Mixing Xantrex and Freedom

Anyone see any issues with adding a xantrex 3012 for the house bank and a Freedom 25 with link2000 for the starting bank?

1. I know you can't mix a xanbus w old school Freedom/Heart on same circuit.
2. I've got two 30 amp intakes and apparently the 2nd is just not connected.
3. Was contemplating the SW3012 for the house on intake 1 and the Freedom 25/Link on intake two charging the Starting Bank.
4. Why? Because I have them... two: because I want to run twin 16k btu a/c units and my poor KK42 was OEM with no a/c. Electrician is telling me I need a complete rewrite to 50amp to run them.

Thoughts? Pros or Cons?

rnummi said:

Anyone see any issues with adding a xantrex 3012 for the house bank and a Freedom 25 with link2000 for the starting bank?

1. I know you can't mix a xanbus w old school Freedom/Heart on same circuit.
2. I've got two 30 amp intakes and apparently the 2nd is just not connected.
3. Was contemplating the SW3012 for the house on intake 1 and the Freedom 25/Link on intake two charging the Starting Bank.
4. Why? Because I have them... two: because I want to run twin 16k btu a/c units and my poor KK42 was OEM with no a/c. Electrician is telling me I need a complete rewrite to 50amp to run them.

Thoughts? Pros or Cons?

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My only question is why use a inverter/charger for the start bank.

Even if you have it, I see no need. I would use the 3012 on the house bank, and a ACR between the house and start banks.

On the AC side of the 3012 you could wire it between your main 30A breaker and your panel. The only risk there is if the internal Transfer Switch fails you would be DOA. To overcome this I would add a 30A shore-gen selector switch.

Then use the link 2000 to determine and display SOC for the house bank.

What I would do with the 2nd 30A inlet is to dedicate it to AC loads. The challenge is how to pwer the AC when under way. To do that you'll have to have a shore-gen selector switch that combines the shore power inlets when on generator power. Piece of cake.

I hear folks squak about Xantrex here but I have had a 3012 installed and I use the heck out of it for 6 years now. Great inverter/charger. It's a beast at something like 75 pounds.

ksanders said:

I hear folks squak about Xantrex here but I have had a 3012 installed and I use the heck out of it for 6 years now. Great inverter/charger.

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Yes they make great products. Some say QA was better in the past.

However I find their overall corporate CS attitude really sucks when it comes to getting out of warranty service on what they consider "disposable consumer-level" gear.

Sometimes you can find an authorised third-party service center willing to give it a try, but they often just can't get replacement components without say cannibalizing other units.

Magnum, Vanner, Samlex and Victron seem to be a bit better in that regard, but I could be wrong.

Each shore power inlet should go thru a shore/gen/off switch. You can wire an inverter to each. Both can charge the house bank at the same time. The less agressive charge profile will back down first. Starting can be charged thru a number of devices, your xantrex may even have the 20amp echo charge output for that.

This way when the gen is running you can use both to charge the house batts quicker and load gen more effectively.

If any of this is confusing, consider at least having a marine electrician draw you a diagram, and verify it when you are done wiring!

I agree with Ksanders. I have a Xantrex 5012 charger that in my opinion is very much over rated. Sure, it charges 50 amperes bulk for a few minutes then the charging current rapidly drops off down to the 20s. Three stage? That is really an over reach for this thing.

I also have a 24v Freedom that I use for charging a 24v bank dedicated to my anchor windlass along with using some of the energy for lighting via the Freedom's inverter. But the Freedom really charges bulk/absorption until the batteries are ready for float. I have not actually measured the Freedom's charge current but I do watch the AC ampere meter that powers it during charge and it remains steady and then drops off to almost nothing after a couple of hours.

I would swap the Xantrex with the Freedom.

You may well be observing the bank's amps acceptance dropping as SoC rises.

That has nothing to do with the quality of the charger.

Same as the transition from Bulk/CC to Absorb/CV.

Two voltage setpoints, one for the above transition, and one for Float, makes three stages.

john61ct said:

You may well be observing the bank's amps acceptance dropping as SoC rises.

That has nothing to do with the quality of the charger.

Same as the transition from Bulk/CC to Absorb/CV.

Two voltage setpoints, one for the above transition, and one for Float, makes three stages.

Click to expand...

I doubt it had anything to do with acceptance based on the acceptance from my solar. And setpoints--- they are set by Xantrex and not adjustable. I purchased the Xantrex with the presumption that it would provide a high recharge current to get my batteries back up and minimize my genny run time. That was not the case. Yes, the Xantrex still sits in my power cabinet but only for solar backup. Even my puny 145 watt poly panels worked flawlessly doing recharging

Sorry John, I have no love for Xantrex and I do share your feelings posted above pertaining to dealing with them.

Xantrex in now Schneider Electric. I had a problem with my unit---it would not come out of bulk charge. I called their support line. A woman stepped me through various tests using the Xanbus control panel and concluded that the unit needed to be sent to them for repair.

I decided to remove all power to the unit, let it sit for 10 minutes and powered it up. Has worked perfectly ever since. Now that's great tech support.

Xantrex used to be a local company that made great products, now they are in the Walmart level of products, change them regularly and dont support them when they are obsolete. I took a Xantrex Freedom 25 to the metal recycler because Xantrex won't release the circuit diagrams and its too heavy to ship to the very elusive repairers who try to make these work again. When I called them, they just said "sorry."

I'm completely done with Xantrex, they need to prove to me that $2000 for an inverter that lasts as long as the warranty is a good buy.

Xantrex-Freedom

That all may be true.... that being said... I have a complete Zantrex Xanbus System..and a complete Freedom 25/Link2000 system in storage... and a boat that has neither.

There is no harm in "mixing" them in different parts of an electrical system, just like a Victron can be installed alongside MasterVolt.

Just don't expect them to coordinate or communicate with each other.

Two chargers' outputs can both go to the same bank.

The same (large) bank can feed two inverters' input.

I advise you to get a qualified marine sparkie to at least supervise your work, do an inspection before you head out to sea.