re-posting for help...or just ideas

Just an update...was able to talk with some folks 'in the know' on how to determine where my problem was (with my inverters reading overload, even after changing the house batteries). After disabling the output and rechecking for an overload indicator, it's clear the board or something on the inverter is bad. This is a Freedom 25/24 that is at least 15 years old...maybe more. So...I've got a new trace 36/24 on the way.

So best I can tell...the swap out doesn't look like it'll be too bad...any thoughts or suggestions as I approach this next week?

--the inverter should be here today...since I've never done this..anyone have any suggestions or guidance on how best to change/swap these? Anything to be aware of?

Rod,

Never have done an inverter upgrade. The only things that comes to mind are:

Size of the battery cables feeding the inverter may need to go up in size.
The AC lines and breakers going to the inverter may need to be bigger?

I would think that the new inverter could draw more DC amps from the batteries when inverting and pull more AC amps from shore power when charging and passing AC thru.

I would check the installation manual closely for wire sizing going in and coming out of the new inverter.

Rod,

I changed one of my inverters a few months ago. It was not an upgrade. As a safety measure, make sure you have all the 120V, 12V and 24V circuits disconnected/disabled before you start the procedure. I took pictures, made notes, and labeled every wire as I disconnected it so I would know exactly where it went during reassembly.

Good info...appreciate from both of you. It looks pretty direct, the biggest question is the size of the wiring, but even that looks like it'll be good. Will let folks know what the outcome is!

Rod-

There's a guy in Goshin, IN named Leon Bontriger that is an authorized Heart / Trace tech (or was 7 years ago when I was there) and he might be willing to give you some phone help / tips on changing it out if the advice you collected here thus far is not sufficient or you just want to double check.
http://www.homeandmobileenergy.com/ (574)825-4800 He might also be able to salvage that inverter if if someone else on POG has a use for it. He had a bunch of old parts inverers so might very well have the board or what ever it needs in his shop. Maybe someone could use it on there Boat, etc. There's a place in Sarasota near me called Inustrial Standard Technology that will look at anything and only charge you $25 if the can't fix it. They repaired my onboard 24 volt battery charger for $40.

If you don't want it, I might pay the shipping to send it here and let them take a stab at fixing it. I bet my 94 Angola uses the same inverter and could have it as a spare (assuming you were going to 69 it. Or bring it to OKC if your going.

Rod,

I have 2500 Freedom inverters (2) in my coach. I have decided to upgrade the inverters to Magnums. I am trying to limp along until winter and then do the upgrade. The Magnums have an interface panel that provides much more information than my Freedom 2500s.

My inverters work, but are old technology. When I replace my batteries, I will upgrade the inverters.

Giving exact details of how to upgrade the inverter package would be tricky for me. But Dale comment on marking all wiring and pictures makes good sense to me.

Good Luck.

Hector

Ok...so to refresh. A couple months ago I noticed that my house batteries were just not holding any charge and couldn't run any time on the house only. By isolating I found that 3 of the 4 were bad...not a good sign.

I hooked those back up and found that my inverter was in overload. After doing some diagnostic with the manual, it looked as if the batteries were in such bad state, they were causing a fault. So...of to get 4 new batteries and get them installed. Hooked everything back up...still a fault on the overload. After lots of checking, changing and slamming things around, I talked to an inverter guru from the board here who advised me to clip the output and see if there was still an overload, and if so, likely the board or some part of the unit was bad. I did..it was. The decision was whether to send off a 15+ year old inverter and spend 600-700$ to fix it, or buy a new one. The old was a 2500/24 Freedom, so I decided a new one was in order.

I did decide to take advantage of the situation and upgrade it from a 2500 to a larger unit. I found a trace 3600 that was about the same price for the 2500 Xantrax units (somewhere around 1200-1400). While looking I also checked out e-bay to see if there was anything there...and sure enough found a brand new, till warranty bound 3600 for $899. It arrived this past Wednesday and Friday was the install day.

Now...the story. As soon as I saw it out of the box...I was worried. It was longer than my other, and I was afraid it wouldn't fit where the old unit was mounted. But then I remembered that the 8D batteries were all running the same way, and it wasn't any longer than those. When I opened the bay...what I had not remembered was that the place the inverter was sitting didn't go back as far because the blower unit (I think that's what it is) from the generator is there. So yep...no chance it would fit. The only thing I could do was reconfigure the battery bay, moving things in a different orientation to allow this unit to either sit sideways or on the side where a batter was and have room. I decided to make it a sideways mount...easier access to the controls.

After the disassembly and relocation, I started hooking up all the AC side in and outs, then the DC runs. Once everything was done, I fired it up...and it works great! Just used on a short trip out..no issues with the transfer between inverter and charging...no issues with running on the batteries. I'm pretty impressed.

Now...to some of you, this would be a walk in the park...for me....it's quite the accomplishment. :)

My gosh, Rod, you could have paid someone to do the same job for two or three grand and done your part for the economy. I'd bet you would have gotten a chance to visit with the repair shop several times over a fix like you did.
WELL DONE !!!

Rod,

We have become accustomed to pictures accompanying such fine (successful) projects such as this. So come on give, where are the pictures?

I will work on the pics! Good idea!

Congratulations on a successful project!

As my inverters are approaching the decade mark, I'm sure a very similar project will be in my future before too long.

Rod - nice job! Not sure I have the huevos to take on a task like that. Still in recovery from basic circuit theory fresh year of engineering school.:o

Thanks guys..suprisingly everything went very smooth. The trace is an easy design to work with, the battery compartment...that was fun. I really like how the trace unit works to fluctuate the power management based on what's being used. I ran the batteries without any type of charge for more than 6 hours yesterday, not a ton of a load, but some. Still was at ~ 70%...so I'm liking the way they're working right now.

Rod, How did the control panel change out work? Any issues with wire size or number of wires to the controller?

Sounds like you get an "atta boy". Good job.

Actually this unit has an optional panel that I have not received yet. They are both on the RJ11 cable set up though. Looks to again be a very easy upgrade. Once I have that we'll see...worst case is to have to change the wire pairs used in the set up.