Samlex Inverter

[Captian K]

Hello all and i am needing some help. Does anyone have a Samlex inverter / charger set up. I have been having issues with mine for three years and not a single person can help. i am also looking for a Samlex installer / dealer near the Georgia area.

I have (4) lithium batteries connected to an EVO-2212 unit that is connected to a Homedepot Majic chef mini fridge. fully charged, i get about 7 hours running time before my inverter turns off and it will not turn on. At that point, i have tested the batteries and they are good. when my Samlexz inverter turns off, I have connected a Dewalt 1500 inverter and it will the fridge for another 7 days.

I don't know why the Samlex unit is turning it off. I have had electricians look and test everything with my wiring, and all is fine.

I found a company that custom builds sprinter van units and who is an authorized installer and dealer of Victron systems. They have had my van doing testing for three months and can't figure out why the Samlex unit is turning off. Samlex is not helpful.

final testing, we took the Samlex unut out of the van and installed a Victron unit. The Victron unit ran the fridge for 7 days.

if anyone knows of a Samlex installer or dealer around Georgia, please let me know.

Thanks again.

[doublevan2]

Just thinkin' here - could it be something in the "fridge" system - seeing that both Samlex and Victron units do the same thing ?

[Captian K]

The Victron Inverter system runs for 7 days. That is what i should be getting out of my system.

The same setup in my van with the Samlex unit is only getting about 6-8 hours.
if I could return the Samlex unit, get me money back and buy a Victron unit, I would.
I just don't have the $1,500 for a Victron replacement.

[Wowbagger]

OK, first things to check:
1) Are the connections to the inverter good?
2) What is the voltage at the inverter input terminals when it shuts down? Ideally, measured right before it shuts down and right after.

3) Are there any settings on the inverter for low battery cut out?


Question 2 really is a check on question 1 - if the voltage at the inverter were, say, 12.6V right before it cut out, and then jumped up to 14V thereafter, I would suspect that either the wiring is too small or that there is a bad connection adding resistance.


Also, does the inverter have a low-load cut out? Will the inverter run with nothing plugged into it? Maybe the inverter is sensing that there is no load and shutting off?

[Captian K]

I have tested the voltage at 13.45 before and after it has shut off. What baffles me is that when the inverter shuts off. I can plug in a different inverter and the system works. i have been on the phone a million times with Samlex going thu all the setting to make sure they are set correctly.

[Scalf77]

I take it there are no indications why the inverter turned off?

How does the problem reset? automatically or manually.

It appears that you have already been through all the settings, hopefully that includes default settings. I was burned on a Xantrex install once when a default setting from the factory was wrong.

Can you run a load that is higher than the refrigerator load, for any length of time?

-this goes along with the suggestion Wowbagger about lowload cut out. There are two settings for this function on your unit.

Samlex would probably have list of approved installers. I am surprised that they didn't have you send to a authorized repair center when they couldn't address your issues.

I have had issues installing both Xantrex and Victron , that I had to resolve. The one with Xantrex was the bad default setting, that actually wouldn't let the unit turn on to even check settings. They said they had a batch programmed wrong at the factory.

The first thing I do with Victron units is to bring the firmware up to the latest level. It is almost like purchasing a purchasing a new computer, and immediately updating the bios, because the shipping level is old.

-greg