Voyages of Agape - Powered by Xantrex
At the end of the last season, our 14+ year old Xantex Freedom 1800 W Pro inverter finally kicked the bucket. We figure that anything that can work in the harsh marine environment, and especially on a cruising boat, and that lasts over ten years is worth the money and must be well built. Since our old inverted worked so well and for so long, Rachel decided to reach out to Xantrex to find out if they would be interested in partnering with us for some videos and photos in return for a new inverter. Sure enough they did!!! We were very excited for the opportunity to work with such a well established company that produces products we can stand behind.
When a new and improved Freedom 2000W/ 80A Inverter/Charger combo showed up on our doorstep, we couldn’t wait to get it back to the boat and installed! This new inverter/charger would not only simplify some of our wiring, but would also double our battery charging capability and add quite a bit to our inverting abilities as well.
Since Agape is such a power hungry boat, both of these upgraded features were welcomed. To begin, we disconnected all AC power coming into the boat and turned the batteries switch off, essentially disconnecting the batteries and making sure there is no power on the AC side as well. Then we removed our still functioning Xantrex True Charge2 40amp charger, and wrapped it with food saver cling wrap to keep as a spare for us or other cruisers in need.
After verifying that the new, larger Inverter/Charger combo would fit in the same locker, and that all the cabling would reach as well, it was a very simple installation. To see more on our install, check out the video bellow and if you have any questions feel free to reach out in the comment section below or via email.
A big benefit to our new Freedom unit is just how programmable it is. All the charging stages can be customized, so in the future we will be able to hopefully run Lithium batteries and it can charge our current batteries nearly twice as fast, at up to 80 amps, which means much less generator run time! As for inverting, it also has a higher output and larger surge rating, of 2000W and up to 4000W for 2 seconds. This gets us through the high start up loads of our larger appliances, like the microwave and blender.
The Freedom XC is a great unit that packs more options and power into a lighter frame and at a better price than many other units.