Energy Matters Forums

[Bthree]

How reliable are these "Power Star W7" inverter/chargers

Is the opinion these are rubbish or should last two or so years ?

[Gordon-Loomberah]

Is the opinion these are rubbish or should last two or so years ?

Isn't that pretty much the same thing- 2 years is a pathetically short life span for a large electronic item, the sort of thing the makers of iphones were aiming for, to keep people buying new ones every year or 2? If we are to move on from the throw-away society, at least 10 years is more like what we should hope for. Outback, who make similar equipment, generally has a 5 year warranty, what is the warranty on PowerStar gear?

[Smurf1976]

There are products which should last 20 years (50% failure rate) with practically all of them surviving at least 10 so I'd regard 2 years as firmly in the "rubbish" category.

A lot of the professional grade electronics I work with has a 30 year life installed outdoors in a suitable enclosure (that is, not in an air-conditioned environment etc).

Economically and environmentally, if you're going to use equipment with a 2 year lifespan then you're better off with 100% power from the grid instead of spending all that $ to end up with a pile of rubbish.

[gyro]

Come on now guys who said they only last 2 years? Any electronic devise can fail for many reasons and the warranty offered by most is as usefull as tits on abull if it is pro-rata as most of them are. I had charger failure on my W7 and the complany sent me a free replacement board inside 3 days NO PROBLEMO! they stand by their products if it has 12 month warranty or 5 years warranty you only get what you pay for.

[Smurf1976]

Come on now guys who said they only last 2 years?

A few posts ago there's a comment "Is the opinion these are rubbish or should last two or so years ?" and I'm simply responding that lasting 2 years and being rubbish are much the same thing - you should expect it to last much longer than that.

How long the product actually lasts I have no idea, it may last 20 years for all I know, but I'm purely commenting on the notion that there's a difference between lasting 2 years and being rubbish - same thing in my opinion.

[Tracker]

How long the product actually lasts I have no idea, it may last 20 years for all I know

I am unsure if it is fact, but I think that I saw somewhere the the W7 comes from the same factory as the Xantrex.
Is it similar to the humble Dish-Washer, where there are models of Fisher-Paykel, Whirlpool, Electrolux, Haier, and many more, ALL coming from the same factory and at retail prices varying by 300%..
Having pulled the W7 apart (to see if I can modify/improve), I have to say that I'm impressed with it's construction.
I bought three sheep yesterday, and needed a new home for them.
Had to dig out ANOTHER .. fridge... So yesterday arvo (PEAK - 1400>2000) I had SIX ( , ) fridges and one Air Cond. running from the W7.. and no magic blue smoke !

I have still got to set up the TRUE power measurement comparisons. Might get to that this weekend..
..
.

[Bthree]

and one Air Cond. running from the W7.. and no magic blue smoke !

I have still got to set up the TRUE power measurement comparisons. Might get to that this weekend..

Look forward to the results please, also thanks for the assessment of the internal electronics !

[gyro]

Hi
My W7 does not have to work that hard so I'm guessing it should last longer comes from the old idea that a Rolls Royce will do the same job as a Mini Minor but not visa-versa. so if you want to get the job done better bigger is better.

[Tracker]

My W7 does not have to work that hard.

Same here.. A 6048 is ( I understand ) a 6000W (18000peak) device.. I have a clamp meter on there and the max current that I have seen is 7amp (under 2000W).

Anyway - I am now committed to give the right answer to the true efficiency question.
I just connected two spinner meters to the INPUT and OUTPUT.. .. Unfortunately, I got them connected about 1700hrs, and so, 'tis well into the day's consumption cycle..
I will reset them to ZERO in the morning, and after that I will be logging the real INPUT and OUTPUT power.

I only hope that (the) INSPECTOR does not know me, as I doubt that the wiring would meet AS3000.. .. Fortunately, NO KIDZ to worrie about, and very secure boundaries..
I'll post the first days comparison on Saturday, if all goes well..
..
.

[gyro]

Hi Tracker
Looks like you are having more fun than me! Had a pump seize up on me today the more I do the more things I find broken. Also had to replace the power cable as well it looks like a rat had a go at it found the capacitor floating in half an inch of water so I drilled a hole in the casing. With the cloud cover and some rain I still got 11.6 kW from my 5 KW set today and I have enough storage in batteries to get me to 10 pm tonight. Copped a red light on the WS-MPPT60 last night for the first time at 8.30 pm so I switched back to the mains early, all that rain we are getting is just not enough to keep the batteries fully charged. The voltage sensor failed as it should have dripped the inerter off when batteries get down to 47.5 volts, it is a bit hard to adjust because if it is set too fine it can oscillate and that can cause inverter failure very quickly. Any ideas?