Is my Outback FX Fried?

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
We had a lightening strike up here and our Outback inverter instantly shut off. The mate stayed on until I hit the battery cutoff switch and then the mate went off too. 24 volts of current are still coming from the batteries to the inverter, but whether the bypass switch is on or off, the mate and inverters have no light. Turning on the generator didn't turn on the inverter either. My question is, is there a circuit breaker on the Outback that I'm not finding? If it's dead, dead it's weird that the mate stayed on because it's getting it's power from the inverter. If it's not dead, dead then where's the magic button that will bring everything back? Thanks for your help.
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Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Is my Outback FX Fried?

    This is not good. :cry:
    The MATE "stayed on" because it has its own internal capacitors which will hold a charge for quite some time without any power being delivered from the FX.
    The only circuit protection for the FX is external. If you disconnect the battery cable, wait an hour, then connect it again there should be a significant spark and the fan will run briefly. You will see the LED's light to inform you there is DC present. You should then have to turn it on via the MATE if the internal switch jumper is so set. Further to that, when you feed AC to the AC in, there should be an LED indicating AC presence. The MATE LED should blink a few times, then the internal relay switch over.

    If it doesn't do this, it's toasted. Lightning, even "second hand", is nasty stuff.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #3
    Re: Is my Outback FX Fried?

    Ya, it sure seems fried. :( Since turning on the generator did nothing, that probably seals it. But I'll flip the battery disconnect for an hour and see if anything happens.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Is my Outback FX Fried?

    you have my sincere sympathy on your loss due to the lightning. you may want to try to take some steps in the future to try and avoid this kind of catastrophic damage with surge suppressors, extra good grounding techniques, etc. you will find quite a few threads covering lightning, emp, grounding, etc here on the forum. unfortunately, when you get hit even with precautions taken, there are no guarantees, but it does improve ones odds of surviving a local hit.
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