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Gear Failures and Fixes, Xantrex Inverter/Charger (John)

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

Three months ago our venerable Heart Interface inverter/charger bit the big one, helped along by a dumb error on my part (inverters don’t like the start surge from 10” miter saws). We could have got it fixed, but our reliance on computers for writing and photography means that we would be better off with a true sine wave inverter. Also the RF noise emitted by the Heart Interface knocked small birds from the sky.

After some research and consulting with Peter, owner of Jack Rabbit Marine, we bought a Xantrex MS2000. The installation was quite a big job, particularly securely mounting the 70lb (32kg) beast. Finally, all was done and we powered up.

The Problem:
The unit ran fine, albeit with a very noisy fan. I programmed in all the battery parameters and, at the end of the day, shut the boat down as usual by turning off the 12 volt master switches and the shore power. (We are out of the water in refit mode.)

The next morning I powered the boat up. The MS2000 immediately, and without being asked, went into charge mode at a much higher rate and voltage than what I had programmed the day before. We have expensive and nearly new glass mat batteries that do not like being abused so I was concerned. Clearly the unit had lost its memory when I turned off the 12 volt master switch.

Manufacturer’s Response:
I called Xantrex’s support department and got a technician who informed me that my problem was that I had installed the unit wrong. According to him, I should have wired it directly to the battery, bypassing the master switch. When I said that I disagreed, he became quite aggressive and then pulled out that old line “you’re the first person that has ever complained about this”—I hate it when they say that. I looked at the Xantrex manual again and sure enough the diagram showed no switch between the unit and the battery.

Now, in my opinion, this is not just poor practice, it’s dangerous. Think about it: an unsuspecting tech goes aboard the boat to work on the electrical system, disconnects the shore power and turns off the battery master switches. Now he or she is safe, right? Wrong, the inverter is still potentially energized and capable of producing a killing voltage. There is no sure way to make the inverter safe, other than to disconnect the 12 volt input to it from the battery.

This is not just my opinion; direct connection of inverters to batteries is against ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) specifications, which, although they state that a charger can be connected directly to the battery (still a poor idea in my view), do not condone doing the same with an inverter/charger. Another scary thing is that everyone involved told me that direct connection complied with ABYC. It was not until I found the relevant entry and quoted it chapter and verse that I was taken seriously.

Incidentally, Jack Rabbit Marine ships the inverter/charger as part of a kit with a switch that they suggest you install in the 12 volt feed, but leave on. This is a bit better than no switch, but still not good since who would logically expect to have to turn off two battery master switches to make the boat safe, particularly since the second switch may end up somewhere obscure?

The Outcome:
To make a long story short and after much to and fro, with Peter at Jack Rabbit Marine acting as intermediary, it transpired that there is a workaround that will make the MS2000 remember its settings. Fine, but what made this experience so irritating was that first I was told there was no solution. Then that changed and I was told that I must return the unit to be “evaluated”; no apology and no offer to pay for the shipping. Remember, this is a 70lb (32kg) unit and just getting it off its mounting and off the boat is non-trivial. It was only when Peter demonstrated, on my suggestion, that the MS2000 on his own boat exhibited the same problem, that Xantrex’s support department finally got with one of their engineers and figured out the solution—it is trivial and takes two minutes.

If I was not angry enough after all that, it transpired that the software revision on our unit is over a year out of date, this despite the fact that the unit drop-shipped direct from Xantrex. Wait, there’s more: I went from angry to incandescent when told that I would have to pay a $40.00 fee, plus a $150 deposit to borrow the necessary gadget, to upgrade our unit to the software that should have shipped on it in the first place. Say what? (Peter agreed to eat the fee, but we still have to pay the deposit and wait in line to get the gadget.)

Conclusions:
1). I’m an electronics technician by trade, albeit a very out of date one, and so knew when I was getting the runaround. How would a sailor with a less technical background have fared? Not a pretty picture.

2). In my experience, support situations are divided into two types: one, where the manufacturer’s mistake is the manufacture’s problem, and the other where the manufacturer tries to make their mistake the customer’s problem. This definitely fell into the latter category.

3). We are very glad that we bought the unit from a knowledgeable dealer with hands on marine experience who, after a bit of convincing, made our case, we suspect forcefully, to the manufacturer. It is unlikely that a deep discounter would have had the knowledge to help us bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.

4). In my opinion, it is just plain un-seamanlike to connect anything, other than the automatic bilge pump, directly to the battery. Yes, I know it is increasingly becoming common practice, but that does not make it right. In an electric fire or other emergency, or when I leave the boat unattended, I want to turn off one switch and know that everything on the boat is de-energized. It is fundamental in house wiring, why should a boat be different? Yes, I know the voltage is lower, but remember that an 8D battery can produce enough current to melt a screwdriver. Fire is not caused by voltage, but by current (amperage).

5). The Xantrex MS2000 looks like a really solid well built unit with a lot of desirable features, but because of this experience, we can’t recommend it.

Labels: Equipment

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