Inverter/Charger not Charging (final)

Florida Guy · 12-25-2006, 05:51 AM

Closing out this post:

E-Mailed Xantrex technical support. By the way they are great. Received a response in short order. I put them on the top of the list with HWH for technical support.

Ordered a factory (from Xantrex) re-furbished Inverter/charger for $375. Comes with a 90 day replacement warranty. We just don't use our Inverter enough to justify over $1000 for a new one. I think we have used the Inverter for maybe 2 hours in the 3 years we have owned the MH. I will probably get the old one rebuilt for a spare. Thanks for all the suggestions on this topic.

First of all Merry Christmas to all the great people on this Forum.

Plugged in the MH this AM to leave for Ft. Myers from Ft. Pierce Fla tomorrow and the charger is not charging. Its a Xantrex 1500 on a 2003 Journey, The batteries are reading 12.6V but usually when plugged in to AC the charger will bring it up to 13.1V or so and stabilize. The AC input light is on, I checked all the Breakers and they are OK. Everything else on the panel looks normal but appears it has no DC output. Any ideas?

Florida Guy · 12-25-2006, 05:51 AM

Closing out this post:

E-Mailed Xantrex technical support. By the way they are great. Received a response in short order. I put them on the top of the list with HWH for technical support.

Ordered a factory (from Xantrex) re-furbished Inverter/charger for $375. Comes with a 90 day replacement warranty. We just don't use our Inverter enough to justify over $1000 for a new one. I think we have used the Inverter for maybe 2 hours in the 3 years we have owned the MH. I will probably get the old one rebuilt for a spare. Thanks for all the suggestions on this topic.

First of all Merry Christmas to all the great people on this Forum.

Plugged in the MH this AM to leave for Ft. Myers from Ft. Pierce Fla tomorrow and the charger is not charging. Its a Xantrex 1500 on a 2003 Journey, The batteries are reading 12.6V but usually when plugged in to AC the charger will bring it up to 13.1V or so and stabilize. The AC input light is on, I checked all the Breakers and they are OK. Everything else on the panel looks normal but appears it has no DC output. Any ideas?

Ptribbey · 12-25-2006, 06:31 AM

Don't laugh, a few months ago my inverter/charger quit charging so I was all prepared to replace it. I then found a loose connection from the charger to the batteries. This may not be your problem, but it is worth checking anyway.

JB Texas · 12-25-2006, 06:49 AM

Check the "Load Share" setting on the Control Panel. This sets the amount of AC current available to charge the batteries versus the amount being used on the inverter supplied outlets. If you have something like a ceramic heater running it will "hog" the power and the charger will not run at the higher voltage. I have a weak input breaker on my 1500 so I usually run the Load Share at it's lowest setting. It's not unusual to see the house batteries at 12.0 or less when using lots of AC outlets.

Florida Guy · 12-26-2006, 03:00 AM

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Still can't find the problem. The batteries this morning were about 12.5V (still hooked up to AC but we stayed in the house last night,no DC loads on the MH) Will be leaving in about two hours so I will be taking a portable charger with us. We'll be back Saturday, so if it doesn't heal itself by then I guess I'll have to spend some time digging around trying to find the problem. Sure hope I don't have to replace the Inverter/Charger.

KE0M · 12-26-2006, 04:56 AM

Try this - remove the remote display panel - unplug the phone type plug and wait one minute - plug it back in. That will cause a re-set for the inverter-charger and control module. It will only take 2 minutes. I hope that solves your problem. Worst case scenerio, the inverter-charger unit has a couple of printed circuit boards which are succeptable to static electricity damage. In that case, the unit must be removed and sent back to the factory for a rebuild. Mine cost $471.00 flat rate and that included shipping. I hope that's not your problem. Good Luck.

Larry

WinnyAdventurer · 12-27-2006, 03:05 PM

Speaking of inverters I had to replace the front overhead one in my Adventurer, wish I would have seen this ebay post rather than going to the dealer...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Inverter-RV-Winnebago
-Safari-Dimensions-Brand_W0QQitemZ180067633953QQih
Z008QQcategoryZ79816QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZV
iewItem

Oh well if anyone needs one I spent a whole lot more than that!

Stevegd007 · 12-28-2006, 03:25 PM

Well for what it is worth. My MH converter quit working, gone, caused the house batteries to go dead. Replaced the converter, under the kitchen stove, on the floor. New cost was something like $210. You also mentioned an inverter. Well my understanding is that an Inverter takes 12v and changes it to 110v. While a converter using 110v and changes it to 12v for lights and battery charging.

Florida Guy · 12-30-2006, 12:24 PM

Thanks again for all the suggestions. We just got back from Ft. Myers. I had my portable battery charger plugged in for 4 days. It did the job, but not what I want to do every trip. I will try to unplug the phone line to the panel and see if that resets it. I did have a chance to look for loose connections. There wasn't anything obvious. If I have to have the inverter/charger repaired, KEOM, where did you send yours? If I have to buy a new inverter, does anyone know of good deals?

Florida Guy · 01-01-2007, 03:10 AM

After troubleshooting the system, looks like the Charging part of the Inverter is bad. Xantex has a good trouble shooting guide on their Web site. I tryed the reset (disconnect the battery ground, unplug the phone line to the remote panel, reconnect everything but it didn't work) Next step was to verify the AC input fuse is good. Resistance was 160 OHMS. Test requires 150-170 OHMS, so the AC fuse is good. Now the hard part. The inverter/charger cables are hard wired to the batteries, which are about 6 feet away. The positive and negative cables are burried with other cables under the bed and through about 3 different sealed holes through the bulkhead. There is a lot of slack so the cables are about 8 feet long, but a major job getting them out. May have to cut the cables and re-lug close to the Inverter. Even that will be difficult because I can't seem to move them to get enough slack. I did remove the cover on the Inverter/Charger. There are cable lugs internal but I would have to cut the protective clear plastic covers which also includes other wires. Its clear they are not made to be removed internally. Anybody replace their inverter on a Journey 39W?

Florida Guy · 01-03-2007, 11:36 AM

Will be replacing the Xantrex and have been doing some shopping. Can get a factory rebuild for about $400-$500 vs. double that for a new one. Any thoughts on either?

tomsm · 01-03-2007, 01:54 PM

If you have any inclination to upgrade to a pure sine wave inverter, Camping World has the Xantrex RS inverter chargers on sale. Click here. Still a lot of bucks, and you would have to string a new remote panel, but something to consider...

smlranger · 01-03-2007, 02:42 PM

I was going to make the same suggestion as Tom...if my existing inverter tanks for any reason, I would give serious consideration to replacing it with a true sine wave model. I don't like the noise I hear in my TV when I run on inverter power and there are some knowledgeable folks who claim the inverters that come with these rigs can kill some electronics.

Guess it depends how long you plan to keep your rig and how much you use inverter power. Also, wonder if Xantrex sells rebuilt true sine wave models??

Florida Guy · 01-05-2007, 11:46 AM

For those following this post, edited the first message with the final solution to the Inverter/Charger issue.