Cheap TBE Inverter teardowns

Up for teardown is a TBE 3000W modified sine wave inverter that

was sent in by a supplier for me to check if it is viable for repair. These
are notorious locally for easily failing even just by looking at it the wrong
way. To verify these claims and confirm the poor performance, I took this
chance to see how well (poorly?) these things are built.

This is the broken

inverter.

It is a TBE 3000W
modified sine wave
model.
 This is the inverter
torn apart.

We can see there is a

big problem here. All
switching fets have
burst into flames.

The bottom side looks

pretty clean. There
are two SOIC16s
which are TL494s
based on the pinout,
the SOIC8 chip is
probably an LM358
dual op amp. All of
them have their
markings erased.

Up front, the
topology is your run
of the mill step up DC-DC converter and H-bridge setup with minimal
noise filtering.
PCB Version with a
link to
the manufacturer web
page.

I guess they use what

they can get their
hands on. The caps
are different, some
are 16V, others 25V
then they are
different series too.
Other side.

The only thing they

have in common are
that they are all
Rubycon branded and
appear to be NOS.

The yellow wires go to

the power switch.
This got really burned
when the switching
devices burst into
flames.

The white plug is for

the fan. There is no
fan control, it just
runs when the switch
is turned on.
Something is wrong
here. The main
switchers are marked
as IGBT.

IGBTs aren't good in

low voltage, high
current switching. IF
they are indeed
IGBTs, I guess that
is the reason this
inverter blew up.

Thermistors
unpopulated. Who
needs thermal
protection!?!
 H bridge current
shunt.

Which looks like two

pieces of offcut
component leads.

Output rectifiers also

have the numbers
erased. There is no
thermal grease or
silpads between the
rectifiers and
heatsink.

TO-92 devices are

MJ13001 for the high
side drivers.

The large devices are

the HV H-bridge switches.

Looking at the build quality, I can tell they use surplus/NOS parts or
whichever is available for cheap and build it using those parts.
 Now, I can't do much testing as this is a burned up unit. It will most
probably cost more to fix than get a new one so I will wait for the
supplier's action on it.

Wait, I have another unit that is working which I have installed in

our home RE system. Let's take a look at that instead! My unit is the
same brand but is a 2000W Pure sine wave model. This will definitely be
more complex circuitry wise but the build quality should be similar.

This is my 2000W
pure sine wave unit
Removing four
screws, we can pop
the top cover off.
The heatsink
extrusion is a nice
clamshell design.

The bottom looks a

bit messy but they
get a plus from me
for putting copper
wires to beef up the
high current traces.
This wire is not
soldered properly.

It, along with

another, carries the
high current B+
supply.

I resoldered it for
reliability.

These fuses are

simply stuck in faston
crimp connectors and
soldered into the
PCB.
The OCD in me kicked
in so I resoldered the
fuses so they are
neatly arranged.

An out of place SMD

resistor.

Must have been

nudged out of place. I
resoldered it properly
into the part lands.
The step up converter
oscillator. This is
branded TBE but I
have seen the same
board on a SUOER
pure sine wave
inverter (with
different silk
markings).

This uses an SG3525

oscillator and an
LM324 quad op amp
for over/under
voltage and thermal
protection(not used in
this model)
 The sine wave PWM
control board. The
main chip is
an EG8010 driving two
IR2110 mosfet
drivers.

The other two SOIC8

parts are an LM555
and an LM393 for
short circuit/overload
detection.

This board is also the same as in the Suoer pure sine wave inverter. I'm
guessing they are just copying one design and rebadging it or is from one
designer after all.

Front panel sub

board. This board
holds the indicator
LEDs, the USB jack
and its 5V DC-DC
converter.

The 5V converter is a
basic MC34063 based
switchmode buck
converter.
The sub board also
uses Rubycon caps.

Thermal switch. This

turns the fan on when
the heatsink gets
hot.

If the other heatsink

gets hot, then you're
on your own.
 The main switching
devices. These have
the numbers erased
but I can see one of
them marked IR. The
problem is that these
are all from different
batches! No two have
the same batch code!
A manufacturer
usually has all the
same batch codes in
one product as they
buy in bulk. These appear to be NOS as the terminals are badly oxidised.

An important reason for having matching date codes is that these are
operated in parallel. Matching date/batch codes means that MOSFETs in
parallel will share current better. A mismatch in Vgs or RdsON will make
one take more current than the rest and causing it to blow up, which then
blows the others up and so on.

Another thing I found is that the devices are not even tightly bolted to
the heatsink! Using silpad insulators make this worse as they need a fair
bit of pressure to reduce the thermal resistance. They did not use
silicone grease though which is correct for silpad insulators.
 They erased the part
numbers but wait, I
spy... "1503"

The mosfets are

indeed IRF1503's as
confirmed by
measuring gate
capacitance and Vds
breakdown voltage.
These are rated at
30V 75A 3.3mOhm.

It has decent current capacity but are only 30V breakdown voltage.

With it driving a center tapped transformer primary, If the B+ voltage

exceeds 15V (during battery equalization or bulk charging) then the 30V
breakdown voltage of the MOSFETs are easily exceeded. We haven't
even gotten into voltage spikes and ringing due to leakage inductance!

New devices vs the

old.

I
used IRF3205s which
have a higher RdsON
of 8mOhm but are
rated 55V 110A. The
higher voltage is
needed for allowance
from voltage spikes
and high battery
voltage. It also has a
lower gate charge than the originals so it is easier to drive.

New MOSFETs
screwed in place
before soldering.

These are all properly

tightened with the
right torque on my
HIOS high speed
screwdriver.

