I have a #20 charger inverter on my sailboat. It has worked fine for several years. This winter, I replaced the battery bank with 4 Trojan T-105. Batteries are fully charged, new battery wiring and connectors but when plugged in to 120V, at the dock, the charger makes a periodic "clunk" as it seems to engage and disengage. Concurrently, the monitor panel shows the battery "charge state" as either 'half' or 'low' but, when I push the charge button, and cycle the led over to 'full' the charger cuts out, and everything returns to normal; for an extended period. The only thing that I added, deifferently than before, is the ground wire from the housing to the boat ground post. For some reason, the original installer left this off. Greatful for any help I can get with this. Thanks, John
Boating - Xantrex Technology - Heart Freedom 30 Inverter/Charger, 3000w 130a, 81-3011-12
Answers & Comments
Without more information, it could be a number of things. For starters, you might try disconnecting the ground wire to see if that makes any difference. The Xantrex Owner's/Installation Manual says specifically not to connect the inverter's negative *battery cable* to the vessel ground, but if the unit's housing and the negative cable share a common ground somewhere inside the unit, that would be the same thing. The T-105s are great batteries, but since they are 6V, make sure you rewired them correctly, i.e. a pair in series (12V) wired in parallel with the other pair for 450 AH total. Recheck all your battery connections and make sure you didn't blow the inline battery fuse in case you inadvertently made a momentary wrong connection during the new battery installation.