Inspecting the Old AIMS Inverter - Capacitors, Burn Marks, Solder, and More

Рет қаралды 15,112

Күн бұрын

Taking apart the old AIMS 10kW inverter that I've had in service for several years. We're going to see if we can find the source of the voltage dropping problem along with pointing out a number of other things I dislike about this inverte years later. Those things aside, this inverter has been a real workhorse these past several years! I'm sad to see it go in some aspects, but onwards to bigger and better things!
Featured Products: (affiliate links)
None for this video :)
WARNING: Lithium batteries are dangerous and can result in fire! This video is NOT intended to be instructional or a "how-to" lesson. I am not a professional. Do not attempt anything you see here without first contacting a certified and/or licensed professional.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:18 The Problem
02:15 Video Plan
03:12 Current Sensing
07:13 Inverting Board
08:25 Transformer Crimps
10:13 Capacitor Tests
Recommended Stores: (Using these links helps support this channel)
Current Connected... store.currentconnected.com/?r...
Signature Solar... signaturesolar.com/?ref=lithi... ($50 Discount Code "LITHIUMSOLAR50")
Best LFP Source... www.18650batterystore.com/?rf...
SanTan Solar... www.santansolar.com/?ref=lsolar
Battery Hookup... batteryhookup.com/discount/BA...
Batrium BMS... www.batrium.com/
Contact Info:
My business email is lithiumsolardiy@gmail.com. You may contact me for sponsorships, product reviews, business-related questions, or any similar reason. I am not available for personal project questions or consultation. I will not respond to these emails.
NEW Twitter Page... / lithiumsolaryt
Disclaimers and Statements:
► I receive a small commission on purchases made using my affiliated links shared the video description and comments section. The views and opinions expressed here are my own, unbiased, and not influenced by this commission in any way.
► My videos are in no way intended to be instructional "how-to" lessons. I am simply documenting my project for informational purposes. Property damage, personal injury, or death may result, even when following manufacturer's instructions. I cannot be held liable for such damage or injury. It is YOUR OBLIGATION to ensure that you are complying with any local and federal laws as well as code and permit requirements.

Пікірлер: 67

@clarencewiles963 10 ай бұрын

This is why I like the early tear down on new products. If this would have happened sooner you would’ve been disappointed in the quality of the product and discarded it as a no buy. Thumbs up for the update.

@neliosamch3195 10 ай бұрын

The longer lasting inverter I have is an AIMS inverter so I will buy it again and recommend it over other top brands.

@AdamDeLay07 10 ай бұрын

Wow. I was not expecting to see some of those things you found. With regards to the circuit board, you're probably right. It was initially designed for the 230v market and they cheaped out and tried to "make it work" for the split phase market. Really bad design, and flat out dangerous. I also wasn't expecting to see all the loose wires on the transformer input. Glad it worked out for you as long as it did, but good call taking it out of service.

@kennethalmond8922 10 ай бұрын

Bought an AIMS 12,000w 6 years ago and at 25,000hrs (5-6 years of 15,000kwh/year powering house) started getting spurious voltage up/down causing a spiral where my UPSs switched every 10sec. The big capacitors seemed OK. AIMS support would not or could not sell me a new control board. So I sent the original control board for repair (they mostly replaced capacitors / checked things on the control board they said) and the unit is working again. My control board is significantly more complicated than the one you're showing - maybe they changed things by the time I bought the 12,000w ETL :) Agree that 6 years ago off-grid solar seemed more component oriented than all-in-ones like today - so I now have AIMS + bought SGP 12,000w when AIMS had trouble. I'm tracking hours of operation on repaired AIMS and newer SGP and eventually we'll see how AIMS and SGP hold up hours wise going forward. As just raw 48v DC -> 240v/120v US split-phase inverters they work A-OK for me in general and I average ~83% efficiency over a year / 15,000kwh consumed.

@largepimping 10 ай бұрын

I love that those capacitors are "Ruelicon" - meaning "You'll RUE the day that you bought these Rubicon knock-offs."

@terrahillfarm 10 ай бұрын

Personally, after seeing tons of new product videos on YT every week, this old product post mortem video was very entertaining and educational. Nice job! 👍☀️⚡️🤠

@ricardomarcelino8388 10 ай бұрын

I would like to see it getting repaired as a DIY refurbish of that unit. Good video, thanks.

@Roll2Videos 10 ай бұрын

I had someone comment on one of my videos that Aims in military grade because they had a statement on their website that they had at some point some component supply to the military. 😅

@TundeEszlari 10 ай бұрын

Very good video, keep it up. :)

@loucinci3922 10 ай бұрын

Interesting. Seems reasonable. Thanks for sharing

@DjPsYcOtIc 10 ай бұрын

Very Interesting, Cheers from England.

