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768Q · 01-18-2022, 05:57 PM

I have a 2001 Beaver Patriot I bought last March. Question, can I do a direct swap from a SW2012 to the 3000w SW3012? It appears all the connections are the same and exterior of the boxes. The former owner had put the new SW2012 in it back in '16 or '17 from what he told me and it has a build date in 2016. As I was getting ready for a weekend trip I noticed the SCP was not powered up, after trying resets on the SW2012 from search's here and a few commenting and trying to get the SCP to come to life I realized that when I plugged in the coach to power it would immediately start percolating the batteries so I unplugged it. So it appears the charger portion of the inverter is fried but if I manually turn it on with the power button on the unit it will invert and run the TV , 110 lights, ect. Good news is I was able to do the trip by occasionally running the generator to charge the batteries and run 110 appliances just not plug in due to the battery issue. Long story short I plan to install the new SW3012 this weekend and have the SW2012 repaired for a spare or sell. As far as the longevity of the 2016 built SW2012 I remember the former owner said he constantly left the coach plugged in, maybe this contributed to it dying so soon? When I first got the coach I left it plugged in with a heavy cord and 20 amp breaker and never ran more than a TV or light at once and never a AC , ect as I knew that cord setup wouldn't support it, a few month back I did put in a proper 50 amp service for it in hopes that when summer comes we can run AC in it , ect. Appreciate any input with these SW2012 - 3012 units........Thank you!

Iceclimber · 01-18-2022, 07:20 PM

Here is my input, every Xantrex anything I have ever owned has failed so I stopped owning them. I find the loyalty to the brand irrational. There are plenty of other economically attractive choices out there.
To the original question the 3000 appears to have the same footprint and wire config so easy swap. Good luck.

wamcneil · 01-18-2022, 07:42 PM

Sure, if it's the same footprint and has all the same connections that'll be the easiest swap.
Are you trying to get more power out of it? Chances are that your 12v system is barely able to keep up with the 2000w inverter. In that case 'upgrading' to a 3000w inverter won't gain anything.
Cheers,
Walter

768Q · 01-18-2022, 08:24 PM

Wamcneil, Do not care about more watts, when I was shopping for a replacement this one came up new in the box as a trucker had it as a spare never out of the box, said he had the same one for almost 10 years with no issues. $1300 seemed like a good deal….. Honestly never used the 2012 as an inverter but only as a charger and the coach was always plugged in. I will be using this one as intended and want to understand it reading up on the owners manual.

jacwjames · 01-19-2022, 07:36 AM

My 2002 Windsor came with the Xantrex SW2012.
I've owned my coach for~13 years and it has been plugged in most of it's life without a problem.

The swap should be pretty easy, just mark all the wires and take pictures.

I thought I was having a problem with my inverter, I called the Xantrex tech support, I gave them my symptoms and they thought the same thing so I pulled my inverter out. There was a repair/service facility listed on their website and I decided to call. I explained my symptoms and the tech guy said my Inverter was fine and explained what I needed to do to troubleshoot my problem. Put the inverter back in and ultimately found the problem, which was not the inverter but a dead short on one of the circuits. This was odd because it didn't trip the breaker.

FWIW. A lot of the parts on the inverter are not serviceable or obsolete so I doubt you'll be able to get it repaired.

Persistent · 01-19-2022, 08:29 AM

I agree, it is probably a direct drop-in replacement. Installation instructions probably require a larger 12 volt wire, but if you do not use the inverter for more power, you will probably not blow the in line fuse.

Contact Xantrex at
https://www.xantrex.com/power-produc.../overview.aspx
email or call for better advice.

CountryB · 01-19-2022, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wamcneil

Sure, if it's the same footprint and has all the same connections that'll be the easiest swap.
Are you trying to get more power out of it? Chances are that your 12v system is barely able to keep up with the 2000w inverter. In that case 'upgrading' to a 3000w inverter won't gain anything.
Cheers,
Walter

The 3000W unit is a pure sine wave, where the 2000W unit is a modified sine wave. The pure sine wave is supposed to be better regarding electronics (computers, residential refrigerator, etc.), however I have the modified sine wave version now and have not noticed any issues with electronics. But if/when I need to replace it, I would go with a pure sine wave version.

Are there any 3000W models still available? Or did you get a used one (or luck out and find "new old stock")?

vito.a · 01-19-2022, 09:18 AM

The original inverter in these older coaches was a Trace Freedom 20. Trace was then purchased by Xantrex which was also purchased and production has been moved off shore.
The original Trace Freedom inverters were well built but the new Xantrex inverters are not. Additionally parts are very tough to locate.

I would recommend you spend your time money and effort installing a quality product or you will be right back in this same situation in a couple of years.

I installed a new Magnum inverter in our coach but many folks are now using Victron Energy inverters.
Best of luck!

768Q · 01-19-2022, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryB

Are there any 3000W models still available? Or did you get a used one (or luck out and find "new old stock")?

It is NOS, trucker had it as a spare and never used it and now he retired so sold it, build date is 2015.

Rocketman3 · 01-21-2022, 08:24 PM

My trace inverter was having trouble- so I replaced it with a Victron Multiplus 12/3000 120v. It went in just fine in my rig. The only strange item in wiring was the old trace inverter had a 4/0 wire that was green - ground right? Nope….

That was the common return to the batteries- I hook it to ground and when I re-engerized my rig - nothing worked. After a bit - I questioned what wire - moved it to the common - now everything worked.

I really love the Victron stuff - yep by now I have LOTS of those blue boxes.