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wvc-600 crap

Solar micro inverter: totally fried

I’ve finally opened one of my melted inverters. I call it “number 5” because it’s the fifth one to fail, over 6 inverters. The exact model is WVC-600W.
This one at least has been running for a year or so. This is not bad considering that two wvc-600 have stopped working after only one day of use.

wvc-600 blown caps, melted connectors…

With two 300W solar pannels, the inverter has been running so hot that the conformal coating evaporated and then condensed everywhere… you can see the droplets on the cables.
The PCB has been bent by the heat, the MC4 connectors have melted.

wvc600 dead caps

When opening the case, part of the caps stayed stuck to the lid.
The capacitors are rated at 105°C, but the wvc inverter has been running much hotter than this, which is not surprising because it’s completely sealed with no active cooling.

Melted solar panels connectors on wvc-600

I only have 4 inverters working now, with only 4 panels to avoid overheating. So about 700 Watts produced for an installation of 3600 Watts.

As I have wasted a lot of money in these Chinese crap, I will try to repair this one. I’ve ordered branded low esr caps and genuine Mosfets with low rds(on) to reduce the heating, and I also plan to make an active cooling of some sort.