Fried my Xantrex inverter today

[Seayfam]

Hi all,
Today I went out to the bus and started it. After running for about 15min. I started to smell electrical smoke.     I shut everything down and searched for the problem "After I changed my shorts"   I found smoke coming out of my $3,500 Xantrex Prosine 3.0 inverter. This is just out of warranty. It has worked flawlessly prior to this.

Does anybody know anything about xantrex inverters? If so.. Is it rebuildable? Does xantrex have a bad reputation on this prosine 3.0? Is there something with the bus that could have caused this? What kind of 24v sinewave inverter would you recommend if I have to replace it?

I'm at a loss right now, and not very happy with Xantrex. This inverter is just over two years old and only has one summer on it. Warranty is only good for 2yrs.

Any help would be great help!!
Thanks

Gary

[Brassman]

$3.5k for 2 years=one expensive inverter. I sure hope this isn't a "hidden cost" in Xantrex inverters.

[happycamperbrat]

I dont know..... but Im kinda in the market (or close to being in the market) for an inverter. This story scares the heck outta me for the prosine 3 which is one of the ones I was considering.....

[belfert]

I had problems with the transfer relay in my Xantrex Prosine 3.0 two years ago.  I talked to Xantrex and they are no longer repairing them out of warranty.  I talked to a number of Xantrex authorized service places and none of them could work on a Prosine.  One dealer said Xantrex never provided any wiring diagrams or anything for the Prosine 3.0.

Somebody told me that Xantrex was actually shipping container loads of Prosine inverters to China to get them fixed.  When someone asked to have a Prosine fixed Xantrex just shipped the customer a repaired Prosine and held onto to the broken Prosine until the next container went to China.

A friend of mine was able to take my relay apart and clean up the contacts.  I am now very careful to remove all load before the inverter has to transfer power.

$3,500 is a lot of money for a Prosine 3.0.  I paid $800 for mine, but it was a factory refurb.  New ones were going for about $1,800 at the time.

[Seayfam]

$3,500 is a lot of money for a Prosine 3.0.  I paid $800 for mine, but it was a factory refurb.  New ones were going for about $1,800 at the time

I live in Alaska, they stick it to us up here. Today I paid 4.41 for a gallon of Diesel. I sure wish I could get one for even 1,800. I looked on line today and found a new one on sale for 2,570 and would still have to pay shipping. Now I'm not sure I want to buy another one, unless I can get a refurbished for 800.00

Is there another brand that is comparable to this one that has a good reputation?

Thanks,

Gary

[happycamperbrat]

Magnum and Outback are supposed to be good..... but so was Xantrex....

[pvcces]

We had one of the Prosines and had the same trouble; the transfer switch failed. There is no mystery to these relays and new ones are readily available.

If you take a picture of the relay before removing it, it should not be much of a problem to to replace it. Dressing the contacts works, but may require repeat treatments.

It's obvious that this item did not have the best of engineering. Shutting the inverter off before plugging into shore power might prevent damage to the contacts; it's easy and I recommend it.

For what it's worth.

Tom Caffrey

[Joe Camper]

They repaired one I sent them last month.

Did not switch it repaired the one we had and sent it back.

Very painless UPS picked up the next day it was back in less than a week.

That said I wouldn't buy one this one was less than 1 yr old.

[bevans6]

FWIW I  decided, after an inordinate amount of thought, to go with a Samlex inverter that doesn't have a built in transfer switch and doesn't have a built in charger.  I pieced those together from the best of each that I could find.  I chose the Samlex, at the end of the day, for a couple of reasons beyond it's being a direct connect 3K watt pure sine, remote controllable unit - Samlex is a Canadian company with engineering in Vancouver (same as Xantrex used to be, wonder if there is a clue there) that has off-shore manufacturing, and CN Rail, one of the two large Canadian rail way companies, had selected them for installation in their service trucks.  I figured if they won a serious engineering company procurement exercise, I might as well tag along with that.

Brian

[belfert]

We had one of the Prosines and had the same trouble; the transfer switch failed. There is no mystery to these relays and new ones are readily available.

I had a heck of a time finding a replacement relay of the same part number.  I don't remember all the details, but I seem to recall it had to be special ordered.  It doesn't help that the relay is soldered.

My friend cleaned up the contacts and it has worked for two years now.

[belfert]

If Xantrex is fixing the Prosine 3.0 again that is good news.  They told me two years ago in no uncertain terms that they were no longer repairing them out of warranty.

It does appear the price on the Prosine 3.0 has gone way up although I found one place that supposedly sells them for $1200.  The $800 price on a reconditioned unit is long gone as far as I know.  Xantrex had a whole batch of units that they had to replace the transfer relays on.  Supposed they never got shipped to customers before being fixed, but had to be marked reconditioned due to being opened up after being boxed up.

I would get a Magnum Energy inverter if you buy a new one.  They are still made in the USA.  The MS4024 inverter is a 4000 watt 24 volt sinewave unit.  There is a marine place online that sells them for under $1800.  I had gotten a price from I think Inverter Sales and Service 615-285-0611 that was real good.  I was going to buy one if I couldn't fix the Prosine.

[Geoff]

I would look for a older Trace unit-- I have a Trace SW2512MC and it has worked flawlessly for over 10 years and has been running the whole time.  It is always hooked up-- either on shore power, battery power, or generator power.  Everyone says Xantrex cheapened the product when they took over Trace.

[Lin]

Although I would not say that I would not buy a Zantrex product, I must say that I am very distrustful of the company.  They basically gobbled up several reputable companies like Heart and Trace, etc. so that the Zantrex brand covers all inverters from schlock to good.  I would rather deal with a company that actually had a real connection to the product beyond its ability to generate income.  Hopefully, my Trace 2512 continues to hold up.  If it ever needed service, I am sure Zantrex would not support it.  By comparison, if you have a problem with an old, discontinued Vanner product, they would still try to help.

[Seayfam]

My friend cleaned up the contacts and it has worked for two years now

I think I'm going to take mine apart today and see what smoked. I might try and clean up the contacts and give it a try. Do you think the transfer switch would have made that much smoke?

It sounds like there is a problem with the 3.0 and Xantrex should recall it. (The darn thing could cause a fire and they should stand by their product)

If I have to replace it, I will definitely stay away from Xantrex!

Gary

[belfert]

I think I'm going to take mine apart today and see what smoked. I might try and clean up the contacts and give it a try. Do you think the transfer switch would have made that much smoke?

A welded transfer relay merely causes an error code to pop up on the LCD display and the inverter to cease functioning.  No smoke or anything.

I think you have something far more serious than a transfer relay.