Xantrex 458 trouble

[n4hwl]

I have a Xantrex 458 converter/inverter 2000 watt. It recently quit working and now has a fault light that says over temperature. This unit is not hot. This is in a 2004 phaeton and is the converter is original. I called tiffin and they told me to disconnect all the connection plus and minus and remote and leave it off 20-30 minutes. I was told if this did not reset this fault code it was probably something internal to the charger. This did not help. Even when I leave all of the wires disconnected and put 110 volt power to the charger the over temp fault comes on the front of the charger. I have the Xantrex out of the motorhome and have replaced it with a temporary backup converter ( not an inverter) that will get me by while I work on the Zantrex. Any suggestions on where to start before I ship it off somewhere to be repaired and is there some sort of ongoing problems with these Xantrex units so I should just buy a new unit altogether?. I have it on the work bench and am ready to open it up.

Thanks for any suggestions or help to point me in the right direction

Ken

[michelb]

We have a 03 Phaeton with a Xantrex 458 that would run but after a few minutes go into 'over temperature' mode. I opened it up and the fan was dead. I ordered a similar fan and will soon replace it and suspect that it will run fine. Changing the fan is not hard so you might want to try that.

[aztortuga]

Ken, I have a 2005 travel supreme and my converter is exactly as yours, located behind the right rear wheels and it has an air vent in the inner wall. I have had periodic over heating with mine also. I added and external "computer type" fan to the air vent on the converter itself and that will solve the problem. I believe that the air vent on the compartment itself can be a dirt or water problem in the condition that you described. Will covering the air vent on the compartment make it too hot within the compartment when the converter is operating? Anyway just some comments to consider.

[BarbaraOK]

When we run the generator for the A/C while going down the road, I turn off the 'charger' function on ours and just let the alternator keep the batteries charged. That way the inverter isn't working and is ok. We also ran into a problem when we are running in 100+ heat and plug in at the park, the inverter will indicate overheated condition - just turn off the charger function (the batteries are charged up after a few hours on the road) direct a fan to circulate cool air from the a/c into the area with the inverter, and in about an hour, hit charge, the inverter goes through the cycle and returns to float.

Barb

[n4hwl]

This was my original post

"I have a Xantrex 458 converter/inverter 2000 watt. It recently quit working and now has a fault light that says over temperature. This unit is not hot. This is in a 2004 phaeton and is the converter is original. I called tiffin and they told me to disconnect all the connection plus and minus and remote and leave it off 20-30 minutes. I was told if this did not reset this fault code it was probably something internal to the charger. This did not help. Even when I leave all of the wires disconnected and put 110 volt power to the charger the over temp fault comes on the front of the charger. I have the Xantrex out of the motorhome and have replaced it with a temporary backup converter ( not an inverter) that will get me by while I work on the Zantrex. Any suggestions on where to start before I ship it off somewhere to be repaired and is there some sort of ongoing problems with these Xantrex units so I should just buy a new unit altogether?. I have it on the work bench and am ready to open it up."

I have this thing fixed. I took it today to a local xantrex repair facility. They replaced one board for about $220 and it is working fine now. They said that the damaged board looks like it had been wet. The whole unit was also very dirty.

Ok , Now here is what I think happened. This converter is mounted in the right most rear compartment behind the rear wheels. What a stupid place to put a piece of electronic equipment. When I was running the generator for the air conditioner while driving down the road the converter would automatically come on . The converter has a fan that comes on and cools the unit. Thats well and good but when driving down road lots of dust , dirt , or water( if its raining) gets sucked right into that compartment when driving down the road. This is really bad for electronic equipment. I see no way to run the converter while driving down the road with the generator on and expect it to stay clean and dry and have a long and happy life. I have sealed up that compartment to keep the dirt and rain off of the converter while driving. I will keep the main breaker to the converter turned off until I am at the campground and will open up the compartment for cooling before I turn converter back on. I know I will not be able to use the inverter plugs while driving but that will be no problem. The alternator on the engine will charge the chassis and house batteries while driving .

Does anyone see any other solution to this problem?

Ken

[Sully2]

docj wrote:
I hate to say it, but IMHO you have reached roughly the end of life on a 2004 Xantrex. Ours had been rebuilt after about the same number of years and lasted another ~2 years after that. A couple of months ago we replaced it by a pure sine wave Magnum. The good news is that the "footprint" of the two devices is about the same so replacement was easy.

I dont believe that! I had to have an internal fuse replaced in my own and other that that it has worked perfect for more than 13 years now

[n4hwl]

I talked to Xantrex today and they think the problem is internal and put me in touch with someone about 1 hour away from me. I am taking the converter to him next week for repair. Thanks for the help

Ken

[byronlj]

Call Xantrex. They are very helpful.
Dave

[n4hwl]

It has been disconnected for over 24 hours and when I apply power it immediately goes into this fault. I know its not hot . The device that senses temperature may be malfunctioning and telling the unit it is hot.

I would hate to repair and it just die again. I may replace. We will see.

Thanks

Keep those suggestions coming

Ken

[Popsie]

dust can cause overheating - try blowing it out

[docj]

I hate to say it, but IMHO you have reached roughly the end of life on a 2004 Xantrex. Ours had been rebuilt after about the same number of years and lasted another ~2 years after that. A couple of months ago we replaced it by a pure sine wave Magnum. The good news is that the "footprint" of the two devices is about the same so replacement was easy.

[rgatijnet1]

Do you have the manual? There is a whole reset procedure that can be done from your wall panel. I assume that you have reset the two 120 volt breakers and the charger breaker on the unit.
I also assume that you have verified that power is getting to the inverter through your switching panel or EMS system.