Xantrex XCPro 3000 warning code

[Ray and Susan Huff]

Hooked up to shore power for the night.  Xantrex remote shows no lights on the panel.  When we hooked up display shows "0" battery and "0" load" flashing a warning code "20".  We have 120 power to the plugs, but it sounds like the power is not getting to the batteries?

Have disconnected and reconnected shore power and tried a different power receptacle.  No change.  Can't find any reference to warning codes in the manual.  

Trouble shooting reference says, "No output voltage shown in the LCD screen and neither of the green status lights for grid or battery mode is illuminated." Possible causes AC shore power is not available or out of operation range and the inverter is off.  Solution: check AC power.  Turn inverter on"  Neither solution changes anything.

Any ideas?  Is it ok to continue to use shore power?

[Mcb]

Hey there, 

same thing happened to us. [20] means the panel mounted on the wall isn’t communicating with the inverter. I contacted Xantrex. They suggested making sure both connections ( at the panel and the inverter are clean and plugged in. I did that, didn’t help. Oliver says that this has been an issue in a few trailers and are working with Xantrex on it, but I haven’t heard anything about it in a week or so. 
We’ve been using shore power without issue, and the batteries are certainly charging... 

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

8 minutes ago, Mcb said:

Hey there, 

same thing happened to us. [20] means the panel mounted on the wall isn’t communicating with the inverter. I contacted Xantrex. They suggested making sure both connections ( at the panel and the inverter are clean and plugged in. I did that, didn’t help. Oliver says that this has been an issue in a few trailers and are working with Xantrex on it, but I haven’t heard anything about it in a week or so. 
We’ve been using shore power without issue, and the batteries are certainly charging... 

 

Thanks for the quick response . . . . after hours and all!  What hull # are you?

Of course we left Tennessee a couple of days ago.  Spending the night along I-40, almost to the Texas Panhandle.  To far to return now . . . . we've a long ways yet to go and want to take advantage of current favorable weather and beat any incoming storms over the Sierras.

So, if I understand correctly what you are saying, it is the display panel that isn't working properly, not the inverter?  Glad to hear we are fully functional.  So far this is the only problem we've encountered.  I was hoping to be "batting 1000" but that's probably wishful thinking.  I only wish, if Oliver knew of this problem they would have at least let us know what the warning meant.

I will wait till tomorrow and call Oliver and see how to proceed.  I'll post here any new information I get.

[Mcb]

Correct.. inverter is working fine, it’s just not playing nicely with the display panel..🙂 

We’re #685..

[NCeagle]

I just discovered the problem in #688 as well.  Didn't have the problem initially, so not sure what changed to make it pop up.  I'm going to open a service ticket with OTT.

[Mcb]

Ours worked fine at first... I think it got cranky on day 3.  With ours, if you remove the remote panel, disconnect the wire, then plug it back in it works fine for a couple of minutes then goes back on the fritz. I do wonder about the connection at the inverter itself, which has a slight amount of play in it, but doesn’t seem to have an impact when I wiggle it. I was thinking of getting a new wire and running it through the hatch to see if that works, but may just wait to see what Oliver and Xantrex come up with. 
We’ve lived with it almost 3 weeks as is, doesn’t seem to create any issues, or at least we hope not. We know what the batteries are doing via the app, we know what the inverter is doing via the “hum”, and everything seems to be in order. 

[Jason Essary]

This is a recent issue that several people have been seeing on the Xantrex Inverter. We have already been in contact with Xantrex to determine what is causing this issue as replacing the remote or inverter does not resolve the issue. At this time Xantrex believes it to be a software issue and they are working on a firmware update. I currently do not have any other information as we are waiting on Xantrex to complete the firmware update, test to ensure it does resolve the issue and then communicate to us and other service centers on how they plan to implement this new software update. Anyone that is having this issue, if you haven't already, I would recommend submitting a service ticket so we know who to contact once we have more information.

