Demonstrating what is likely a common repair for a common failure is still a good thing. When the repair person charging $90/hr. asks if you checked whether it was plugged in or whether you checked to see if you have power to the outlet before calling him........
I would like to see a reverse engineering of the board, there are plenty of open source ones but for sure this one has like quality components and design considerations
Nice that it's an easy fix. Dripping some IPA could have loosened the elastic glue. While you're at it, one terminal of the input bulk capacitor (C30) looked a bit dark.
Regarding the 'reversed polarity' of the BATT terminals, if they want to keep it in order to simplify the PCB, they could at least make the difference more evident on the external shell, e.g. making screw holes for the neg terminals as squares (which could be anyway a good idea as those -/+ signs may not last very long under sunlight)
The glue is structural beside the connections, for vibration else ware. A pain to service. The 2 negative terminals are beside each other so that a high current trace does no have to be routed a distance, but it is a trap for wiring.
Came here to say this. The layout probably follows the topology of the circit. eg the two negative terminals are common. Saves having unnecessarily long and high current traces internally.
I fully understand that is the logic behind the design, but the distance between the opposite terminal points would be 20mm. Across that distance, on standard 1oz copper, you can safely run 16A through just 5mm width track with a 20 degC temp rise. So I don't see it as a valid point for not choosing a better layout for the end user.
@@voltlog it is and the base is a giant heatsink. Victron stuff is good quality and they build them to withstand conditions such are boats and RVs. So lots of vibrations. they're an interesting company. closed and high quality like apple products, but at the same time pretty open. They have a podcast where they let their engineers talk about products and they provide the image to make your own control panel with a raspberry pi
The regulator probably has a built-in diode that shorts out when you connect it reversed, without the fuse it would have probably burnt out, better regulators will have non destructive protection.
Incidentally, it's not good practice to attempt to run a load direct from solar panels (via MPPT regulator), without a battery. eg it's not a linear regulator.
Fuses, not all fuses are equal, only use "branded" " Littelfuse" etc. Many of the unbranded fuses have questionable ratings and the splade terminals also fail due to being too soft. Not worth the risk.
What the heck is "Made in India, Asia" lol That wiring order is commonly reverse on many MPPT converters, which I agree is garbage design.. someone thought a few minutes of PCB layout was more important than ease of use.
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks
COOP
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Demonstrating what is likely a common repair for a common failure is still a good thing. When the repair person charging $90/hr. asks if you checked whether it was plugged in or whether you checked to see if you have power to the outlet before calling him........
Thanks!
Is the fuse serviceable without opening the case? If not, this would be a design flaw!
I would like to see a reverse engineering of the board, there are plenty of open source ones but for sure this one has like quality components and design considerations
Nice that it's an easy fix.
Dripping some IPA could have loosened the elastic glue.
While you're at it, one terminal of the input bulk capacitor (C30) looked a bit dark.
Thanks for the hint! I inspected solder joints overall, it was just a combination of flux residue with conformal coating that makes it look like that.
IPA removes hot melt glue, not Silicone.
Regarding the 'reversed polarity' of the BATT terminals, if they want to keep it in order to simplify the PCB, they could at least make the difference more evident on the external shell, e.g. making screw holes for the neg terminals as squares (which could be anyway a good idea as those -/+ signs may not last very long under sunlight)
That's a good idea!
The glue is structural beside the connections, for vibration else ware. A pain to service.
The 2 negative terminals are beside each other so that a high current trace does no have to be routed a distance, but it is a trap for wiring.
Came here to say this. The layout probably follows the topology of the circit. eg the two negative terminals are common.
Saves having unnecessarily long and high current traces internally.
I fully understand that is the logic behind the design, but the distance between the opposite terminal points would be 20mm. Across that distance, on standard 1oz copper, you can safely run 16A through just 5mm width track with a 20 degC temp rise. So I don't see it as a valid point for not choosing a better layout for the end user.
@@voltlog
True, but the more you make things fool proof the faster your accelerate the evolution of fool.
I took apart. or more specifically tried to take apart a MPPT 100 50. There was alot more RTV holding the top. enough to tear things off the board.
Is that unit physically larger? Maybe they thought more is needed for structural rigidity to keep it together.
@@voltlog it is and the base is a giant heatsink. Victron stuff is good quality and they build them to withstand conditions such are boats and RVs. So lots of vibrations.
they're an interesting company. closed and high quality like apple products, but at the same time pretty open. They have a podcast where they let their engineers talk about products and they provide the image to make your own control panel with a raspberry pi
The linear regulator (IC1) saved the MCU and the electronics?
The regulator probably has a built-in diode that shorts out when you connect it reversed, without the fuse it would have probably burnt out, better regulators will have non destructive protection.
It could have been that the regulator blocked reverse DC or there might be other diodes in the circuit..
you are lucky, the upper models are potted... it's not fun to open...
Yes, came here to say this...
That would make it very hard to repair. Is it a solid potting compound?
Incidentally, it's not good practice to attempt to run a load direct from solar panels (via MPPT regulator), without a battery.
eg it's not a linear regulator.
Not a good practice but a good quick test to indicate the path is running fine.
Fuses, not all fuses are equal, only use "branded" " Littelfuse" etc. Many of the unbranded fuses have questionable ratings and the splade terminals also fail due to being too soft. Not worth the risk.
What the heck is "Made in India, Asia" lol
That wiring order is commonly reverse on many MPPT converters, which I agree is garbage design.. someone thought a few minutes of PCB layout was more important than ease of use.
I can only guess that there is a rather constant small percentage of damaged units, across brands, globally, because of this simple reason.
RTFM - and nothing happens. Everyone can do electrics, because of watching a video - NOT...
In theory.. but in practice we are humans, we all sometimes don't RTFM. I'm guilty at least!