It appears that the charging side of my Freedom 458 unit went out. I have spoken to an authorized repair center and they expect a $300 or so charge.In thinking about this, I may decide to replace the unit and have the other one fixed for a backup. When I have no 12v, the coach is pretty much dead in the water. Also, I figure if I have a backup, the new one will never break! :)My question is this-- is there a better alternative to the Freedom 458? I have searched the posts and it seems like this unit is in a lot of units which makes me think that it is the standard.Thoughts on a different unit?Thanks for the input.

I just replaced by Freedom 458 about a month ago. It was over 10 years old and, of course, MSW. I got a pretty good deal on a new true sine wave with a larger larger and the difference is night and day from my old 458. I think mostly it must be never technology that makes the transfer from genset/inverter and shore/inverter nearly seamless. There was almost always an interruption with the 458. Now, all my clocks keep proper time and this new inverter has 2 A/C outputs. One use the A/C swap and the other provides inverted power at all time meaning there is never a direct connection to shore power (at least I think that's what it means) so I have a separate circuit for all of my sensitive electronics equipment which all happen to be in one area.If your 458 is old enough to need repairs and you think an update to TSW or a better charger or new technology will benefit you then I would suggest you replace your inverter. If none of those things apply to your situation I would have the 458 repaired.

Bill.Winegard wrote:I just replaced by Freedom 458 about a month ago. It was over 10 years old and, of course, MSW. I got a pretty good deal on a new true sine wave with a larger larger and the difference is night and day from my old 458.Make and model of your new unit, please?

I got this one two months ago. Great service.http://www.imarineusa.com/magnumenergyms20122000watt12v100atruesinewaveinvertercharger-1.aspx

blangen wrote:Bill.Winegard wrote:I just replaced by Freedom 458 about a month ago. It was over 10 years old and, of course, MSW. I got a pretty good deal on a new true sine wave with a larger larger and the difference is night and day from my old 458.Make and model of your new unit, please?I specifically did not mention a model as I did not want to make a recommendation. I did want something with a larger charger since my battery bank is 1020 AH and I went with a 3000 watt inverter and 150 amp battery charger. I just think there are a lot of good inverter/chargers out there and likely all work very well.

I also just replaced my Freedom 458 MSW about a month ago with a Magnum MS2800 PSW for exactly the same reason--a malfunctioning charger. I was able to get one from Amazon at a really low price (like $300 less than anyone else), but they're currently out of stock. I decided to step up to the 2.8kW unit to improve overall efficiency since item is rated at >90% efficient when running at the 500-1,000 watt level.The replacement of the Xantrex by the Magnum was easy; the form factor for both is about the same and the connections are in roughly the same locations so existing cable lengths worked. The Magnum's remote panel uses the same telephone wire and RJ connectors so I could use the one that was already in place.The only significant installation difference is that the 2800 series Magnum doesn't come with a built-in subpanel which was a plus for me. We mounted a small subpanel in an easy to get to location so now I don't have to crawl into the basement to reset the breakers if we trip them.Magnum is using what is essentially a 4-stage charging approach; the unit goes to sleep after ~4 hours of float charging until it detects a drop in battery voltage to a predetermined level. During the sleep period it completely stops charging the battery as a way of reducing water loss.

Freedom 458- Replace or consider a different unit

34 Replies

bukzin
Explorer
Dec 14, 2013
docj wrote:
I have the ME RC remote and left the charging voltage at the default settings. I saw no reason to change what was recommended.

I have two battery banks, 4 GC Trojans and 2 twelve volt chassis batts.

What charge voltage might I set my ME2012 and ME RC to?
docj
Explorer
Dec 14, 2013
I have the ME RC remote and left the charging voltage at the default settings. I saw no reason to change what was recommended.
bukzin
Explorer
Dec 14, 2013
docj wrote:
Bill.Winegard wrote:
During the sleep period it completely stops charging the battery as a way of reducing water loss.

That appears to be what our new inverter does as well. While I don't see any documentation as to time, it does go into a state where it shows 0.0 amps of charging. Then, from time to time it kicks in at some random rate but never the full 150 amp which appears to be a step higher than float. We have AGM batteries so water is not an issue but I think this charging pattern will provide a better overall experience than our old 458. I do know that the new 150 amp charger and the way the charging cycles are handled, substantially reduces the recharging time when we are dry camping.

It's pretty clear that electronics have made significant strides in the past decade. Another thing I noticed about my new unit is that if you have the charger off for any reason it starts back up with a minute or two of rapidly ramping the charge rate up and down from zero to 150A. I think what it's doing is determining how the batteries react so it can then select an appropriate charge rate, rather than always starting from bulk charge and going forwards from there like the old Freedom 458 used to do. As you said, Bill, these little things should improve overall battery performance and lifetime.

