Community Forums

American Eagle · 04-21-2019, 07:08 AM

Hello everyone
I was talking about changing out my heartland control system and spring has sprung and getting ready for my first trip. I had problems with my inverter when I had it on shore power. The automatic transfer switch would go off and on every second. It was very cold and when i started the generator. I used a haha hair dryer and warmed up the inside of the system. After a 5 minutes I stop using the hair dryer and shut off the generator then the shore would work.
Anyway that is the back ground. Now today I powered up the shore and the system started and ramped up and stayed there for a hour with the cooling fan running nonstop. it did come down from 50 amps to 30 amps and the fan didn't stay on all the time. I did notice it is still humming more that it has in the past. Maybe I still need to change this system out. Just Want everyones thought as to I should. Thanks John

FormerBoater · 04-21-2019, 07:35 AM

Really hard to give you any advice on this.

I am a member of the large family of "Failed Source Manager Owners", but mine only failed on the inverter/converter portion of the unit. The transfer switch function has continued to work flawlessly....so I bought myself a 3 stage battery charger for $30 which has served us well over the years.

I have a Freedom 458 inverter/converter that was gifted to me, but have never installed simply because the present set-up is meeting our requirements.

It sounds like the transfer switch function of your Source Manager is acting up...this is mission critical functionality....inverter/converter is not mission critical in our case.

So, I will only opine that most if not all Source Managers fail over time...

American Eagle · 04-21-2019, 08:35 AM

Hi former boater
I guess I am in denial about doing anything about replacing this system. Mine is under the bed and with all the fan and other noises I would want something that is quiet. Do you know of any schematics and pictures of the change out. I just don't want this to burn my coach down. Thanks John

FormerBoater · 04-21-2019, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by American Eagle

Hi former boater
I guess I am in denial about doing anything about replacing this system. Mine is under the bed and with all the fan and other noises I would want something that is quiet. Do you know of any schematics and pictures of the change out. I just don't want this to burn my coach down. Thanks John

If you do a search for a Freedom or Xantrex 458 manual...you will see that it would be a "plug and play" to replace your Source Manager.

You will as stated prior, have to purchase a separate transfer switch to perform the switching from generator sourced AC to shore power AC .

Other units may be different, I can only speak to the 458 where the remote display and telephone cabling between the remote display (above the dinette) and the unit itself are "drop in replacements".

American Eagle · 04-24-2019, 09:26 AM

Hello I don't know if the battery's needed to equalize but they where new. I left the invert on shore for like two hours and went out to check to see if it had settled down and it had. Very little noise coming out of it. I am still going to run the heartland system until I get more ideas on the install. I am looking at the 458 invert-er and the maximum 2012. With a Ats install. Anyone have pictures of the install? Or a schematic Thanks John

Gary RVRoamer · 04-24-2019, 09:39 AM

As FormerBoater says, replacement of the Source Manager is pretty simple: a quality inverter/charger plus a auto transfer switch. A bunch of wires, to be sure, but nothing complicated.

If in doubt, contact Kevin Mallory at Cruising America RV Service. Kevin left American Coach engineering group to start his own RV business and he offers a kit (and instructions) to replace a Source Manager. Kevin is a really ethical guy to do business with and he really knows American Coaches.

See https://www.cruisingamericarvserviceco.com/ or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Cruising-Am...0566297646802/

steveschlott · 04-25-2019, 04:40 AM

John,
I am going to watch this tread closely because I am in the same boat, a working 20 year old Source Manager. The only function that failed so far is charging the chassis batteries, which I solved by adding a $30 trickle charger. Inverter, house battery charging, and switching between shore power and genset power is working for now. Mine is noisy when first plugged in but settles down after an hour or so. The biggest annoyance is the hum coming through the stereo for that first hour.
steve

American Eagle · 04-25-2019, 03:23 PM

Hi Gary
I did contact Keven about the change and asked him about the components that he was selling me. One of them was a maximum ms2012 or ms2812 unit. I will trying to get by at least until this first trip is over. It would cost around $2600 with all schematics and step by step on how it is done. Take about half a day to put in. Me would take two days.
Also to Scott Hi
I have had this coach for 12 years and my system has never charged my battery's I think it should but I too trickle charge my coach battery's. We'll see what happens with this invert-er deal. Thanks John

American Eagle · 04-26-2019, 06:45 AM

That was (Magnum) ms 2812 is the one that I am thinking about. I can't spell too. Thanks John

miwok · 05-16-2019, 08:10 PM

Just got my coach back from Kevin, and said my inverter was done, replaced with a Magnum 2k but then said it only ran the microwave. The converter was replaced also, but said it does not charge batteries. Hmm, the other thing, he ran every tool in the shop, and the shop microwave on it but said the coach microwave was not cooperating for some reason. Could that need replacing also?
X2 on Kevin, he is very good, and spread too thin!

Gary RVRoamer · 05-17-2019, 11:10 AM

Yes, it should charge the house batteries.

You can get the Heart Source Manager II Op Manual on the Xantrex site.It describes charging and other functions.

http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Discontinued-Products/Source%20Manager%20II%20Owner's%20Manual.pdf

nukid68 · 05-23-2019, 12:25 PM

Curious what kind of issue I need to solve. I am plugged into 50 amp. I cant turn 2 devices in kitchen at same time, and I tried the ac's day ago and it tripped the wall sockets but ac's still ran.?? I wonder if I have settings wrong.

Gary RVRoamer · 05-24-2019, 09:25 AM

No settings that affect tripping. What breaker(s) tripped? And what two devices were you running? All the inverter-supplied circuits run through the inverter's circuit breaker(s), so you typically can't operate two high wattage devices at the same time, e.g. a microwave and a toaster. The inverter is part of the Source Manager