Magnum has left, Xantrex has you covered

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SteveK

SteveK

Guru
Joined
Jul 5, 2019
Messages
5,788
Location
Gulf Islands, BC Canada
Vessel Name
Sea Sanctuary
Vessel Make
Bayliner 4588
Anyone else get THIS EMAIL? Arrived in my inbox from Xantrex Marketing but was not addressed to me by name. I have had a Xantrex in the previous boat, and I have Magnum now. So a puzzle which one or both have my email.
Hello!

With Magnum discontinuing key inverter models like the MS2812 and MS4024, it’s time to upgrade to Xantrex Freedom SW and experience the next level of power solutions.

Why Xantrex?

  • Easy Transition: Swap the mounting bracket only—no complicated installation.
  • Superior Technology: Freedom SW provides pure sine wave power, delivering cleaner, more efficient energy for sensitive electronics.
  • Advanced Reliability: Built for harsh environments, Xantrex products last longer and perform better than ever.
  • Future-Proof: Integrate with lithium-ion batteries and solar for smarter energy management and sustainability.
Get started now! – Visit our Freedom SW page to see how Xantrex inverter solutions are perfect upgrades for Magnum, surpassing competitors.

Best regards,

The Xantrex Team
Click to expand...
 
That's.
I wouldn't give a Xanax product to an enemy much less a friend. Their customer service is beyond frustrating and zero help. Plus their products suck
 
tiltrider1 said:
I can’t find anything that suggests magnum or Sensata are discontinuing any inverters.
Click to expand...
Steve's email is pretty good evidence. Xantrex got the email addresses from somewhere.

Xantrex + Magnum? Ship of fools. Reminds me of when K-Mart usurped Montgomery Wards.

Peter
 
Sensata Technologies is the owner of Magnum Dimensions. As a public company they would be required to publish the sale of a division. There is no such news. The other possibility is that Sensata was reducing the number of offerings but I see nothing in the financial news to suggest this. The other possibility is that there is a duplication between Sensata offerings and Magnum offerings and certain models are being replaced with the Sensata variant. Again, I haven’t found any such news.

At best Xantrex is doing some clever marketing that is miss leading or it’s a scam email.
 
tiltrider1 said:
Sensata Technologies is the owner of Magnum Dimensions. As a public company they would be required to publish the sale of a division. There is no such news. The other possibility is that Sensata was reducing the number of offerings but I see nothing in the financial news to suggest this. The other possibility is that there is a duplication between Sensata offerings and Magnum offerings and certain models are being replaced with the Sensata variant. Again, I haven’t found any such news.

At best Xantrex is doing some clever marketing that is miss leading or it’s a scam email.
Click to expand...

The email said Magnum was discontinuing their inverter lineup - no sale involved. The link in the Xantrex email is legit - goes to a cross reference page showing what Xantrex model equates to Magnum model.

I believe it was Steve who had a similar crickets experience as I did with magnum tech support. Discontinuing their inverter line is a formality. In my experience, they did that a couple years ago. Only recently got around to finalizing.

Sounds credible to me but who knows.

Peter
 
I can only find evidence of the MS2812-G being discontinued. I did find evidence of Xantrex claiming Magnum is abandoning the MS28-12 line but it is not listed on Magnum’s discontinued product line. Only the MS2812-G is listed.

Now maybe Xantrex knows something that the rest of the world does not. I personally no longer trust either organization at this time. I will say I am perfectly happy with my Magnum 3000w Pure Sine Wave Hybrid. I however have abandoned all Xantrex products.

MS-2812-G was replaced with the MS2812-L.
 
Since to date I have not had a reply to an open ticket with Sensata I would take this as Xantrex knowing something and jumping into action. Though they did not list my Magnum 2012 as to be discontinued, they sure have not made parts for it in two years.
I posted what I think is legit as a buyer beware, get a great deal if you are buying a discontinued product.
 
It is not clear to me why anyone would put either a Magnum or a Xantrex inverter in a boat (or RV) when clearly better products exist. I own Magnum, Xantrex, Mastervolt, and Victron inverters. Magnum is the bottom of the list, Xantrex right next to it.
 
DDW said:
It is not clear to me why anyone would put either a Magnum or a Xantrex inverter in a boat (or RV) when clearly better products exist. I own Magnum, Xantrex, Mastervolt, and Victron inverters. Magnum is the bottom of the list, Xantrex right next to it.
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OK, explain why you feel that way about Xantrex and Magnum. List what the others have that makes them better.
 
