Promariner Combi 1500 Inverter/Charger Reset

[Smcavana]

Okay, I screwed up. I inadvertently left the water heater switch on overnight and someone jarred the shore power cord loose at the post, shutting off the power and causing the inverter to switch on because of the standby mode (without which the batteries don't charge). I know the battery is probably toast, but I can't get the Promariner to come back on. Shore power is attached and working. The green light on the AC Main breaker is on, but there are no lights on the Promariner itself and no AC current level showing on the meter on the breaker panel. I've turned the AC main breaker off and on, and I've switched the inverter off and with the 3-way rocker switch on the remote next to the breaker panel. I've also pressed the reset buttons on the side of the inverter itself. No change. If the inverter tripped because of an overload, how else do I reset it? Or is the Promariner itself toast? And if I have to replace it, what do folks recommend? Separate charger and inverter? Or Is there a combo model that doesn't have this annoying "always on" standby inverter feature? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[knotflying]

You are not alone with that mistake. The inverter should not be toast, but stranger things have happened with that unit. If after resetting the unit by pressing the black button it should be working. Before considering it toast I would call Pro Mariner tech support. They are pretty responsive. If you are going to replace it I would recommend the Xantrx. It is an easy swap and you can program it not to use an automatic transfer switch. I think you will have to snake a new wire for the remote switch at the helm if it is not the same.

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Mike may overrule me on this (pay attention to what he says), but I did much the same thing. I reset the combi unit and paralleled the batteries, opening up the ACRs. Then I waited and eventually everything sprang back to life. Your batteries are not “murdered” if this is a first or rare occurrence. So hang in there.

And frankly, our ProMariner combi was such a pain in the transom (we were on our second one after the transfer switch failed) I followed Mike’s advice and put in the Xantrex 2000 Freedom XC. Very easy swap and I leave it in standby all the time, so when power gets lost at the dock it doesn’t automatically drain the battery. Less than one boat buck, two hours of work, and worth it.

 

[BB marine]

Here are a couple of comments related to your issue. (1) If the inverter and breaker panel are wired has the factory wired it the hot water would not be powered from the inverter. The Breaker panel is powered by 120V shore power or generator completely. The inverter is only powering the outlets and the Microwave if factory wired. If you had the wiring changed to power everything in the breaker panel I would recommend that you change to a separate inverter of higher wattage and install a 30+amp battery charger. (2) If the house battery was completely depleted 10V or less the inverter/charger will not recognize the house battery bank. The connections are basically seen by the charger as an open circuit. The battery bank must be excited by 12V source ( This is what Hydraulicjump is describing when he turned the cross over switch on combining a charged engine battery to a completely discharged house battery bank) When the house battery has a 12V source connected to it the charger will regonoze the battery bank and then start to charge. Once the Charger turns on it is charging with a 12Volt output and the battery with the charger on is now at 12Volt and you can now turn the cross over switch off and the charger will continue to charge the house bank. Once the house bank is at 13.0V for 90 seconds the ACR will close and all the battery banks will now be charged by the inverter/charger.

If you do decide to replace the 1500 combo. I would replace it with an inverter with a minimum of 2000W and a pure sine wave instead of the modified sine wave that you have now. It is a cleaner power source that will not cause harm to more sensitive electrical devises. I would also recommend installing a charger with 3 outputs with a total output minimum of 30amps preferably 50 amps. This will give a quicker charge if you are anchored out and using the generator to recharge the batteries. I am not a fan of the automatic transfer switch. I have never utilized this feature on any of the inverters that I have installed. I install a switch that connects and disconnects the neutral from the ground. When I turn the inverter off and shore power on the neutral and ground at the inverter are open.

If your batteries fully discharged you probably did't destroy them but you did not help with the longevity. Fully charge the bank and after charged turn the charger off and load test the battery bank. This will give you an idea of what the capacity of the battery bank is. This will determine if you need to go to the battery store and purchase new batteries. If the batteries were in good condition I believe you will be ok.

 

[Smcavana]

Thanks everyone for the good suggestions. When I finish up some work issues, I'll check again. The batteries are charging on solar, but maybe not enough. I'll take my portable charger to the boat to see if that helps . . . and either way, I'm tired of the standby issue, particularly in the winter when power outages in the middle of the night require an emergency trip to the boat. I think there's a Xantrex or similar in our near future even if we get the Promariner up and running. Thanks again everyone!

 

[knotflying]

Hydraulicjump is correct about turning the parallel switch on. I forgot about that. The ACR's will not allow charging a battery bank if it is below a specified voltage threshold. I believe it is around 9.6 volts.