+1 Not knowing what caused it would be unsettling. New designs should be more efficient anyway.Fire on a boat.... !!!
Why did is start smoking in the first place? For me to sleep at night, I'd have to be damn sure I understood why it failed before I trusted a repair. If you don't know then I'd bet on a new one.
You can get a new inverter for under $300. Seems like cheap insurance and peace of mind to me.
2 cents worth of wisdom and worth every penny.
I agree with Semperavanti.. A bad connection is the problem..If the screw was a little loose, the thing will thermal cycle every time a load goes on.. after many of those it will get hot enough to do that.. The power connections on my air conditioner have done that.. a good cleanup (remove and renew the local wire and clean the terminal) and some Anti-Ox and a tightness check every year..
That a good example of a high resistance melt down. Those terminals accept bare wire and just a screw clamp/pressure plate mechanism. Over time the wire corrodes or compresses more. The clamp becomes loose and the wire corrodes creating a spot of high resistance.This pic is the inside of the positive connection on my Statpower 1000w inverter. It was smoking when I found it! Been working fine for the 8 years I've owned the boat, until now!
Is it worth trying to repair?
View attachment 132582
suggestions for sine wave inverters? Go Power?It is probably repairable but at this age I would suggest replacing it.
I'd really like to see how bad the insulator is behind it before I would render judgement on repair. There is a second reason to use Noalox and that is because the wire is copper as is the wedge they put in and the terminal is probably some Aluminum hybrid. They Noalox takes away the air and moisture which stops the oxidation of dissimilar metals.Looks like high resistance right at the screw connection. Probably developed over time as terminal got hotter over time as resistance increased. Notice how the wires insulation is melted near the terminal. I think it can be saved after cleaning the terminal, trimming the wire and re attaching using
NOALOX Anti-Oxidant Compound.