inverter documentation needed

JohnEd · January 04, 2010, 12:41:37 AM

My Zantrex inverter is down. It is a Freedom 3,000. Does anybody know anybody that can get me a schematic and maybe a parts list? Illustrated parts breakdown? Trouble shooting guide? I have the owners manual and installation guide from the web. I'll pay!

Thank you,

John

Sean · January 04, 2010, 06:40:48 AM

John,

Xantrex has never published that kind of information. They consider it proprietary. The documents you already found on their web site are the best you can do.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

JohnEd · January 04, 2010, 10:47:36 AM

Sean,

Boy is that bad news. I talked to two different fact auth repair shops and they both wanted 1,200 dollars to repair something they had not seen. One shop told me about a factory sponsored program where people that really needed their inverter could send it in and they would send out a "new" inverter and after they looked at yours and determined it's repairability they would finalize the charges and either send yours back repaired or "let" you keep the new one. $1,800 up front....no questions asked. The max repair charge was to be the full $1,800 "plus". Get that part? You could pay more to have it repaired than to purchase new at fool factory price.

Now is that the doing of the fat cat proprietary megabuck corps? I don't think so but it is their corp policy that drives this thing. When Zantrex was eating up Heart Inverters and all the others , mine has Heart's logo on it, nobody was crying foul and sounding alarm bells about how this would lead to a monopoly and price gouging. Or decrying the system failure that results from a lack of Yankee Competition. The Fed can step in and "stop" this kind of consolidation in any industry but it never raised a peep about this one. One of the ways this works is for the "buyer" to pay with stock that will escalate in price after the price gouging begins. Bring on those Chinese price choppers and never forget that the "Fedral Gummint" is the real enemy to our freedoms. Gag, retch!!!!

So, nobody out there have a bootleg copy?

?

Thanks Sean....my worst fears are being realized,

John

Sean · January 04, 2010, 03:28:19 PM

This is a long shot... This guy is an ex-Trace guy who repairs and refurbishes Xantrex equipment. I don't know how he is with the ex-Heart stuff:

Edo Gebenini
(206) 459-5609

Give him a call and see what he can do for your inverter.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

JohnEd · January 04, 2010, 04:01:22 PM

Sean,

Thank you. I'll try him tomorrow.

This inverter was made for analysis/trouble shooting. It has huge multi pin connectors on each card. On the other hand it is made from a single sheet of sheet metal that is both heat sync and support frame. It is twisted around almost everything in there and only the internal fuses are easily asccessable. It will take be 45 in on the bench to even get to the parts that I can see are fried. I don't know what happened or why but there are 4 10 gage stranded wires hanging free and one has a jumper with a crimp connector on it. That disconnect is on two totally different locations on the unit.

The transformer "windings" are made of flat, single conductor, "RIBBON" wire that I have never even heard of and windings seem to be ganged.

?? Lots of solid state circuitry and components I can't even begin to identify. Still, I can see three badddddly burned SCRs(

) and one that has separated from the heat sync. They are marked and I can no doubt get replacements. Now to buy my temp controlled iron, adjustable of course. I can hand over hand it and maybe get it working after I find out what the parts are. I may take this op to learn how to take and forward pics....to you maybe. I am without doubt that you are not either.

Thanks for your help and I will let you know how the guy you referred works out.

John

bobofthenorth · January 04, 2010, 05:03:32 PM

John Ashton in Calgary did some work on my Freedom 25 this spring. John is trying to be retired but he likes working too much. (403) 212-1388

JohnEd · January 05, 2010, 11:12:25 AM

Sean,

Edo is nothing short of a breath of fresh air. And so far I have only talked to him. Down to earth and "here to help". I'll keep you informed. Thank Yeeeeewww.

Bob,

I am holding that guy you referred me to in reserve at this point. Thank you very much, none the less.

John

JohnEd · January 06, 2010, 02:04:06 AM

Well Edo was even more than encouraging. While we talked I gave him info and he referred to his books. He located all the wires I had found disconnected and had some idea of the proper hookup. While looking around and under stuff I noticed that the main PC board was sitting uneven and upon closer inspection found the main connector was miss aligned and only about 30% of the pins were engaged. Edo had already told me that the burned up FETs would "limit" my battery charging current. AND he shared that the most expensive board in the charger costs $200. His final comment was that with none of the fuses blown and the plug problem and the simple wire disconnects we could probably get it running. Speaking of GOOD news. I get schematics tomorrow....hopefully.

Sean · January 06, 2010, 05:39:51 AM

John, I'm really glad Edo has been able to help you. He has always come through for me, and is my go-to guy for all things Xantrex. Since he was from the Trace side of the house, I did not know if he had all the documentation from the Heart side, but sounds like he does and I will keep that in mind.

Let us know how it all turns out.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

pvcces · January 06, 2010, 06:51:47 PM

Sean, do you think I ought to bother him for repair of a Link 2000?

Thanks.

Tom Caffrey

Sean · January 06, 2010, 07:28:04 PM

Could not hurt to just ask. Is it the inverter remote or the battery monitor portion that's busted?

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

pvcces · January 06, 2010, 08:08:31 PM

Hi, Sean.

It's the display unit; it has some unintended operation. There are actually two different ones with two different problems.

One unit does not have any status row lights working and may have other problems. The other will not work on 24 volts and the 5 and 10 amp power sharing functions are inoperative. The 15 amp works fine.

The last time that Xantrex was approached on the problem, they were not helpful, according to our friend. He reported that they suggested buying a new unit for $500 as the only thing that could be done.

The last time I contacted them, they did try to repair ours, but it was an anemic effort. They were a lot better before Xantrex became firmly entrenched in the operation of the company.

I'll see what Edo has to say.

Thanks.

Tom Caffrey