Until the issue is resolved you can still use the inverter by turning it off and on at the main panel. The inverter is located under the driver side bed and the main panel screen looks just like the remote. Simply press the round button to turn the inverter on for powering the 120v systems with battery power. You do not have to turn this on when connected to shore power.

 

You can submit a service ticket at: Service Ticketing System

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

Our inverter remote began working again.  We were traveling, connecting to shore power each night; I don't recall how many 120v connections had occurred when the remote came back to life.  It has not quit working since the initial episode, which was two or three days into our trip.

Edit: Several days later; "20" code is back.

Edited February 17, 2021 by Ray and Susan Huff

[NCeagle]

My inverter remote worked for the first week we had our trailer.  Then I jinxed it by saying we didn't have the problem.  It's gone again right now but comes and goes seemingly randomly for me.  For me, the hard resets that naturally happen from time to time when the inverter and battery are disconnected and then reconnected seem to fix it - but it eventually goes back to the [20].

While working on another inverter issue with Xantrex support last week, I was told by the person I was working with that the problem was software related and required a re-flash.  Apparently this is more involved than a firmware upgrade and may require an authorized Xantrex service center to perform the upgrade.

I'm in no hurry as this particular remote error is cosmetic and does not impact the operation of the inverter.  Will wait to see what solution Jason and the OTT team come back with.

[Mcb]

15 hours ago, Ray and Susan Huff said:

Our inverter remote began working again.  We were traveling, connecting to shore power each night; I don't recall how many 120v connections had occurred when the remote came back to life.  It has not quit working since the initial episode, which was two or three days into our trip.

Ours is no longer flashing [20], and seems to sort of work on occasion... it’s happy to let me know I’ve got shorepower connected, but that’s about it..

Im dealing with the inverter directly when needed, and am waiting to hear what Oliver and Xantrex come up with for a solution... 
 

[Mcb]

NCeagle, have you explored the possibility of cutting a hole below the bed and rotating the inverter so that the controls are accessible from the cabin? Maybe move the 300a breaker there too? 

[Jairon]

Has anyone reported this issue using the XC 2000 inverter and display panel? The internals of the inverter are so similar to that of the XC 3000 that it makes me think the issue might be specific to wiring differences between the lithium and non-lithium configurations.

This theory obviously goes out the window when someone using the XC 2000 reports the issue.

[Ray and Susan Huff]

6 hours ago, Mcb said:

Ours is no longer flashing [20], and seems to sort of work on occasion... it’s happy to let me know I’ve got shorepower connected, but that’s about it..

Im dealing with the inverter directly when needed, and am waiting to hear what Oliver and Xantrex come up with for a solution... 
 

Our remote display seems to be fully functional . . . . . . . shows the cryptic flow chart icons

[Ray and Susan Huff]

3 hours ago, Jairon said:

Has anyone reported this issue using the XC 2000 inverter and display panel? The internals of the inverter are so similar to that of the XC 3000 that it makes me think the issue might be specific to wiring differences between the lithium and non-lithium configurations.

This theory obviously goes out the window when someone using the XC 2000 reports the issue.

Following

[NCeagle]

10 hours ago, Mcb said:

NCeagle, have you explored the possibility of cutting a hole below the bed and rotating the inverter so that the controls are accessible from the cabin? Maybe move the 300a breaker there too? 

That's definitely a possibility I hadn't considered.  I'm more interested in gaining easy access to that breaker as I assume we'll have the remote working some day.  That blasted breaker is in a tough spot to get to even with the bed cover off, although I've done it enough now that I can just reach my arm up in there and grope around - hoping to not grab the wrong wire or terminals.  🙂  I use it all the time.  Maybe LifeBlue will come up with a way to have the battery stop accepting charge at whatever percentage we want with the internal BCM.  Wouldn't that be nice.

[Jairon]

On 12/20/2020 at 5:38 AM, NCeagle said:

I was told by the person I was working with that the problem was software related and required a re-flash.  Apparently this is more involved than a firmware upgrade and may require an authorized Xantrex service center to perform the upgrade.

