Inverter Repair

[Rich Wallace]

Near the end of the sailing season our inverter died. In the hopes that I could have it repaired I searched the net looking for someone who could/would repair it. I found M&M Electronics in Ohio City, Ohio. I took it to them and they discovered that the main logic board had failed. There are no replacements available for an 18 year old inverter so they were unable to fix it.
They then stepped up and tried to locate a new or lightly used inverter for me. They were successful but it turned out that the form factor would not fit into the space on our boat. They cheerfully took the inverter back with no questions.
Anyone who has a problem with an inverter and needs to have someone repair it would be well satisfied with their service. It is a family business and they take care of their customers.

http://mmelectronicrepair.clickforward.com/contact-m-and-m-electronics-ohio-city-ohio.htm

 

[Ed Schenck]

Thanks for the tip Rich. My Heart Freedom 20 is almost that, 20. As in years. What was the brand and model that could not be repaired?

 

[Bill Roosa]

The "main logic board"???? on a twenty year old inverter???
I'm thinking that a 20 year old inverter is not going to have lots of lights and bells that wuld requrie a main logic board. In any case the main logic board should not keep the inverter from functioning. It will keep the indicator lights from lighting or light them incorrectly but the inverter is not actually relying on it to to it's job.
You might want to check and see if it is in fact "fully broken" or just indicating it is broken and still providing DC to AC inversion.
FWIW

 

[Ed Schenck]

Well if it is an inverter/charger like my 2000 watt Heart it will have a circuit board. Are you suggesting that twenty years ago they were not that sophisticated? They were not real complicated I will admit. Most could be fixed with good test equipment and a schematic. Problem is no one does that. If the input is good and the output is bad we throw away everything in between and replace it.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I think Rich was simply advising us that he found a good repair place. I agree that it would be helpful to know what inverter he did have issues with.

 

[Forrest15112]

Finding a shop that will look at things without schematics and repair manuals is rare. Also, having worked as a bench repair tech in the past, a "logic board" is a common name assigned to any board that consists mostly of integrated circuits. I worked on RF equipment and there would be an RF section with radio circuits and a logic section that covered everything else.

 

[Benny17441]

The winter just started and we are already seeing them boating projects which help northern sailors pass the time. I'm not a spend rift by any means but if a 20 year old inverter died on me I would have a new one in place tomorrow. Rather than hunt for a charitable repair shop that may agree to try and fix the relic and then have to deal with the Christmas mail and the uncertainty of a 30 day warranty I would rather get a new one and hope it will last another 20 years. We use our boat year around and use our inverter regularly so to be without one for even a couple of weeks would put a damper on our sailing so the extra money paid for a replacement would be well worth in the short run and likely a good choice in the long run. But if the boat is laid up I grant that getting a quick replacement may not be as much fun.

 

[Mark Maulden]

Before tossing it, open it up and get the part number off the circuit board and google it. Never know what might pop up. I know several who have done this with their televisions.

 

[Rich Wallace]

As a follow-up the board was what controlled the charge rate and not sure what else. The first sumptom was an overcharge condition. I got to the boat and the charger was putting out about 17 volts. Apparently it had not been more than a few hours as the batteries still had water above the plates. I took it home and tore it apart, cleaned all the connections and put it back together. It worked properly for about two days, then just quit completely. I tried to fix it again but it was no use. I took it to M&M and he was sure he could fix it, then called a day later and said the logic (probably the IC circuit board) had croaked. He said he could replace the chips but the programming was not available to program them. Hence -- dead inverter.
Ed, it was the original Heart Interface in our Passage 42. I think the number 1800 appeared in the name but I think it was actually only and 800 wat inverter with a 50 amp charger. It was built in 1993.
Mark and M&M tried to fix it and said that had it been any other part, it would not have been a problem.
I replaced it with an Xantrax SW2000. I discussed it with Mark before buying and his comment was that it was a good unit with few problems. He is a Xantrax dealer and can do warranty repairs if needed. I believe he is a dealer for other brands as well. He does a lot of business repairing / replacing inverters in motor coaches. Every time I was there he and his son were heads deap in a motor coach.
They are good folks.