I've had at least 3 Xantrex inverters fail and gave up on them. Also the specs on idle current draw were ridiculous, requiring the fan to run just to cool the idle power. I only bought one Magnum product, that was enough. It is a line frequency inverter and hummed audibly at idle, and enough to keep you awake with even a small load. The idle current was also very high. The transfer switch and output circuit breakers to not match the spec. The remote failed a couple times but I was able to fix it, finally it failed completely and I removed the unit. You are welcome to the whole thing if you want it. Also their battery monitor drew about 70 ma quiescent current, which was unaccounted for by its calculations. When I called tech support they said yeah, they are noisy, and yeah, that's the way the battery monitor is supposed to work.

I have a large suite of Mastervolt equipment in the sailboat, inverter, charger, several DC-DC, remote panels. Just to look at them they are higher quality build, and have performed flawlessly for 15 years now. The idle current draw on the inverter is < 1/4 that of the Xantrex and Magnum products, and they are silent except for a barely audible fan when working at near capacity.

I have a full suite of Victron equipment in the trawler, inverter/charger, remote panels, remote power control, DC-DC, battery monitor, solar controller. The installation is only 5 years old now, but again flawless. Victron's feature set, specs, and ecosystem put the others to shame at this point. The noisy Magnum was removed from my RV and replaced with a Victron which is silent, much lower idle draw, and hasn't failed a year in.
 
So quickly people forget their history.

Once upon a time there was a great inverter/charger manufacture call Heart Interface. They were the best but they failed to evolve and were eventually acquired by Xantrex. It didn't really bother us as the new kid on the block was Trace and they were by far the best. In fact 25 year old Trace units are second to nothing currently on the market. Sadly they were acquired by Xantrex who replaced the Trace line with an inferior but cheaper product. Still up popped Magnum and Outback. Both made good products. However, Magnum was acquired by Sentara and customer satisfaction has hugely diminished since the accusation. Fortunately, while this was happening Victron rose to prominence.

Most of us here would recommend that new installations should start with Victron. However, there are a large number of vessels out their still using Heart, Trace, Magnum and Outback. This is why there is still ongoing discussions about these manufactures.
 
I was in the marine electronics business back in the early 2000s and Xantrex was clearly not a great inverter and or charger manufacturer.

I have avoided them for many years until I bought an RV 18 months ago with one installed.

It and it's remote have been flawless for those 18 months logging many hours for much of it. Not so sure the tech has finally developed to improve their product by default or they learned some lessons along the way.

Haven't looked into them in so long, hard to say I can recommend them, but I am not about to changeout my current Xantrex just because of the brand name.

I can attest that many of the Xantrex failures/problems I saw for many years could be attributed to low entry costs of their units and because of that..... a lot of DIYers that installed them poorly.
 
I installed a Magnum Energy 2,800 watt pure sine wave inverter battery charger in I believe 2015. It replaced the same size and manufacturer, only modified sine wave. The new one worked flawlessly for 8 years until I sold the boat. Only time that I can remember turning it off was when I replaced the house battery bank. Considering my cruising style, it probably spent more time in inverter mode than battery charger mode. Never saw a compelling reason to consider anything else.

If I were to buy another inverter, I would probably consider a Victron. Been impressed with most of their stuff. Don't know if they offer 3,000 watt 120 VAC 60 cycle inverters, but there smaller ones are quite impressive as far as standby efficiency.

Ted
 
I have a Xantrex Freedom SW3000 and while it does have a fan and what seems like too much current draw even at idle, it has done a good job of charging my batteries and supplying 120 VAC aboard for several years. My only complaint is that it is dead end technology with no path to upgrade its communication or display, or talk over NMEA2000.

When it's time for my battery upgrade, it may well go in favor of a more modern inverter/charger.
 
I installed an XC 2000 inverter charger last year on my boat and love it so far. It has a 100 amp charging ability, which is ideal for my lithium house bank and not available on many 2000 watt inverter chargers. The blue tooth connectivity is great and easy to set my battery charging parameters. Maybe a lot has changed in 10 years but I'm not a rocket scientist. It was an easy install and maybe worth a second look!!!
Cheers J.T.
 
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