Cruisers & Sailing Forums - View Single Post - Inverters, AC Power, etc... What would you do?

sv_makai · 17-12-2005, 18:05

Even in the Caribe the Xantrex service was good even though a bit convoluted.

We had ours repaired once under warrenty without a problem. The second time is was not under warrenty and would have cost near 400 for shipping plus repairs. When it worked we liked it very much, but found that counting on it was worriesome.

The first failure we had another boat taking the identical unit to Trinidad for the exact same problem for repairs under warrenty. The problem actually comes from the import rules for Trini. If you are there anything can be shipped in duty free. If you want to ship it in for repairs and then back out then you pay duty. Stupid but it prevented us from using their warrenty site and having to look at st martin with more costly services/

It was cheaper to install a seperate brand new invertor than deal with repiars of a unit that had already failed twice in a year. The final disconnect was when the invertor failed and with out warning would turn it self on and start drawing 455 amps. This was the point theat it was totally discounted. Since we use solar and winds to maintain our house that lack of the charger function is not a problem and we will address it when we return to the US late next year.

I think I will still go with the sepreate systems rather than the combined as the ease and cost of replacement and repairs outside the US is an issue. But who knows I may change my mind in the future. But first I need confidence in the units.....

17-12-2005, 18:05	#5
sv_makai Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Currently, cruise is over and back in Solomons MD, USA Boat: Voyage/Maxim 380 - Makai Posts: 489	Xantrex Even in the Caribe the Xantrex service was good even though a bit convoluted. We had ours repaired once under warrenty without a problem. The second time is was not under warrenty and would have cost near 400 for shipping plus repairs. When it worked we liked it very much, but found that counting on it was worriesome. The first failure we had another boat taking the identical unit to Trinidad for the exact same problem for repairs under warrenty. The problem actually comes from the import rules for Trini. If you are there anything can be shipped in duty free. If you want to ship it in for repairs and then back out then you pay duty. Stupid but it prevented us from using their warrenty site and having to look at st martin with more costly services/ It was cheaper to install a seperate brand new invertor than deal with repiars of a unit that had already failed twice in a year. The final disconnect was when the invertor failed and with out warning would turn it self on and start drawing 455 amps. This was the point theat it was totally discounted. Since we use solar and winds to maintain our house that lack of the charger function is not a problem and we will address it when we return to the US late next year. I think I will still go with the sepreate systems rather than the combined as the ease and cost of replacement and repairs outside the US is an issue. But who knows I may change my mind in the future. But first I need confidence in the units..... __________________ Captain Bil sv Makai KI4TMM Currently: Caribe cruise is over, Solomon's MD, USA http://www.sv-makai.com Last edited by sv_makai; 17-12-2005 at 18:09.