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Old 22-07-2011, 16:06   #181
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Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

No it's not. When the charger overheats while in float charge, the fault is not in the wiring.

ciao!
Nick.
I'm still not at end of job here. The marine electrician I've engaged has recommended wiring upgrades to address while acknowledging this charger has sensitive electronics. The tests he has run point to wiring in the boat as a source of the problem. Ie european boat. I've given the go ahead to rewire the power to the fridge direct from the batteries and from the charger to the batteries. I've been advised this will fix the problem.
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Old 26-07-2011, 15:55   #182
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I'm still not at end of job here. The marine electrician I've engaged has recommended wiring upgrades to address while acknowledging this charger has sensitive electronics. The tests he has run point to wiring in the boat as a source of the problem. Ie european boat. I've given the go ahead to rewire the power to the fridge direct from the batteries and from the charger to the batteries. I've been advised this will fix the problem.
Haven't got too much further with this. As it turns out the charger (my third) has been determined to be faulty. I've been advised that it is a firmware issue. Xantrex is now on to it. I'll keep the group updated on developments. I guess I could have saved myself a lot of grief by ditching the Xantrex, but the other chargers sold around here (ProMariner) I'm told have a lot of problems too.
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Old 27-07-2011, 05:10   #183
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailormannn View Post
Haven't got too much further with this. As it turns out the charger (my third) has been determined to be faulty. I've been advised that it is a firmware issue. Xantrex is now on to it. I'll keep the group updated on developments. I guess I could have saved myself a lot of grief by ditching the Xantrex, but the other chargers sold around here (ProMariner) I'm told have a lot of problems too.
There was no other possible outcome to this. Do not buy a ProMariner. Just swallow, take a breath and order a Victron. It can be delivered anywhere in the world within a couple of days. Have a good look at your inverter too... if there's any doubt to it's age or condition, go for a Victron Quattro inverter/charger instead of charger-only. Any of these will put this issue to rest.

ciao!
Nick.
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Old 27-07-2011, 06:21   #184
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

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I've been advised that it is a firmware issue.

Imagine that! They must have done a lot of real world testing before releasing this product to market.
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Old 09-09-2011, 15:34   #185
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

I spoke with Shaun at Xantrex today and they know about the design defect with the Truecharge2 chargers, and are working on a fix (probably a firmware upgrade). The problem is that the software turns the fan off when in trickle mode. The temperature warning is set to come on at 50C and the fan temp sensor won't turn on the fan until the temp gets to 55-62C. The unit will shut down with a temp fault at 70C, which should never happen since the fan is running well before then. Remember, this is while the unit is in Trickle Mode, providing trickle charge to the batteries and DC power to the boat on demand up to it's rated capacity.

Shaun said they will probably have the fix in a couple of months, but they don't yet have the program for addressing the issue for current owners (like warranty exchanges or repairs, or whatever).

This is basically a nuisance indication, although it is accuratly indicating that the unit is getting warm. Once it goes into a different mode (charge, equalization, etc.) the fan will run and the unit will cool down.

Just acquired a Truecharge2 40A on Tuesday and installed it yesterday only to discover this defect. Except for the nuisance, it appears to be functioning just fine after a rigorous setup and checkout, charging all three banks. Guess I'll give the engineers at Xantrex an opportunity to correct their error and then see how good their customer service is with getting these units modified. -Rick
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Old 09-09-2011, 17:11   #186
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

I was just about to post that this is a firmware fault, and after reading the whole thread. Damm You Ricky at least I discovered it by going through the posts.

Quote:
I'm still not at end of job here. The marine electrician I've engaged has recommended wiring upgrades to address while acknowledging this charger has sensitive electronics. The tests he has run point to wiring in the boat as a source of the problem. Ie european boat.
SAilorman, Id dump that "marine electrician" as well, he obviously knows nothing, it was never a wiring fault ( nor the crazy fridge inverter theory, Im an elctronics engineer still laughing at that) ( oh and the description of PWM as well! )

I love the phrase ( its a problem because its a European boat, its kind of like that movie where some redneck mechanic say, I once fixed a jappeeeneese trannnsmission")

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Old 10-09-2011, 07:11   #187
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

If I was the Xantrex engineer responsible for developing the fix, I'd choose to replace the fan temp sensor (which is a redundant backup to the software control) with a unit that closes at 40-47C and leave the firmware alone. The logic seems okay, once the dumb temperature spread problem is resolved.

By the way, if anyone wants to confirm that this is only a nuisance warning in their own installation, try increasing the DC load on the charger while it is in trickle mode and warning an overtemp. Once the load gets high enough to heat the unit to the fan start point, the fan will come on, cool the unit, and the warning will extinguish.

It sounds as though the folks with the Fridge causing the warning are merely seeing a load on the unit that heats it just enough to set off the nuisance warning, but not enough to start the fan running. In my installation, turning on several cabin incandescent lights did the trick; the output went to 10% (still in trickle mode), the unit warmed a bit more, the fan came on and cooled the unit and the warning went out.
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Old 12-09-2011, 03:49   #188
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

This has been one of the most entertaining forum threads I've ever found...;-)
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Old 16-01-2012, 07:26   #189
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Re: Xantrex Battery Charger Overheating - Frigoboat Fridge

I have a xantrex 40amp charger and it went out in one week. I sent it back and they replaced it but i will never buy one again.
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