ANybody ever send an inverter/charger back for rebuild repair?

[Chief Engineer]

It is a Freedom 10

I have a Xantrex that failed in the first year. Contacted them and discussed the problem. They found the closest factory repair facility. I drove the hundred miles and dropped it for a couple of days. Known issue with the main board. Picked it up working, no charge, no problem.
Not really sure what you are after, but hope this is useful.

[sv_makai]

I had my Freedom 25 repaired in Trini it was a year ish old. It was covered under warrenty and they did a great job. Unfortunately it failed again for the same reasons (invertor board failed) 6-8 months later. I decided to make a boat anchor out of it and replaced it with a standalone invertor.

Xantrex would not just send me a board and sending it back to trini for repairs cost more than buying an invertor.

3 Year later I still don't have a charger onboard...love that solar.

[irwinsailor]

My Xantrex heart 3000 is out for repair as I write this. I think I see a pattern here!? It also is under warranty. Made in China!

[Beausoleil]

I'm getting ready to plunk down some cash for a Magnum Energy MagnaSine 2812 inverter/charger. From what I've seen, they have a good reputation, but I don't know anyone with first-hand experience.

I understand the company was formed by a group of ex-Freedom engineers who were unhappy with the way their company was being run, and the acquisition by Xantrex was supposedly the last straw.

Gunner - made in China doesn't mean what it used to. Look at all the Cisco/Nortel/Alcatel telecom gear, with "five-nines" reliability. One guess where tons of their components and assemblies are made. From what I can remember, I don't think there's a single DRAM fab facility left in the US. Most semiconductor manufacturing is in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Costa Rica, etc...

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Beausoleil

... made in China doesn't mean what it used to. Look at all the Cisco/Nortel/Alcatel telecom gear, with "five-nines" reliability. One guess where tons of their components and assemblies are made ...

Given that 5 nines (99.999%) availability (NOT reliability) represents 5 minutes/year downtime, there’s numerous applications where 5 or 6 nines just isn’t good enough (ie: my pacemaker)!

[Beausoleil]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Given that 5 nines (99.999%) availability (NOT reliability) represents 5 minutes/year downtime, there’s numerous applications where 5 or 6 nines just isn’t good enough (ie: my pacemaker)!

Aw, Gord - if you spread that 5 minutes over the entire year, you'll be fine!

But seriously, it make you wonder what kind of statistical analysis and product testing it takes for a manufacturer to be able to guarantee that kind of performance with enough confidence to satisfy the lawyers and the US FDA... Even with my BSEE and MSTE, I've happily managed to stay away from semiconductor design!

So no one has any experience with Magnum Energy?

[irwinsailor]

So far we have at least 3 Xantrex inverters some with chargers, and I would think that all were made in China that have failed while under warranty. So the next question is.. does anyone have a Xantrex inverter that was made in china that has not failed? It looks like Xantrex does not even come close to "5 nines".

[David M]

Yes, a 3000 watt Statpower (now Xantrex)

[hellosailor]

Ah, Gord, if your pacemaker shut down 5 minutes out of the year that's not necessarily unacceptable. After all, most folks can live for 4-8 minutes without a heartbeat.<G>

Wasn't it here that there was a thread this winter/fall about one of the big name brands going out for Gen-You-Whine Authorized Local Service and being improperly repaired so it promptly failed again?

Authorized service means you need to know the reputation of the local service shop. Not necessarily the same as that of the "factory", for better or worse.<G>

If I remember the reliability and failures modes for electronics run something like this:
1-10 years, vacuum tube devices
100 years, transistors and discrete components
1000 years, ICs.

That's all predicated on "proper" design and implementation, good components, and other optimums. ICs are expected to electroplate their internal tracings to "other" places and fail as they age.

And of course, this ignores the infamous quality control problems found in recent years with electrolytic capacitors MADE IN CHINA that have failed madly in all sorts of devices.

[S/V Elusive]

I'm pretty sure that my heart 25's output voltage regulator has gone kaput. 155 volts doesn't work well with my other things. ::sigh::

[sv_makai]

I wanted to add a additional comment to my entry above. The boat that carried my invertor to Trini for repairs was going there to have his Freedom 25 repair for the same problem as well. (saved me shipping and import costs)......

Having it down five minutes is no problem if you are somewhere it can get fixed. We were without for 8 months because we were hanging out in the islands and shipping would have cost more that the charger.

[MidLandOne]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

It is a Freedom 10

Unless they have changed, most of the innards of the Freedom 10 are all on one big PC board, so if the repair is done as a board replacement then the cost will be quite high and if the unit is old may be worth considering replacing the whole thing.

In any event it would pay to check on costs first.

Are you sure that the fault is in the Freedom 10. If there is no obvious damage inside it, it may be worth checking all the external cabling connections to the batteries as well as the contactors on the isolating switches in those. The inverter CPU is inclined to go crazy if there is any fault in those with the unit not charging or inverting and symptoms such as the remote panel (if fitted) LED's flashing randomly.

[witzgall]

This thread is solidifying my desire to keep the inverter and the charger seperate. We ahve neither now. I think this can cost less, too.

Has anyone had experiece with the cheap Guest chargers?

Chris

[irwinsailor]

I really like how my inverter/charger works. With the link 2000 running everything it is worry free.