@pterrydactyl 10 ай бұрын

I wonder what AIMS would if they saw this video? Did you send it to them? BTW, I have an AIMS passthru inverter with ATS. It work very well.

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

I don't know what AIMS' deal is. I think they just failed to keep current with their technology. For example, this inverter advertises 220-230-240V output; however, it's set for 230V and their tech support told me there is no way to change it. Why advertise it that way then...? Other "clones" of it have all kinds of features at this point, chargers, programmable displays, communications. This one hasn't changed since 2017 and they're still selling it.

@mflo1970 6 ай бұрын

Hola tuve un inversor chino de 6000w y 60kg donde el transformador era parecido poco cobre y mucho hierro y se me calentaban las salidas del transformador soldadas ,ahora con victron ya no hay problemas

@offgridwanabe 10 ай бұрын

Hey 6 years production out of an Amazon reject is amazing and it never really blew up or even quit.

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

It has lasted pretty damn well. This video came off as a bit complainy but there are so many good things about it as well. It's been a real work horse!

@andrewt9204 10 ай бұрын

I don't hate soldered+crimped connectors on a stationary device. But the crimp has to be 99% of the connection as solder is a poorer conductor than copper. Those were terrible crimps! I'm sure there are some questionable things with MPP inverters at the price point, but I still think they are a great value. I've had 2 now and they work great. The computer software is pretty crude, but overall it's ok. Someday I'd love something like the EG4 18K, but my LV6048 should hopefully serve me well for a while.

@usewhatyouhave6975 10 ай бұрын

What do you guys think of the magnum splitphase inverters. I just had to replace one in my house, the old one seemed to have lots of voltage inconsistency as well. Can’t say I was very impressed with the magnums warranty which they refused to honour .

@drumstick97811 10 ай бұрын

Schneider 6848 is better

@neliosamch3195 10 ай бұрын

I have the AIM 3K since 2017 to charge my cars and the only problem was that it stopped working after dropping a plier on top. I removed the turn on switch put it back and start working again without any more problem but the 10K was dropped from the delivery truck and it had to be returned because it didn't function on power saver mode and suddenly shut downs without any load for unknown reasons.

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

You returned a 10K that was dropped from the truck in 2017? I wonder if that's where mine came from... LOL!

@neliosamch3195 10 ай бұрын

@@LithiumSolar It was shipped to a warehouse in Michigan so somebody may have got it as an open box. I was watching on the security camera when I saw the inverter drop about 4 feet high. That explains why some equipment come defective with loose wires and mangled boxes. I send all the pictures and they accepted the return without questions.

@chuxxsss 10 ай бұрын

Not many countries use 110 ACV . More countries use 240 or 220 V AC. Oh no the good old capacitors between the heatsink trick. Replace them all the check the FETs.

@davescorneroftheworld1147 10 ай бұрын

Hello, I have watched your channel for between two and three years, love it. I have two questions, 1. This video is about a 10,000 watt split phase inverter. Is that 10,000 watts PER phase of 5,000 watts per faze? 2. I live in a motorhome FULL time, I have lived in THIS ONE for over 17.5 years. I have 1,650 watts of solar going up to at least 2,500 or more. What system would you recommend for an inverter that has at lease 5,000 watts per phase? THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME!!!!

@drumstick97811 10 ай бұрын

Schneider 6848 pro

@davescorneroftheworld1147 10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for your time.

@tsp2jxd 10 ай бұрын

Do you save any other parts or pieces? Anything that can be reused or recycled?

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

I'll save anything I think I can find a use for later.

@davegeorge7094 10 ай бұрын

He called it all correctly. What happened to disk caps? Were they connected to the FET gates? Aimes is sneaky, they purposely mislabel PWM IC as something else to make repairs fail!

@SteveSmith-cd4hs 10 ай бұрын

So the neutral mains input is directly connected to the neutral output? That's also a no-no. All current carrying conductors need to be disconnected from the mains when the inverter is providing power, and the neutral is a current carrying conductor.

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

This does not take an input neutral. It takes an L1 and L2 of US power, and feeds it into the transformer to create the neutral on the output side.

@putteslaintxtbks5166 10 ай бұрын

After years of use, there is a good amount of copper that could be scrapper out to recap some money that could repay some of its original cost. Can't say that about alot of stuff that just becomes junk after its life is over!

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

The transformer is probably worth a decent amount. AIMS uses copper windings. Some of the clones out there are using aluminum.

