Xantrex DR Issues

[DaneT16]

Hi All,

Long time listener, first time caller. Appreciate having read these forums for the last two years, I've learned a lot. I have a 1978 Hatteras 43' Sportfisher, and aboard I have a 2004 Xantrex DR series inverter charger aboard. Two 1-year old 8D Dyno house batteries and one Duracell 8D start battery.

Here's my issue:

While underway our DC Voltage dropped to 6. Everything but the engines shut down (Twin CAT3116TAs). Put the volt meter on the batteries while underway (+14V) so the alternators are changing.

Disconnected the DC input to the Inverter, AC inputs to reset it. No luck.

Check DV Voltage at the terminals connecting to the inverter w/ the engines on, but disconnected from the inverter: 13+ V, engines off: 12.7V. AC voltage coming into the unit is 122V when shore main is on.

When I'm on shore power I have to manually charge the batteries to get the inverter to switch on and produce AC power to the panel. Without doing that, all three Red lights flash on the front of the unit in sequence (1...2...3 left to right) and DC Voltage stays at 6 (while connected to the batteries). I've tried every resource online I can find, watched a ton of YouTube videos, read the manual, and can't seem to find an answer. It's like it doesn't recognize there are DC batteries there to complete the circuit and it's trying to charge them at 6V.

Starting to think the unit it toast, but wanted to exhaust every alternative before shelling out a grand for a pro mariner pure sine wave replacement.

Appreciate the help.

Best,
Dane

[smac999]

how did the battery drop to 6v while underway if the Alts are out putting 14v.

Sounds like they are charging the engine batteries and not the hiuse batteries. ?

If the batteries are at 6v. The inverter charger may not kick in that low. You’ll have to boost them with something else. Then it’ll probably kick in.

If you are reading 6v at the inverter charger wires. It’s connected to a dead battery. That’s why you have to manually do something (Parellel?) to make it kick on and pass through ac

Measure the battery voltage of all the batteries. I bet you’ll find one at 6v. The voltage at the inverter has to be the same as the voltage at the battery. Unless it’s a switch off, fuse blown, or bad wiring under load

[DaneT16]

Disconnected all three batteries and measured voltage: 2 house batteries and 1 start battery. All at 12.7V.

Reconnected everything back up, but did not connect the DC into the inverter: 12.7V at the cables.

Connect it to the inverter, voltage goes from 6-12 on the panel and at the batteries, spiking up and down.

Put the hydrometer on each of the 24 cells, all test good.

Any thoughts?

[smac999]

Sounds like your batteries are toast. Or your inverter is shorting and drawing massive currents. (Hopefully it’s fused...). You need a clamp meter to figure that out. Or a battery monitor. You need to know how many amp draw is causing the house bank to drop from 12 to 6. Assuming that 6v is also measured at the battery posts