Freedom 458- Replace or consider a different unit

[NHRA_Racer]

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.

[docj]

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.

[Bill_Satellite]

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.

[bobsallyh]

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

[blangen]

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?

[Bill_Satellite]

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.