Does anyone know if this update is public yet?

[Jim_Oker]

There wasn't as of just after Christmas. They were supposed to open a ticket for me so I'd me notified when the fix is available. I haven't seen mail saying it was opened so thanks for the reminder to check with them on that.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Jim_Oker

[Ray and Susan Huff]

11 hours ago, Jim_Oker said:

There wasn't as of just after Christmas. They were supposed to open a ticket for me so I'd me notified when the fix is available. I haven't seen mail saying it was opened so thanks for the reminder to check with them on that.

We have an open ticket on our Xantrex 3000 which gave us the "20" warning code during our trip home from Hohenwald . . . . . now it is working again . . . . . definitely a  software issue, if you ask me.

[NCeagle]

I have stumbled upon something while doing my humidity and temperature testing that should be of interest to those with the xantrex 3000 getting the occasionally persistent [20] error. 

First, my Xantrex remote had been working for well over a week.  On the 14th, I purposely discharged my battery down to 60% and then back up to 80%.  When I got to 80% I tripped the cutoff switch between the Xantrex and the batteries to stop the charging.  That immediately caused the [20] error.  I left it with the [20] error because I didn't know how to make it go away and it hasn't seemed to cause any problems.  Well, I noticed this "sawtooth pattern" after looking at the data - I've isolated the street side basement (data visualization works again!!!) and you can see the sawtooth after the charging event:

That sawtooth indicates the inverter fan is turning on and off (every 5-7 minutes in fact if I look at the detailed data points).  I unplugged the remote at the inverter and the inverter continued to cycle the fan on and off even without the remote.  I cut power to the inverter and turned it back on without the remote and the inverter went back to "normal" - working fine without cycling the fan.  I then plugged the remote back in and it was working fine again too.

Yesterday I repeated this sequence and got the exact same results.  The [20] error came on after cutting off the battery from the inverter, the fan began to cycle every 5-7 minutes again, and I was able to correct and fix things by going through the exact same steps.

My concern is the fan cycling - that can't be "good" for the inverter and could cause premature wear on the components.  I've left my remote disconnected for now so that this can't happen again until we have a fix or an explanation.  Who knows what else may be going on with the inverter we may not see.  

I'll update my OTT service ticket and call Xantrex today with this new information.  I'll report back later on any new information.

[Jairon]

Nice find! I would assume the fan speed or on/off state is linked to load or a simple temperature sensor in the unit itself. I wonder what is causing load/heat after the battery disconnect event - actual load or a bug.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Jairon

[NCeagle]

4 hours ago, Jairon said:

Nice find! I would assume the fan speed or on/off state is linked to load or a simple temperature sensor in the unit itself. I wonder what is causing load/heat after the battery disconnect event - actual load or a bug.

I think it's a bug because the load was identical on the prior days and there's no sign of the fan cycling.  It may not even be related to the remote error code, but it seems suspicious.  

Edited February 16, 2021 by NCeagle
wording

[Ray and Susan Huff]

13 hours ago, NCeagle said:

I have stumbled upon something while doing my humidity and temperature testing that should be of interest to those with the xantrex 3000 getting the occasionally persistent [20] error. 

First, my Xantrex remote had been working for well over a week.  On the 14th, I purposely discharged my battery down to 60% and then back up to 80%.  When I got to 80% I tripped the cutoff switch between the Xantrex and the batteries to stop the charging.  That immediately caused the [20] error.  I left it with the [20] error because I didn't know how to make it go away and it hasn't seemed to cause any problems.  Well, I noticed this "sawtooth pattern" after looking at the data - I've isolated the street side basement (data visualization works again!!!) and you can see the sawtooth after the charging event:

That sawtooth indicates the inverter fan is turning on and off (every 5-7 minutes in fact if I look at the detailed data points).  I unplugged the remote at the inverter and the inverter continued to cycle the fan on and off even without the remote.  I cut power to the inverter and turned it back on without the remote and the inverter went back to "normal" - working fine without cycling the fan.  I then plugged the remote back in and it was working fine again too.

