. Give the rest a quality charging to revive the power back.
For your battery bank to last, you need a good charging source and a quality charge controller to charge the battery appropriately.
loose connecting wire of the inveter.
When the inverter wires are not properly connected well and made to be firm. This issue of the inverter turning ON and OFF when in use will always surface.
The first inspection when you notice the inverter power is not stable is to inspect the wires and the connections. Make sure they are firmly connected. Use a cable log for terminating the cables and tight very well with a screwdriver and spanners.
Overloading the inverter.
The inverter might not be working because of overload. When we load the inverter above its capacity the system will shut down, even due we are having enough battery power. This is because the power of the inverter was not able to withstand the connected loads on it.
You can load an inverter with 95% of its rated power but don’t try to exceed the percentage. If possible maintain a maximum load of about 80% of the inverter rating. To be on the safer side during the surge. For example, when you have a 1000 watts inverter, when adding your appliances/loads don’t load it above 9500 watts.
All the inverters have their rating capacity in watts or KVA make sure to calculate the number of loads it can withstand and don’t load it above its load. This is to avoid the system shorting down while in use.
When the system is shut down due to over, remove some of the load connected to it and try powering it ON again. If it fails to power ON, try resetting the inverter.
Defects appliances
Some of our bad electrical appliances will force the inverter to trip OFF when they are connected to the inverter. The inverter will act as if it was short circuits and then trip OFF.
When encounter this type of problem, monitor the load you are loading on the inverter and observe the behavior of the inverter. You can remove all the loads on the inverter and starts to add them one after the other to detect the fault appliances.
Remove the faulty appliances and ON the inverter again.
Your inverter is not turning on when powered ON is cause of those mentioned seasons. Follow the solution there to get the issues solved and make your inverter work well again.
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