Xantrex Information

[Chuck & Marca]

Last week we visited the Xantrex Office in Elkhart, IN and they diagnosed that our RS2000 inverter was not working properly. The circuit that reads the voltage on the batteries was reading them .4 too low. This caused the charger to never go from bulk to absorption to float. However, it did scale back to lower voltages as the charge progressed so hopefully it didn't totally destroy our batteries. They were taking more water than usual which prompted us to watch things more closely. Also, we have a separate control panel (Blue Sky Energy) that monitors our battereis directly. We could see our remote Xantrex panel next to it was reading .4 - .5 low.

Since our inverter was less than one year old, they replaced it under warranty. Be aware that they are equipped there to diagnose inverter problems but are not able to remove/replace inverters. There are several shops in Elkhart that can do that function. The one we chose was Coach Care about three blocks from Xantrex. It took about one hour's labor to replace.

Some more interesting information. The Xantrex Corporate Office is now in Elkhart having moved from Canada. The address in Elkhart is 541-A Roske Drive, Elkhart, IN. The Corporate Help Desk Technicians are also there and their phone number is 800-670-0707. We talked to Otis Davidson and he said to tell you folks to feel free to e-mail him at otis.davidson@xantrex.com with any questions/concerns if you need to. I told him that I wanted to post this information for all of you and he said it was OK.

He also told us that One Stop Custom Shop in Colorado Springs, CO is working on making the new Freedom SW work with the Silverleaf (Apex). The name and address of the shop is on the Xantrex website and I see that they are Silverleaf Certified. When this is completed, it will be good news to the folks looking at having to convert to the Magnum Inverter if their RS2000 - 3000's fail.

Just wanted to pass this information along. We are now on our third RS2000 and thanks to Carolyn and Tris have a spare RS3000 in one of our Smartbeds just for backup. Xantrex also checked the RS3000 while we were there and made sure it had the latest software. We have found the staff to be most pleasant and helpful during our visits there over the past few years.

Safe travels!

[wa8yxm]

As I recall when my Prosine Failed I mailed it to the state of Washington (Xantrex factory)

Just so you know.. Removal of the inverter on my coach is what

2 big heavy 12 volt cables
2 Romex 120 volt cables (Label them please)
4 screws,

Not a hard job at all.

[Old Rv'er]

Thank you Chuck and Marca, I sent him an e-mail to see if I need an update. People who have installed the Magnum like it, and those are component reparable in the coach. So there is that feature the Xantrex and Freedom's don't have. My guess is their is a bold pattern difference. Silverleaf is aware of the differences and they can walk you through it or can do the update for money.

[Oregon Coyote]

I know zero about the Magnum units, but in the "off grid" world, the Outback inverters are generally considered superior to the Xantrex units and they do have RV units as well. This company, as was Xantrex, is located in Arlington WA. Supposedly it was begun by "former" Xantrex engineers. If I do decide to buy a new inverter/charger I will check them out more closely.

Norm

[OldForester]

I was told by the tech who installed the new fan in my Xantrex that the new Freedom 3000's are locally serviceable and repairable, in contrast to the Xantrex 2000, which isn't reparable.

[wayne0]

I sold my 07 Alpine 36 Limited SE in December because of constant problems with the hoses on the rear slide busting and having the 2nd Xantrex 2000 go out in less than a year. Xantrex refused to warranty the 2nd one saying there was too much voltage coming from the batteries. Sounds somewhat like the problem above. They "generously" agreed to sell me a new one for $1250 which I had to pay, plus installation to be able to sell the coach. Has anyone else had this same type of problem. Thank you.

Wayne0

[Old Rv'er]

Sounds to me like they were wired wrong from the factory, if wired incorrectly, you could get 24V from the battery bank. I am thinking, they might have been refering to more amps than they should have been putting out. Still sounds like something was wrong. However, I am leaning toward the Xantrex being part of the problem, so when (not if) mine takes a hike, I'm going toward the Magnum.

Now, after thinking about this some more, when the engine was running, you might have had higher voltage from the alternator into the batteries, but those batteries act sort of like a filter, keeping the voltage to 12V out. So it sounds like the wiring of the batteries was not quite correct in some way, or Xantrex did not know what the problem was and was blowing you off. If they did not check it, or you did not check it, the tech was jsut gussing.

Hope the person who purchased your vehicle has not had the problems you did!!!!