Do you have the newer remote from Magnum or the old ME RC ?

Where did you set the charge voltage feeding your battery banks?

I have read some folks are dialing up the output around 14.7v or so.

Thx
time2roll
Nomad
Jul 23, 2013
NHRA_Racer wrote:
So, I take the coach to an RV tech to install. Several friends have used this shop (and the particular mechanic) before and he does the install.

No subpanel installed. He says one was not needed and I can't see exactly in the manual where it is required.

Should I be worried?

I will say that it was really nice to see the monitor say "float charge" after fighting charging issues for so long!

Heading to Bristol Dragway Tuesday for the NHRA Junior Dragster Eastern Conference finals with my kids and I really don't need any problems.

Just watch what is on. Water heater and fridge will run your battery down fairly quick and silent.
MrWizard
Moderator
Jul 23, 2013
i have defunct freedom-10
and there is NO internal sub panel and branch circuits
one hardwired input, one hardwired output
the input came from the main breaker panel
the output went to ONE circuit feeding (4) duplex outlets and the 120v residential lights, the freedom had a 20amp push button circuit breaker

i haven't seen everything, never will
but i haven't see an inverter with sub-panel built in
docj
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
MrWizard wrote:
was the old install for the 'whole house'
if so the inverter was between the shore cord and the breakers
and the new one is in the same place
thetefore everything is still prtotected by the same breakers as before

if the old install was for limited circuits,the inverter is fed by that breaker and feeds only those circuits
no problem

sub panel is used to isolate circuits like the water heater and fridge or exsisting converter when adding a/new whole house install

The old Xantrex would have had a 30A input breaker and it contained a built-in subpanel with a 15A and a 20A breaker. His new installation lacks the subpanel so the branch circuits are no longer protected by anything other than the 30A input breaker. So contrary to your statement, everything is NOT still protected as before. There are branch circuits that are only capable of carrying 15 or 20 amps that are "protected" by a 30A breaker. That violates the National Electric Code and is unsafe.

This is a serious safety matter and it would make sense if people refrained from offering advice unless they understood the issue.
MrWizard
Moderator
Jul 22, 2013
was the old install for the 'whole house'
if so the inverter was between the shore cord and the breakers
and the new one is in the same place
thetefore everything is still prtotected by the same breakers as before

if the old install was for limited circuits,the inverter is fed by that breaker and feeds only those circuits
no problem

sub panel is used to isolate circuits like the water heater and fridge or exsisting converter when adding a/new whole house install
docj
Explorer
Jul 22, 2013
NHRA_Racer wrote:
So, I take the coach to an RV tech to install. Several friends have used this shop (and the particular mechanic) before and he does the install.

No subpanel installed. He says one was not needed and I can't see exactly in the manual where it is required.

Should I be worried?

Here's the situation you have now. On the input side the Magnum has a 30A breaker protecting it. The wiring to the inverter is probably 8AWG cable.

On the output side you have circuits wired with 12AWG or 14AWG. Those circuits used to have the breakers in the Xantrex's subpanel protecting them. Now there is nothing protecting them except the 30A breaker on the input.

IMHO this was installed incorrectly. Nowhere in the National Electric Code can you have an incoming service connected to wires of thinner gauge without having a subpanel with breakers protecting them.

You have a significant risk of fire the way things are currently wired. You could put 30A through the output circuit wires before the input breaker would trip. That's dangerous.

By way of comparison, in my install 8AWG cable is used from the Magnum's output to the subpanel. That cable is rated at the full 30A rating of the input breaker. That way if there was a fault ahead of the subpanel the wire could take the load until the input breaker tripped.
wolfe10
Explorer
Jul 22, 2013
A sub panel is the BEST way to distribute inverter output, but not the only way.

It is best because it is basically idiot-proof. Only those circuits you determine should be powered by the inverter (or shore/generator power) are downstream of the inverter.
NHRA_Racer
Explorer
Jul 22, 2013
So, I take the coach to an RV tech to install. Several friends have used this shop (and the particular mechanic) before and he does the install.

No subpanel installed. He says one was not needed and I can't see exactly in the manual where it is required.

Should I be worried?

I will say that it was really nice to see the monitor say "float charge" after fighting charging issues for so long!

Heading to Bristol Dragway Tuesday for the NHRA Junior Dragster Eastern Conference finals with my kids and I really don't need any problems.