Teardown and testing of a 1500W pure sine inverter #ReverseEngineering
Kerry D. Wong posts a a teardown of a CNSWIPower 1500W pure sine inverter from Xijiatec.
The version I received is a 12V one. The overall size of this inverter is only slightly larger than the 800W Reliable Electric inverter I have, coming at roughly 10.25’x6.5’x3.5′. It is however significantly heavier due to the additional components for the higher power rating. The case is made of extruded aluminum and it feels rather sturdy.
Like most of these pure sine inverters, the main controller circuitry is contained on a riser board. According to the user manual, the main chip is a custom chip.
On testing the output:
During the load testing, it became apparent that the 1500W rating is a bit exaggerated as the inverter would sound an overload alarm when the load exceeds 1300W and would cut off the output shortly afterwards (around 1350W in my testing). So clearly the maximum rated continuous power is over stated for this inverter. According to the manufacturer, the cutoff maximum load value can be adjusted via the trimpot on one of the vertical boards mentioned before. But I am wondering why they deliberately made the maximum wattage lower? Whatever the reason, it is perplexing that maximum load was factory set at below the rated wattage. With that said, the efficiency of this inverter is excellent.
As a pure sine inverter, the quality of the output waveform is also very good. There is a little bit of distortion but the waveform quality does not seem to be impacted no matter how heavy the load is.
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