Xantrex Truecharge2/40 RIP ...

Discussion in 'OnBoard Electronics & Controls' started by missinginaction, Nov 2, 2020.

  1. missinginaction
    Joined: Aug 2007
    Posts: 1,103
    Likes: 254, Points: 83, Legacy Rep: 512
    Location: New York

    missinginaction Senior Member

    After about 8 years of 24/7 service my battery charger is showing signs of failure. Below is a photo of the panel as I was laying things out on the workbench long ago. See that little household switch next to the charger, the one on the left side? I replaced that with a switchable GFCI. My thinking was that if there was any internal current leakage in the charger the GFCI would trip and I'd be alerted.
    123.jpg
    Well, sure enough, I'm down in the boat yard the other day and that GFCI is tripped. Sometimes that breaker would nuisance trip out but this time it wouldn't reset. You'll notice under the charger there is a dual circuit battery switch. This allows me to disconnect the batteries from the charger. With the batteries disconnected from the charger, the GFCI doesn't trip and the charger stays "on". But of course the charger isn't producing any output, so this isn't unexpected. While I didn't think it necessary I took a few minutes to switch out the GFCI with a known good one. No change in the tripping.

    So near as I can figure there must be a small amount of leakage somewhere in the charger. I say small because if I just bypass the GFCI the charger functions normally.

    I'm not an electronics expert but I believe that there is an isolation transformer in the charger that might be the issue. Perhaps that is the problem. Regardless it's time to replace my first piece of the electrical system since I built it almost a decade ago.

    At least it didn't happen on a trip. Just another little 2020 problem to deal with. I'll sure be glad when this year is over!

    MIA
     
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