Inverter inop / charge side

[Dennis Kitchens]

The battery charger on my inverter quit working. The inverter works fine runs fan operates all accessaries  normal. I have all new batteries installed and they show 12.7 volts. I have checked the fuse near the battery and cleaned cables. all are good. The inverter is a Freedom 20D and  they don't make them or parts  anymore. Xaatrex 458 is suppose to be the replacement for a generious fee. Is it possible for me to install a battery tender next to it. I have an outlet to plug it in to next to the plug in for the inverter. Then I want to run the charging cables to the battery and hard wire them in. It would now be permenetly installed. I would have to make the cables a little longer to reach.

Now by doing this I should have my charging circut when pluged into ground power and when running the generator. Any chance of hurting anything?
My one concern is if the charger side of the inverter started working again after being bounced around although I doubt that will happen.  

Happy Thansgiving everyone,
Dennis

[Gerald Farris]

Dennis,
The only negative that I can think of in your plan is the fact that nearly all battery maintainers are not built for the purpose that you are planning to use one for. Most battery maintainers are designed  to keep a battery bank charged that does not have a load. For this reason they can not charge the batteries at a rate high enough to keep the batteries charged when you are living in the coach if you use a lot of 12 volt lighting.

There is also the problem of recharging the batteries with the generator when you are dry camped. If you maintainer will only charge at a 20 amp rate, the maintainer will not be charging the batteries since you will be using that much current with normal activates (TV, satellite box, lights, ect).

If you use a high output battery charger that will charge at a rate high enough (100 amps) for your purposes, most of them do not have a float stage and they will overcharge and damage your batteries.

However if you find a battery maintainer that will charge at 100 amps and will automatically switch to float charge when the batteries are charged so that it will not overcharge your batteries, your plan will work.

Gerald

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Dennis,

You probably saw this. a NIB 458 on Craig's list for $700
http://daytona.craigslist.org/rvd/3343533089.html

Good Luck,  Steve

[Dennis Kitchens]

Thanks Gerald, You gave me some things to think about so I probably will just get a new one.

Thanks for the info Steve. I had not seen that add. I think I will call on that for more info. If it will work I will be all over that one.

Dennis

[David T. Richelderfer]

Go here:  http://www.google.ca/advanced_search

In "Find Pages With...  All these Words," place the word "inverter."  You may also include other words to narrow your search.

In "Then Narrow Your Search Results By... Site or Domain," place "Craigslist.org."  You may also put simply ".org" or any other words or actual sites to expand your search.

There are lots of inverters, new and used, for sale in Craigslist...  but only a few are suitable for a larger RV.  This advanced search routine allows you to search in the whole USA in one search instead of going through Craigslist, for example, city by city.

This is primarily how I searched for coaches for sale all this past Spring and Summer.  I found dozens and dozens for sale... and many in sites that I would have never thought to look.  Some days I spent hours looking at coaches for sale.

[Edward Buker]

Dennis,

Gerald's comments are spot on as usual... I read this info on the web in a sailboat forum (next paragraph) and have no idea if it would be your problem but given the expense it may be worth a try. To clean contact surfaces a useful tool is the old typewriter eraser shaped like a pencil that you sharpened. Regarding your charger starting back up and causing an issue, there would be nothing damaging that would happen if two chargers were on at the same time but that is not to say that it is a good practice. The voltages and charge profiles that each charger uses ar not likely to be the same and therefor may not work effectively together. If this was to happen then shut one of them off. That being said, there are reasons they integrate inverter chargers with a single control system and auto switching for convenience and wiring simplification.

From the forum:
Had a freedom 20 and 2000R. Charger died. Was in Cartegena. Electronic wis there told me it was the small card edge conecter. I removed the small card. Cleaned the card edge and the socket. Put a small amount of silcon dielectric grease on it and put it back. Worked ever since. About 6 years. The later models have gold plated contacts so not as much of a problem. Don't know if it is your problem but won't hurt to try.

This place has some parts and service for inverters and may be someone to discuss this issue with. Not sure they will have service for this unit but they should be well familiar with it at this stage of the game. In most cases it seems that replacement becomes more viable than repair due to the over priced charges for repair work these days...sad but true. Good luck with this.

http://www.inverterservicecenter.com/

Later Ed