Xantrex Freedom 2000 not Charging

[ric8138]

I have a 4 year old Xantrex Freedom 2000 Inverter Charger in my boat. I switch power sources from my panel with a Newmar switch (Off, Gen, Shore, Inv). I am at a new marina for the weekend and with shore power on, the charger is not working. I start the genset and turn switch to "gen" and it charges the batteries like normal. The Voltage IN is 125V 20+ amps. Switch back to shore power and Voltage shows 121 V zero Amps, and no charging taking place. Tried another pedestal, same result. Single set of mains connection the unit to the AC panel, so i don't think it's a loose connection anywhere on the unit side of the switch. Any thoughts?

[model 10]

In your service manual you will see there is a little fuse inside the unit, could be that..

[smac999]

If it works on gen and not shore. Then you have a marina power issue or wiring issue between shore plug and selector switch.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure how you can run that switch with an inverter charger. Normally you'd have an inverter only with that setup. As it'll switch the output Of inverter with shore and gen. You'd also need a switch to select gen or shore for the input. Unless it's a huge quad pole switch doing both at once

But I guess it works at other marinas and you know how to switch it?

[ric8138]

Dock master just came by with a tester and says we are showing "reverse polarity". We tried switching things around and when I disconnected from shore power the reverse polarity went away on his tester. Plugged back in, and it returned. Turned off AC breaker to inverter charger and reverse polarity gone on tester, so it appears to be an issue with the inverter charger unit itself.

And yes, the Newmar switch is a large 4 gang custom switch that connects the 2 sides (busses) of the AC panel to the two legs of the 50A incoming circuit, 2 legs from the genset, and 1 bus to the inverter for essential items only when on the hook.

[smac999]

but you said the inverter charger works on gen?

where are you testing for reverse pol? I woudln't trust a dock guy much.

if you are testing at the pedistal and it is changing when you plug in or out, that is impossible. and that would more likly be a bad netreal in the dock wiring.


if you are testing a boat plug. then when unpluged it shows good (because you are powered from inverter) and pluged in shows bad (plug getting power from dock), and plugged in but inverter breaker turned off (getting power from inverter) then dock is reverse pol, boat wiring is fine, and dock guy is a dumb ass.

[ric8138]

More detail...

When we plugged in last night, it looked like the inverter/charger was not charging right. The Xantrex panel on my boat showed AC in 121V but Zero Amps load. The DC side was showing 12.7V, -4Amps, so the batteries were not charging, they were actually discharging. Normally this would show like 13.2 V and +80A going into the batteries (charging). No Fault codes or warnings.

This morning the dock master comes around and says that another boat was complaining about RP. He sticks his tester into the 30A socket (we are plugged into the 50A) on the pedestal and it shows RP. We unplug from pedestal, no RP, we plug back into pedestal, RP again. We stay plugged in and turn off breaker feeding inverter charger, RP gone, we turn it back on, tester shows RP. Welded contacts in I/C? All AC circuits functioning normally, lights, appliances, Air Conditioning all fine.

[smac999]

you can't change polarity of the pedestal by plugging a boat in. if he is only using a test light, throw it out and get a voltmeter. a bad dock netreal will cause a light to turn on under load. the only way to know is with a voltmeter. testing across all 3 lines. (or 4 lines for 240v / 50a)

the only other option is maybe your inverter output is back feeding into the shore plug input. this should not happen at all if the boat is wired correctly. and would not be corrected by turning off an inverter input breaker, but by turning off the inverter output breaker.

if a problem on the boat was actully causing wires to swap lines and backfeed to the input you'd be blowing breakers everywhere.

if the boat was working fine untill you showed up at this marina. and somebody else is complaining too. and it's working with the gen. I would just wait and try at the next marina and see if it works. you said you'll only there for the weekend anyways. if it doesn't work at the next marina then maybe you'll have to hire someone too look into it properlly


you still haven't answered clearly if the charger is working off the gen. but I think you said that in first post.

[boatbod]

The problem is being caused by a bad neutral at the dock pedestal. When you plug in, the rise in voltages on the boat side of the broken neutral connection causes the reverse polarity light to illuminate.

Tell the dockmaster he needs a SureTest 61-164 or 61-165. With one of those he'll be able to see the status and impedance of each wire as well as voltage drop under load etc.

[ric8138]

Thanks all. It's now Sunday AM, and we are ready to head home. I will plug in there and post results.

BTW, yes, the charger works fine when the panel switch is turned to Gen and I run the genset.

I specifically went with a manual, custom made Newmar switch, rather using the Xantrex internal switch-over as they were noted to be somewhat problematic. The switch is idiot proof and in inverter position it only powers the bus on the AC panel with the low draw circuits we use on the hook, so basically the crew cannot use the electric stove top accidentally when on inverter power.

[Symphony]

your custom Newmar switch sounds like super smart idea.

[tinkrman69]

did you check the neutral on your shore power cable? A/C lights and what not will run on reverse polarity. not safely tho.

[ric8138]

OK, back in home port, plugged in all functioning perfectly as always here. Detail I left out was that the RP indicators on my panel never went on either.

Gotta be the wiring at the transient dock.

There was a big transformer on the dock that was buzzing so loud I could hear it all night. I wonder if that's related?

[boatbod]

Transformers buzz - that's normal. I'd suspect either a wiring problem at the pedestal, or a partially tripped breaker on the pedestal feeder. (Multi-pole breakers aren't supposed to partially trip, but it can happen...)