Xantrex Link 1000 only half working. Thoughts?

[ad-ventureout]

Hello all,
We had our Xantrex Link 1000 installed by a marina but it is only half working. We were told it is b/c the panel is broken but I am not sold on that.
Here is what is going on:
We can get voltage but when we hit SEL the lights start blinking... everything goes haywire, and I then have to hit SET to get back to something that is working.
We read the manual and tried to restart/calibrate the system. It wont engage or do anything other than start blinking like crazy.
Has anyone had this issue before? Should I buy another panel and if so... where. Can't seem to find anything online including ebay.
Thanks for any help you can give.
Happy sailing!
*photo is attached

[Stu Jackson]

Hmm, "installed by a marina..." You mean someone at the marina did it?

YOU need to trace the wiring to assure yourself they did it right.

In any phase of life, if someone installed something for you, would you go out and get a new replacement if it seemed to be installed incorrectly because all the features didn't work? I doubt it.

Engage yourself, learn something new and find out how it is supposed to be wired, then check how the yard monkey did it.

I'll bet they did something wrong.

If they didn't, I'll eat my hat, in public.

In addition, those old Link 1000s had "issues", but you'd need to be more specific than "some features don't work." If you do, we can help some more.

Good luck.

[ad-ventureout]

Thanks for the response.
We currently are attempting to fix it ourselves. We read the manual, traced the wires, rechecked the connection and all looks ok.
The reason I don't trust the boatyard is that although I helped install it, their answer to anything that did not work was "must need a new one".
Because I can't find any info online I posted here. I generally do all the work on our boat but electrical is still something I am learning.
I am getting a voltage reading but not amps or time remaining.
My question was more in the side of "has anyone had this issue before?". My guess, as is yours, is that something is connected incorrectly. It's possible that a wire is not connected correctly but if I don't ask for help then I won't ever learn.
In the future, telling someone to learn for themselves while they are attempting asking for info on an online forum might not be the best approach.
Thanks for the insight and am always open to more information.
Best regards,

[smac999]

Pushing the sel button just toggles the Amps/ volts /ah and the little light tells you which one it is on.

Even if everything is not hooked up (except power). It would stil cycle through screens. But be blank info. Yours sounds broken.

[ad-ventureout]

Thanks for that info. Pushing sel will not allow anything to change and only goes haywire. I'll disconnect everything other than power to see if that does anything.
Next question, were would I get one if it was found to be faulty? I'm guessing wait until eBay has one.
Thanks all.

[smac999]

if it doens't work. replace with a victron 700

[Stu Jackson]

ad-v,

Didn't mean to demean you and until you posted it, no one knew what you knew or did.

Don't know if you've seen this:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...lt-165107.html

Sometimes the units fail, but 99% of the time with electrical it is the connections.

Good luck.

You might also be interested in this, if and/or once you get it working:

For everyone installing a battery monitor: The "Gotcha Algorithm" thread, a "MUST READ"

Link-series Charging Algorithms -- The "Gotcha" Factor!

DEFAULTS are factory settings that are made to be modified to suit your setup.

Also read this one:

Programming a Battery Monitor (by Maine Sail)

Keeping Your Battery Monitor More Accurate Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

And sometimes, you simply have to start off FROM SCRATCH, just like rebooting your computer.

[ad-ventureout]

Update: it looks like the 4 brand new batteries we installed are all swelling. I checked the connection and they are connected to make 12v correctly. So, now my guess is that the charger has gone bad and the monitor went with it. I am having a boatyard look at the charger bc that is a little over my knowledge abilities as of now. Expensive mistake considering the batteries are only six months old. Thanks for all the help ppl.

[Stu Jackson]

These may help:

Wiring a new charger From Maine Sail:

http://forums.sailboatowners.com/ind...5/#post-880275 and

Installing A Marine Battery Charger Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

Whenever one says "Beyond my pay grade," I usually say "There's nothing you can't learn." None of us was born an electrician.

Especially if you're having someone else do the work. You NEED to know what it is you want before they do anything.

If you were putting in a new kitchen in your house, wouldn't you want to know what kind of cabinets and sink and countertop you wanted, or would you just leave it up to the contractor?

Your Link could be just fine. We'd need to know what voltage it was getting, but if you batteries were dead or fried, it would be low voltage most likely, which should not have fried the Link.

Good luck, happy learning.

You might also be interested in these:

Electrical Systems 101 Electrical Systems 101

[ad-ventureout]

@stu Thanks for the info. I have the yard diagnosing the issue than then I'll work on it myself. I agree, I like to know what's going on with the boat. It's the "finding what's wrong" that I have trouble with
Thanks and I'll keep updating depending on what happens.
Fair Winds!

[Rick]

I have tested the link 1000 lnput voltage to over 65 volts without failure. Your symptom is indicative of an internal problem to the link 1000 that would be an infant mortality not your problem except that the unit needs to be fixed or replaced

[Rick]

No external wiring error could cause your symptoms

[ad-ventureout]

Originally Posted by Rick

No external wiring error could cause your symptoms

Interesting update: about a week ago we went into the boat. We saw that the breakers were off indicating a power overload. One of the circuits was visually fried. The four 6volt house bank batteries were swollen (they are only six months old). Boat would not start. We replaced the starter (which needed replacing) and now the boat turns over. It's on the hard so I don't know if all the other issues were resolved. The house bank is 100% dead. Here are my thoughts:
Possibly the water was hit by lightning and caused an overload (or even just a power line) which fried our circuit (it was the charger circuit breaker that was fried) and caused the charger to over charge the batteries (which are now swollen), and died. At the same time... our starter died. From there we drained the starting battery trying to turn it over.
I still need to check the output of the charger to see if it's working correctly. I can see it turn on and go to float but I don't trust the zantrex.
Thoughts?

[Rick]

Swollen batteries are due to either shortage cell or cells or excessive charge voltage. Because you say that the voltage is okay I suspect that the batteries were the problem replace them if you can with the simple single battery to verify everything that works okay

[Rick]

If the voltage is ok then the Xantrex is okay