Mastervolt Combimaster - are they throwaways?

[DougM]

I have a 3 year old Mastervolt combimaster. Installed by boat manufacturer, standalone (no czone or masterbus). It worked fine up and was lightly used, plugging in a vacuum cleaner or chargers for power tools and phones. It seems to be dead. No indicator lights on when switched on or off. I took the panel off, connection to batteries was fine and there is plenty of voltage. I can also get shore power onto its 120V inputs. But the thing is just dead, no 120V output and no indicator lights despite position of main switch and pressing overload breaker.

First question: anyone here ever had such a problem? Any suggestions on what to try? I've read the manual thoroughly and there doesn't seem to be much else to try.

Second Question: how does one get help? Their website and manual say contact local dealer. I'm in Nova Scotia, and the only dealer is Radio Holland USA who don't answer any of their numbers, and pressing the number for 'service' gets me disconnected. I called West Marine, they gave me a number for Navico who recently bought Mastervolt. I called the number a couple of times and it says 'all technicians are busy - call later'.


I'm getting a bad feeling about this. I have faint hope this is something easily resolved. But if it needs repair, i wonder if repair cost, shipping, and lead time will make it impractical. They seem great at making these things available for sale, but without service, they are way expensive for a throwaway item.

[Matt Johnson]

Are you having inverter or charger issues? Is the charger working? By switching it on/off, are you talking at the breaker or the switch at the bottom of the unit?

[deblen]

Sydney area.
https://www.yellowpages.ca/search/si...orth+Sydney+NS


pg 35 https://us.binnacle.com/pdf/Mastervo...V%20Manual.pdf

[shimari]

The fact you're not seeing any status lights isn't a good sign.

You can reach out to Mastervolt's US tech support team at tsusa@mastervolt.com There's also an 800 number 800-307-6702, but it hasn't worked the last few weeks due to them having 'network issues'.

The tech support team is 2-3 guys. They're vastly over worked, but they are helpful when you can get a hold of them. I've been dealing with a battery issue, and it's taken us about a year to sort it out (length of time not entirely their fault).

[DougM]

Originally Posted by Matt Johnson

Are you having inverter or charger issues? Is the charger working? By switching it on/off, are you talking at the breaker or the switch at the bottom of the unit?

Both, it's just dead, dead, dead dead. no indicator lights, no 120V output

[Indolent58]

Did you try resetting the internal thermal fuse?

[ttex]

First things first. You say you have 120 to the input. Did you test this with a meter to confirm or are you assuming?

[DougM]

Originally Posted by Indolent58

Did you try resetting the internal thermal fuse?

I believe the manual says that is done by pressing the black pushbutton on the bottom left. I did that. If there is anything else please let me know and i'll try it.

[DougM]

Originally Posted by ttex

First things first. You say you have 120 to the input. Did you test this with a meter to confirm or are you assuming?

Lower cover removed. Voltmeter says 13 plus volts on DC cables. 120V measured on AC input terminals when shore power plugged in.


But Dr. McCoy still says 'he's dead Jim'. No indicator lights on, nor 120V output.

[DougM]

Originally Posted by deblen

Sydney area.
https://www.yellowpages.ca/search/si...orth+Sydney+NS


pg 35 https://us.binnacle.com/pdf/Mastervo...V%20Manual.pdf

Thanks Deblen. Unfortunately one services Nav electronics, competent folks but dont know inverters. The other is a fishing supplies place that retails some electronics.

[DougM]

Thanks for the direction and suggestions so far. So I can't find anyone who has any expertise so far, but would love to. I have email and calls into tech support but I'm keeping my expectations low.


This experience seems all too common these days. Eletronics get better and better, but margins squeeze down as adoption maxes out. Service gets compromised as the large publicly traded or private equity backed entities (Navico) buy out the small guys (Mastervolt). Service disappears. So the equipment can't be considered for mission critical. I don't need 120V to sail, but it's nice, and the easy way to charge my new electric outboard dinghy motor off of my plentiful solar. So the electronics start to look like nonn-serviceable throwaways. tough considering its about 2500 CDN for a replacement. Gotta keep in mind there is a price for sailing that goes up dramatically when we raise the tech level.

[shimari]

The only thing I think you can do is to buy a USB Masterbus adapter and see what, if anything, you can see with the Masteradjust software. You'll likely not see anything, and the adapter is $200, but that's likely the first question tech support is going to ask 'can you see anything with masteradjust?'.

[DougM]

Originally Posted by shimari

The only thing I think you can do is to buy a USB Masterbus adapter and see what, if anything, you can see with the Masteradjust software. You'll likely not see anything, and the adapter is $200, but that's likely the first question tech support is going to ask 'can you see anything with masteradjust?'.

yeah, worried that may be their advice should they respond some day. I wonder about the odds of it responding to a network when there is no fan, no indicator lights etc. Should that be the case, i guess i'll have to decide if i want to throw more money their way. The other way to go would be to buy a cheap pure sinewave chinese inverter and a charger. Maybe others have sucessfully used other brands? Or maybe i can find a combined unit. Cheap enough to be less concerned should it break down and has to be thrown away due to lack of service options.

But I havent given up hope yet, maybe all that thinking will turn out to be a waste of time.

[isail52]

My Combimaster 3000/160 bricked a few months after I installed it back in 2021. I wasn’t using the boat at the time so having it out of service didn’t matter. I was able to talk to tech support who gave me the following instructions. In the end nothing worked, I sent the unit back and they gave me a new one under the two year warranty. After successfully installing the new unit I reached out to find out what had failed and never received a response. The replacement has worked flawlessly ever since but this experience makes me nervous as this is a mission critical device.

It was part of a Mastervolt network and simply didn’t show up on the Masteradjust software.

From: Tech Support USA - Mastervolt [mailto:tsusa@mastervolt.com]

I know that you may have done some of these tests already, but run the test outlined below. When the test is complete, please respond and describe what is going on with the charger.

Turn off AC power to the combi and let it sit for a minute or two without AC power.
Measure the battery voltage at the on the DC output of the charger with no AC power to make sure there is no disconnect between the batteries and the charger. You will need a minimum of 8 volts to turn on the outputs of the charger. Anything less will require you to boost the batteries above 8V.
Remove everything but AC power input-remove all communication cables, remotes, temp sensors, and DC loads.
Apply AC power to the charger.
Wait a minute for the charger to boot up. If the charger goes into “Bulk” without any fault light present, measure the DC output with a meter at the charger. It should read approx. 14.4VDC.
After 2 min. the charger should go to Absorption, and measure approx. 14.3VDC.
After 12 min, the charger should go to float and measure 13.3DC if set for flooded, and 13.9 if set for AGM or Gel.

If the charger passed the test above, connect the batteries and turn the charger on. You should see the voltage increase above the voltage measured with the AC power off to the charger.
When the batteries have fully charged, make sure the switch is in the “on” position and turn off AC power to the charger. The combi should switch to inverter. Measure the AC at the short break output.

Let me know what you find.


David Freeman
Technical Service
800.307.6702 direct
800-799-3779 fax

[DougM]

still at it. multiple calls, hours on hold, emails unanswered. Renogy sells something for about 700 CDN, Matervolt replacement is about 3 x that. Plus renogy seems to have tech support (haen't tried it). If nothing else, i could buy 2 renogys and have 700 bucks left over.