Tripped my Outback 3648 Mate again. No household power.

softdown

Was checking an old radial arm saw for functionality. It was experiencing a slow start. Figured that was due to sitting for years and being a bit cold.

It somehow tripped the Outback 3648 inverter in spite of three circuit breakers in between the radial arm saw and the Outback 3648. The 3648 shows the dreaded RED error light in the upper left. 

Tried resetting the FM80 then the MATE. Can't seem to find directions for resetting the 3648 inverter. 

I have tried resetting all appropriate circuit breakers several times. Now at a loss! NAWS is also closed today. The inverter is less than two years old.

Had a similar experience when changing a light fixture - last time. Wound up replacing a good inverter I think. Pretty frustrating!

softdown

Disconnected and reconnected the batteries. Bingo. Was that too much to put ANYWHERE? Outback? Or any of the majors? One very obscure inverter name mentioned that possibility. I figured Outback would have a more advanced option for a simple overload. An "overload" that bypassed all other breakers? Could be that a few freezers were on at the same time. 

BB.

AC inverter's have electronic over current/over power/etc. protection system that are many times faster (and more sensitive) than the average circuit breaker.

And killing the DC input power (and any AC alternative input power) for seconds (to a few minutes) is the "go to" first step to "reset" any internal faults/shutdowns.

The internal electronics have failure modes that happen in micro seconds (such as over voltage to a transistor) to seconds (such as I^2*R) over heating of transistor/diode junctions and such.

Breakers are there to protect the wiring from over current... And they don't always do that either. Have seen older breakers (from companies no longer in business) which don't even work reliably as circuit breakers.

https://www.angi.com/articles/are-federal-pacific-circuit-breaker-panels-safe.htm

Why Federal Pacific Circuit Breakers Can Be Dangerous

If you own a home built between 1950 and 1990, chances are you might have a Federal Pacific circuit breaker. Produced by the Federal Pacific Electric company, these breakers are now considered a safety hazard. You should replace them with a circuit breaker that meets modern safety standards.

Studies have shown that up to one in four Stab-Lok breakers are defective and run the risk of malfunction or electrical fire. A New Jersey court ruled that Federal Pacific Electric fraudulently labeled these faulty breakers as meeting certain safety standards. However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission did not issue a product recall due to budget issues.

While Federal Pacific Electric has been out of business for many years, Federal Pacific panels and breakers are still in millions of homes around the country. Federal Pacific panel breaker malfunctions are the cause of an estimated 2,800 fires each year. As a result, electrical companies recommend that homeowners replace any Federal Pacific panels with new, up-to-date circuit breakers.

I have seen a "failed to protection" FP breaker take out a pole transformer (another interior breaker panel failed from salt air corrosion and high humidity and had a panel "arc fault"--And the main FP breaker did not trip).

Regarding the issues with the saw... If it has a motor start capacitor, that capacitor may have failed (typically not enough capacitance) to property start the induction motor (or other issues like a failed centrifugal motor start switch inside the motor).

The motor thermal overload may not trip, or may take minutes to trip. And the trip curve of your circuit breakers are simply not "fast enough" to trip before the inverter's internal protection circuits trip.

-Bill

softdown

Fine. But considering how easy it is to shut down the inverter they should issue a highly visible written statement on RESET procedures. 

I have troubles with large old radial arm saws in the west wing. Long travel from the main circuit breaker box - that surely contributes. Once I upped my system output voltage and a few people seemed to disapprove. Seems appropriate considering the long travel distances in an 8000 ft shop.