Weird Heart (Interface Link 2000) problem

[suiramor]

With shore power connected, the interface shows no lights for Status AC In, Charge, Accept or Float. However, its amp meter shows power coming in (+10-20A; it also shows power going out when shore power is disconnected, <-6A depending on what's on). I assume the issue is somewhere with the interface, rather than the charger/inverter (Freedom Marine 20; 200W, 100). Intermittently, the amp meter does not show amps coming in, only out. If I then press the Charge button on and off (its normally On), the current starts flowing in. Any ideas where do look for the issue?

[Stu Jackson]

I have a Link 2000, I installed in 2003.

IIRC, the only way the Link can know if AC is available is from the telephone cable from the back of the I/C, because it is the ONLY possible source of AC input since all other connections to the back of the Link are to the DC side.

I recommend you try unplugging the telephone cable and replugging it back in. I'd disconnect AC while doing so.

I also have an "enhanced" Link 2000 reset procedure if you're interested, pm me and we can set up an email transfer - I've done this for at least a half dozen skippers over the years.

[suiramor]

Are you saying that the phone wire signal is independent of the DC power charging or not (which would explain why it is charging yet not showing the status correctly). I will try that procedure when on the boat in the next few days and let you know. Thanks for your reply.

[suiramor]

I assume I can disconnect at the Freedom chargerside, right?

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by suiramor

Are you saying that the phone wire signal is independent of the DC power charging or not (which would explain why it is charging yet not showing the status correctly). I will try that procedure when on the boat in the next few days and let you know. Thanks for your reply.

I'm NOT saying the telephone wire is independent of anything. All I said was the ONLY connection in a Freedom/Link 2000 system to let the Link know anything AC is the telephone cable, because all other Link connections are DC (batteries).

Originally Posted by suiramor

I assume I can disconnect at the Freedom chargerside, right?

Two ends of the same wire. Just turn off the dockside breaker and/or unplug from shorepower because the Freedom has an ATS.


My Link I installed with easy access to its backside, whereas my Freedom is wall mounted, so that's why I would find disconnecting from the Link easier for me.


Good luck.

[smac999]

there should be a charge and invert light on the inverter itself too. do those change back and forth?

[suiramor]

OK, so I disconnected the phone wire from the interface and reconnected it again. After that, when I reconnected shore power, the Status lights were still all off and the amp meter was showing continuous DC draw (+-4A). I then pressed the Charge button to switch it off and then switched it on again. The Status lights remained unchanged but the amp meter switched to showing DC inflow (15A going down to 1A within a minute). Seems like my battery is being charged (V is high, 14V) but status indicators are not working.

[suiramor]

Latest update: I tried following a reset procedure @Stu sent me but failed on the 'unplug from power' step. Till now I do not know where my Heart Interface gets its power. I disconnected 3 wires with their own fuse from 3 battery sets (two are connected as 'house' and one is for the engine) but the interface was still lit up; there were too many of wires coming to the back of the interface to disconnect so eventually I gave up. I then looked at my Inverter/Charger, saw it has two little buttons for Charge/Invert (Charge was 'on'). I pressed the Charge twice (off then on) and now my interface is showing all expected indicators: AC IN, Charge (was showing Float for a while)! I am sure more qualified folks will understand what the system is doing. I am just glad it seems to be working, @Smac999, yes, the Charge and Invert work OK now as well.

[smac999]

The link 2000 serves 2 functions.

1. A battery monitor. It has voltage and shunt connections to read battery voltage and amps. This works even if you disconnect or replace the inverter / charger with a different brand. It’s simply a battery monitor and does not know what is charging or draining the battery.

2. A control for the inverter / charger. The phone jack cable will share info with the charger to Show status or control it.

Sounds like 1 works and 2 doesn’t.

It could be the screen, cable or inverter…. If it’s not the cable. Without spare parts to swap it would be hard to know if inverter or screen was issue.

Edit: I see you fixed it. So I guess ignor.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by suiramor

Latest update: I tried following a reset procedure @Stu sent me but failed on the 'unplug from power' step. Till now I do not know where my Heart Interface gets its power. I disconnected 3 wires with their own fuse from 3 battery sets (two are connected as 'house' and one is for the engine) but the interface was still lit up; there were too many of wires coming to the back of the interface to disconnect so eventually I gave up. I then looked at my Inverter/Charger, saw it has two little buttons for Charge/Invert (Charge was 'on'). I pressed the Charge twice (off then on) and now my interface is showing all expected indicators: AC IN, Charge (was showing Float for a while)! I am sure more qualified folks will understand what the system is doing. I am just glad it seems to be working, @Smac999, yes, the Charge and Invert work OK now as well.

The following is the exchange of emails we had:





Hi Stu,

I just posted an update on my issue on Cruising forum. Thanks for all your advice. In the end – and I hope this is not just a short term relief – pressing the Charge button on the Freedom Marine chager/inverter unit itself did the trick. The Cgarge light was On when I got to it, just to see what happens I pressed it to Off. That showed as ‘Charge off’ (not illuminated) on the remote interface as well. When I pressed it to ‘on’ both the charger/inverter unit was showing Charge on and the remote Heart Interface lit Charge to on AND ‘AC In’, ‘Float’ (after a while Float changed to Charge).
I thought I will give you all the detail in case you can make sense of it and since you already know so much about this perhaps another poor soul can benefit from your advice. Thanks,


My reply:


Good to hear from you, and glad you are back in business. I did see your post of CF. It appears from your post there and your email here that your Freedom unit is somewhat different than mine, which is a Freedom 15, purchased in 1998. IIRC, my Freedom unit doesn't have buttons, rather a rocker switch for I or C. If your unit and mine are the same vintage, I believe the features between a F15 & F20 would not occur; your Freedom unit seems to be different than mine, so different vintages? Since we were focusing on your Link, it never occurred to me to suggest looking at the Freedom. Good for you!


I do recall from back when I installed the Link after having just the Freedom in operation for a few years that is was important to have the Freedom switch (on mine) in the right position or else the Link wouldn't work properly. Maybe that was part of your issue. You might want to see if you can find the Freedom unit manual online if you don't have your manual. When Xantrex took over Heart they archived the manuals, but there were at least three different models of the same sized Freedoms over the years.