Anybody know anything about the ZX1258A chip?

[Dakidd]

By a process of elimination (There just ain't anything else in the unit that it could be - the tiny number of other chips involved have all been identified, leaving this one as the only possibility) a chip labeled
"ZX1258A
230803" <--- I expect this is most likely a date code
seems to be the MCU on the "brain-board" of a chinese white-label split-phase inverter. (When fed roughly 150 Amps of 48VDC, the unit outputs "L1/L2/N" with L1-N and L2-N being two legs of 60Hz 120VAC@just under 30Amps each, with each leg 180 degrees out of phase with the other for "regular USA-style wall-socket power", and L1-L2 giving 240VAC@just under 60Amps for heavy loads like well pumps, clothes dryers, water heaters, etc) The unit is intended to have the output be wired straight into a panel as a direct replacement for the normal L1/L2/N of a standard residential power company hookup - just not as "beefy". (a normal power company drop is typically going to be good for around 100-200 amps, this unit tops out around 60 amps)

So far, I can find exactly NOTHING about this chip through every search engine, AI, or forum I've tried consulting. Haven't come up with even a manufacturer name, never mind datasheets, programming info, etc. The closest I've come is an AI query that suggested it might be made by Zhong Xing Mfg out of China as a ""best guess", but on exploring the possibility, they turn out to be an outfit that seems to be primarily concerned with making specialty carburetors (and rebuild kits for same) to go on racing motorcycle engines.

Anybody encountered this beast or know anything about it? Even hints ("It's a fancied-up/dumbed-down 8051 variant made by ______.") could help point me in the right direction to find the info I need.

The chip body is roughly 7-8mm (close enough to 1/4 inch) square by about 2-3mm (about 1/8-3/16 inch) thick, looks and feels like black plastic with a semi-matte surface, and has 12 fine-pitch SMD legs per side. No visible markings other than what's already been given, no logo of any kind, no heatsink plate (unless it's hidden on the bottom of the chip) - just a roughly 1/4 inch plain black plastic square with 48 legs that has "ZX1258A" and "230803" printed on it in white.


In case it's of any help, and since they say a picture is worth a thousand words...


Any help out there?

 

[davenn]

By a process of elimination (There just ain't anything else in the unit that it could be - the tiny number of other chips involved have all been identified, leaving this one as the only possibility) a chip labeled
"ZX1258A

you didnt even tell us that ""the unit"" is ?????

 

[Dakidd]

you didnt even tell us that ""the unit"" is ?????

Congratulations on finding a way to tell me you didn't read the post without saying "I didn't read the post".

 

[Delta Prime]

By a process of elimination (There just ain't anything else in the unit that it could be - the tiny number of other chips involved have all been identified, leaving this one as the only possibility) a chip labeled

Everything else is gibberish and perhaps your process of elimination.What is that? We think abstractly to cut through the BS.
Make model year of your device?
A link Perhaps?

 

[Dakidd]

Everything else is gibberish and perhaps your process of elimination.What is that? We think abstractly to cut through the BS.
Make model year of your device?
A link Perhaps?

<shakes head sadly> If you *READ THE POST* everything known is there.

Which part of "There just ain't anything else in the unit that it could be - the tiny number of other chips involved have all been identified" is unclear? This single unidentified chip, by a process of elimination, pretty well HAS TO BE an MCU/CPU of some sort, sitting on a daughter-card that's obviously the "brain board", controlling the tiny handful of other chips (Identified from their numbers as MOSFET/IGBT drivers, PWM signal generators, multi-channel opto-isolator chips, fan controllers, op-amps wired as comparators, ADCs, 8-bit buffers, etc, thus eliminating them from being the MCU/CPU that pulls it all together into a working unit) on the main board that do the "heavy lifting" of turning 48VDC into 120/240VAC. Unfortunately, it's a chip that, so far, I can find *NO* information - not even a manufacturer name - about. Do you need me to go into the step-by-step of the process of retrieving the numbers and looking up what chips they correspond to?

Since you apparently don't understand the concept, "White-labeled" describes a mass produced commodity product that's produced by one or more factories, which the factory doing the final assembly sells to any and all comers for resale to others (either actual customers or another level of middlemen) - some of those "all comers" and/or middlemen put their own name on it before sale to the final customer, some don't - It's kinda like how, for a while, a Mazda B2xxx series pickup was 95% interchangeable with a Ford Ranger xxx in everything but the "Mazda" versus "Ford" emblems stuck on it, and it might have been built in Hiroshima Japan and shipped to the US, or it might have been put together in a plant in Kentucky or Michigan - but you'd never be able to know.

As for year/make/model, you tell me. You're as likely to be right as anything I say. As noted, it's a white-labeled Inverter. Which means that even finding out who actually made it is likely to be difficult, at best - never mind *WHEN* it was made. The closest thing to a "model number" I can find on the thing is silkscreened on the main PC board, and is singularly useless - "PINV3K110V*2". Externally, it's labeled "7000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter". I would assume it's fairly new (I'm guessing the 230803 on the chip is a date in 2023), and it was recently purchased via Amazon. If there's any other dating or make/model information involved, it's in Chinese that I can just barely recognize as BEING Chinese - forget being able to read it. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. If you think it actually means anything useful, I can dig through my purchase history and try to find the Amazon link for it, but I can't imagine it being of any use in trying to identify an unknown chip inside a no-name piece of electronics.

So, that having been said, do you have anything USEFUL to say about the ZX1258A chip? Or are you just talking to make sure nobody forgets you're here?