@kuhrd 10 ай бұрын

@@LithiumSolar Those transformer windings might be copper coated aluminum and it would be hard to tell without running a file across one. For most transformers that are relying on air cooling, the copper coated aluminum windings are able to dissipate heat better than copper due to larger surface area from being less dense than copper. So as long ad the aluminum is properly sized for the load even with thermal expansion causing creep it shouldn't have much effect on the life of a well constructed transformer.

@chasmarischen4459 10 ай бұрын

Those PARTS are far more valuable than the cost of the whole unit.

@jakeandrules7724 5 ай бұрын

Did you have a neutral ground bond in the panel this inverter supplied?

@LithiumSolar 5 ай бұрын

Yes.

@jakeandrules7724 5 ай бұрын

When the voltage went low on 1 leg of the output, did the other leg go higher?

@LithiumSolar 5 ай бұрын

@@jakeandrules7724 No. That is what happens if you DON'T have the bond in place.

@davidb.5544 10 ай бұрын

You mean there wasn't that many options on the market that cost that little in 2017 :) There was still companies like Outback back then that had split phase options.

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

Yes, in that price range. There's also Magnum but you'd need like 6 of them lol.

@SoutheastOhioSolarHaven 10 ай бұрын

Dang I wouldve loved to have it To repair. I do this type of stuff.

@kmnl926 10 ай бұрын

would like to get my hands on the transformer, if you like to sell it please let me know

@willemmyburgh2970 10 ай бұрын

Can i have that inverter. Would love to play with it a bit.

@TheTimshady337 10 ай бұрын

If you ever want to sell parts let me know. I would love another project. I have an awesome UPS/inverter collection

@lasersbee 10 ай бұрын

8:30... That's what a Cable is comprised of.... albeit tightly twisted together...

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

No. A cable is not comprised of ENAMEL-COATED conductors bundled together.

@racingtogreen2023 10 ай бұрын

Good to know. I was considering an AIM's split phase to get around the idle consumption of seemingly all of the Higher output split phase hybrid Inverters.

@longbarrel8468 10 ай бұрын

You need to invest in thermal FLIR Camara

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

I have a FLIR camera.

@urbanbeeman5402 10 ай бұрын

I bought a AIMS 6kw inverter several years ago. It never worked right and the customer service stunk..... Luckly I was able to get a refund and was only out of the shipping costs. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

@gayanx86 10 ай бұрын

huh, aren't those caps fake Rubycons ?

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

Are they? I've never heard of either and don't know much about capacitor brands, but they do look pretty darn similar...

@gayanx86 10 ай бұрын

@@LithiumSolar Rubycon is a darn good quality brand of capacitors, the caps in this inverter are knockoffs. Didn't expect that from AIMS tbh

@JohnUsp 10 ай бұрын

Made in XINA

@jakeandrules7724 2 ай бұрын

All Chinese made components, mosfets, batteries, capacitors, ic's are marginal at best. Look at the brand of capacitor in that inverter. Definitely not a name brand

@LithiumSolar 2 ай бұрын

Made in China, like practically everything these days

@stevenbliss989 10 ай бұрын

I suspect that the "removed transformer" is actually an inductor required for efficiency reasons at low loads - BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

@LithiumSolar 10 ай бұрын

Yeah that went to the separate "Pump Output" That wasn't connected. It has nothing to do with the primary output.

@jimmyross1672 10 ай бұрын

im like crazy over electronics lol i love and think its crazy how these thing work and i love heat sinks and mother boards and transistors and how all these thing combined make things work lol its magic and people dont even reolize how magical all these things are lol so cool people take things like this for granted

@stevenbliss989 10 ай бұрын

AIMS were never great quality, and the many mostly defunct COPYCATs out there way worse! LF if WAY WAY better than HF inverters, but hard to design and VERY expensive to make and ship, so rare these days.

@jimmyross1672 10 ай бұрын

i would even make a weapon out of those capacitors lol

@jimmyross1672 10 ай бұрын

lol you could make a spot welder with those capacitors lol i know i would

@jimmyross1672 10 ай бұрын

lol i take everything apart and keep what ever i can like capacitors and wires and basically everything lol i have totes full of stuff from computers and labtops and motors and capacitors and transformers and relays and what ever else you can take out of microwaves and toys and heaters and well you get the point lol i would love to take something like that apart lol but yeah i started to learn not to take every little thing apart because something are worth more togeather then taking every little capacitor and relays off boards when i could of just kept the whole board lol and yes i even take TV apart and all that but i also have fixed a few TV as well so thats cool and i didnt even get passed the 10th grade lol