Yesterday I repeated this sequence and got the exact same results.  The [20] error came on after cutting off the battery from the inverter, the fan began to cycle every 5-7 minutes again, and I was able to correct and fix things by going through the exact same steps.

My concern is the fan cycling - that can't be "good" for the inverter and could cause premature wear on the components.  I've left my remote disconnected for now so that this can't happen again until we have a fix or an explanation.  Who knows what else may be going on with the inverter we may not see.  

I'll update my OTT service ticket and call Xantrex today with this new information.  I'll report back later on any new information.

Thanks for the info . . . . though it is "Greek" to me.  We are still getting the "20" error, though it does occasionally go away and the remote appears to be working.  We haven't had a need to use the inverter, but it would be a real pain to have to access it through the street side bed hatch to turn on and off or to check the status of the batteries.

The last information I had from Jason indicated that he has contacted Xantrex repeatedly and they still have no solution. 

Keep us informed as to what OTT or Xantrex says about your observations.  I wonder how many inverters (Oliver installations or other) are having this issue.  If they can't find a solution, I'd like to have a different inverter.

[NCeagle]

8 hours ago, Ray and Susan Huff said:

Thanks for the info . . . . though it is "Greek" to me.  We are still getting the "20" error, though it does occasionally go away and the remote appears to be working.  We haven't had a need to use the inverter, but it would be a real pain to have to access it through the street side bed hatch to turn on and off or to check the status of the batteries.

The last information I had from Jason indicated that he has contacted Xantrex repeatedly and they still have no solution. 

Keep us informed as to what OTT or Xantrex says about your observations.  I wonder how many inverters (Oliver installations or other) are having this issue.  If they can't find a solution, I'd like to have a different inverter.

I did update my service ticket with this info, and Jason told me Xantrex just sent OTT a new firmware version to try and fix the issue.  Jason sent me the firmware to try yesterday as the Oliver team hasn't been able to finish their testing yet due to weather.  It didn't work on my inverter - or at least I don't think it did as I was able to reproduce the [20] error immediately by cutting off the battery connection to the Xantrex while on shore power.

My remote is disconnected again until we have another version of firmware to try.

I agree with the new inverter comment.  All I've been using the invertor for so far is charging the batteries and it's obviously not Xantrex's specialty.  Whenever it's on and connected to a battery, it charges by default - and keeps it topped off, which is not what you want to do with your Lithiums if you aren't boondocking.  I don't want the thing charging my batteries by default and I'm already sick and tired of reaching under the bed access hatch to trip the cutoff switch - or reset it so I can charge the battery when it needs it.  I may eventually go with a dedicated inverter and a dedicated charger.

[Mcb]

I received the firmware yesterday but won’t be able to install it for a week or so. Like you, I’ve been disconnecting the inverter from the batteries to prevent it from charging them all the time. It’s a real  nuisance .. That switch needs to be more accessible.... a project for this summer for sure. 

[Dgsmith]

   FWIW as this is not the exact same problem as most are having with the Xantrex XCPro 3000.  I noticed that I was getting the “20” warning code several days after delivery of my new OTT.  Long story short, my issue became no charging of the batteries from shore power.  I tried checking all the Xantrex switches, the breakers, the cables, etc. to no avail.  I finally downloaded the Xantrex Bluetooth app off their website, and after pairing, went to the settings menu and noticed that there was a switch pertaining to charging from the tow vehicle which was on “auto on” .  I thought that’s odd because that can’t be done as my tow vehicle is not set up for that.  So I turned this switch in the app to off and lo and behold my batteries finally started charging from shore power.  The Xantrex did cut off by itself after the batteries were fully charged.  Maybe next week after the weather warms up I can put the system through a discharge/charge cycle or two to see if there are continued issues with the Xantrex.