Housekeeping
regulators for the
sinewave controller.
The step up converter
runs open loop, these
optocouplers transfer
protection signals
from the Sine
modulator to the main
SMPS oscillator.
Output rectifiers (in
grey rectangular
silicone bags), output
HV bulk caps and
output switching
transistors.

The output switching

IGBTs. These also
have mismatched date
codes and are heavily
oxidised.
Cleaned up, these
are Fairchild
SGH40N60 IGBTs.

Devices are rated at

20A 600V.

Matching is not too

important in the
output stage as they
are not in parallel.

Main HV output
capacitors. These also
appear to be NOS
due to the scratches
and the markings on
the sleeve starting to
rub off in places.
I promise, it came
that way!

It is already dented
but rubber seal still
intact and appear to
work fine.

Yep, they also erased

the numbers on the
output rectifiers.

And yes, they all have

different batch/date
codes too!
I thought that the
rectifiers are fully
insulated types so I
just used new silpads
and kept the fully
enclosed ones for
future projects.

Output X and Y class

capacitors for noise
suppression.
Output common mode
choke is omitted to
save a few cents.

Found a bunch of
common mode filters
to improve EMC
performance. The
left one is too big(but
the pins line up to the
PCB holes), the middle
one fits perfectly but
is damaged and the
last one just might
work with a little
persuation.
This fits like a glove
but it is a burned up
unit. Besides, even if
it still worked, the
windings are too thin
to carry 2000W.

I decided to use the

toroidal common mode
choke instead but it
needed a bit of lead
bending to fit.
 I also added a wire to
connect the chassis
and outlet earth pin
to the filter
capacitors for better
shielding.

Now, at first I was skeptical for this to be a pure sine inverter as

those cost a fortune a few years ago so I take out the scope and took
measurements.

Since the output is

galvanically isolated
from the battery
input, the probe
ground is connected
to the HV caps
negative terminal.
This is what we get at
the NEUTRAL pin on
the outlet.

Wait, this is supposed

to be a pure sine wave
inverter, right? Don't worry, it will make sense later.
 This is the one
measured at the LIVE
pin on the outlet.

The inverter
modulates only one
line so that the
output filter is
greatly simplified.
Instead of using a lot
of LC filtering and
common mode chokes,
doing it this way
reduces the output filter to just one inductor and one capacitor and still
get a sine wave across the load.

During the fast transitions, the voltage across the load is zero. There is
only voltage during the curved portions which results to a differential
sinewave voltage between LIVE and NEUTRAL.

Check out the EG8010 datasheet for the schematic of the output
switches and LC filter to see how it was done.
 The two phases
overlapped on the
scope screen.

Output waveform at
10.5V battery voltage.

Don't mind the

trigger frequency
counter. It could not
trigger cleanly on the
signal so it was
showing an incorrect
frequency.

Output waveform at
12.8V battery
voltage.
 Output waveform at
15V battery voltage.

You can clearly see

that the main DC-DC
step up converter is
running open loop and
unregulated which
greatly simplifies its
design and improves
efficiency. The
output voltage is
regulated by the
PWM modulation of the LIVE output terminal.

Incase you can't

figure out how it
becomes a sine wave,
I edited the image so
that one side is
referenced to the
NEUTRAL pin and
this is how it would
look like.
 To derive a common
point at the output, I
used a center tapped
primary of a
transformer as
grounding point for
the oscilloscope
probes.

And this is the

waveform that we
get. See, it is indeed
a pure sine wave
inverter!

I have run a 1500W microwave oven on this before the mod for
3minutes and it survived just fine drawing about 116A from the battery
and it did get pretty warm. I have not done some power testing after the
modifications as it is cloudy and raining so there isn't enough juice in the
battery bank. I will update when I get a chance and hopefully add some
thermal images at high power operation as time and weather permits.

20 Dec 2014:

Today is a sunny day. Now we proceed with some high power testing!
Battery voltage is at 14.5V before the test, ambient temp at around
29degC. The load is a 1500W rated microwave oven. Measured to be
around 1200W / 1400VA.

Test setup.

The oscilloscope
measures output
waveform via a small
220 to 12V
transformer. The PV
is also charging the
battery during the
test.
The clamshell case
makes it convenient
to remove the cover
for access on the
internals during
testing.

Waveform at no load
condition.

I would trust the

trigger counter for
running frequency as
it is sampled for
longer periods. The
measure function just
estimates it from the
displayed waveform.
 Waveform at full
load. There is slight
noisiness in the
output but is still an
unclipped sine wave.

There is also very

little noticeable
voltage drop showing
that output voltage is
well regulated.

MOSFET
temperature at over
1min into the test.

This is not a fair

comparison as the
fans installed suck air
out of the case. With
the case open, the
fans are actually not
helping in cooling
parts of the inverter.
I would assume then,
that with the inverter fully assembled, the internal temps should be a
little lower.
 The hot spot in the
middle is the
housekeeping
regulator for the
SPWM modulator
board.

The output filters are

warm but didn't get
really hot.

The common mode

filter that I added
handled the load well and did not get warm.

Output IGBT
temperature.

The heatsink for the

output IGBTs are a
tad cooler to the
touch than the main
switching MOSFETs.
 The hot part here
appears to be the one
set of the fuses in
the middle.

Seems the other set

of fuses are getting
hot too.

The test appears to be a success. There are a bunch of hot spots but
my MOSFET upgrade seems to be holding up. I don't intend to power
anything heavier than this microwave oven so the inverter will have an
easy time on my usual loads. I have also found another Chinese company
selling the same inverter under a different brand. Same size, same
topology, same heatsink extrusion! same endpanel layouts and connectors
but different case color. The specs are the same as what I measured -
Idle current, over voltage and under voltage protection points, etc but is
instead rated at 1000W cont/2000W peak.