WAECO Question.

You have power connection problems, the fridge isn't getting enough voltage. Do an archive search and you find heaps on wiring requirements to overcome voltage drop........or your battery is about cactus. The switch you refer to is an auto cutout designed to protect your battery (when you have suitable wiring connected), this table shows the voltage at which the fridge will turn of;
low med high
10.4 11.0 12,0

Hi Exploder,

There was a similar question asked a few weeks ago regarding the error LEDs on a Waeco - should try a search in the forum archives. From memory, one flash every 5 seconds - insufficient current/voltage (at the fridge). Your battery maybe OK, but your wiring might be struggling - suitable size will depend on distance. There are other codes but I can't recall their meaning....

Good luck with it.
Jezza.

Put the switch on LOW when on cranking battery,HIGH when on shore/240.
Then like myself when i was away consult your manual if you have one.:0)))

LOL

I will do a search too then, Looks like the stock wiring isn’t up to it thou

Cheers.

Silly as it sounds but if you have the battery connected thu the power pack this can happen. My 110lt did the same when connected thru the power pack.

Soon as I ran straight off the Battery no probs. Running from 240v thru the power pack is also no probs..

Grrr!!!

With the engine running you would have close to 14v at the battery, but with it stopped there would only be around 12.5v. The wiring to the fridge could have too much resistance, causing that 12.5 volts to drop down below shutdown voltage. But enough voltage might get through when you have the 14v to start with.

You should check the voltage at the fridge and at the battery both with the engine on and off.

Hi there exploder, I have a 780cca in the hilux and due to my duel battery system sh#tting itself week before I left (which I havnt bothered fixing) I ran my waeco at -16 as we used it for a freezer and had no problem for the whole week and kept that temp no problems. BUT when I tried mine on the turbo mode would come up with error when I went back to normal mode compressor would fire up no problems and keep running all ok. My conclusion was that when in turbo mode it requires better power which obviously my cigi lighter couldnt produce but when hooked up directly to battery no problems. The fridge was in the back seat of the lux for a week only thing I did was at night time would connect direct to battery as I didnt want to leave my keys in the ignition with it on accesories just incase. The switch that is at the bottom red in colour determines when you fridge will cut itself off to give you enough grunt to start in the morning if running from one battery. I have always have it set at the lowest point which I think for memory is 11.2 volts which wont be enough to start the vehicle but have found even on the main battery after running the fridge I still had enough to start the lux. I did take jumper leads with me so I could hook up to the second batt if needed. Myn is the 50L. With that battery you have you will run the fridge all night with out any problems and will have plenty to start the next day. When I get my new vehicle I am seriously thinking of not worrying about duel battery set up. Its only that the one (controller)in the lux sh#t itself that I no now that I can run the fridge all night. I think yours as said above is just the crappy wiring going to the cigi lighter and with correct wiring you will have no further trouble. I think 6mm is the minimum you would want to use. Steve M

Buy an Engel.

As the Naked Vicar Show would say, "only poofs drive Bedford's......or use Waeco's"

Ok, Plug fridge in and start the engine and it runs fine, no red waning light

Turn off the engine and with in 1 minute the waning light is flashing, 1 flash every 5 seconds.

The battery voltage gage is with in limits with the car off and with the engine running the Gauge is reading in the normal level of charging.

This is telling me that the wiring is loosing too much current when running off battery power alone correct ?, so that means I need a dedicated fridge plug that uses heaver wiring yes?

Hi Exploder, I had the same problem with mine, red led blinking, worked fine on 240 & vehicle running, after checking all wiring & connections & voltage @ fridge while it was running, could not fault the voltage supply, rang a service agent in Dubbo NSW, bingo he new straigt away, he said it is a faulty thermal fuse soldered to the circuit board, being still under warrenty i sent it off to him back 3 days later working like a charm, I Hope this is of some help, just jump on the Waeco web site & find the nearest service agent to you & give them a ring i am sure they will help you out. All the best.

I had the same issue when I owned a waeco, it was overcome by wiring in a dedicated socket direct to the battery (more so for continual power), but it eliminated the error light except when the voltage really did get down that low. Also means you wont need to have the ignition on to have power to it.

Never had a problem with it draining the battery too low that I couldnt start the car in the morning, althoug sometimes I did find that the fridge had turned itself off due to the low voltage. Turned out I had it on the wrong sensitivity setting!!

Exploder,
The high/low/med switch if for battery protection cutoff and should be set prior to turning on the fridge. If you change the setting whilst the fridge is on, even at idle, it will cause the error light to flash.

Rob

Exploder,
Spoke to a mate who's a service agent for Waeco and showed him this post. The problem is the Poly-Fuse (thermal fuse) within the control unit. Most waeco fridges have a 5amp fuse in there which is soldered to the circuit board. Once they play up they progressively get worse, especially on hot days. He has replaced about 30 or so since Christmas last year!
Although the LOW setting will cut out at 10.7V the compressor willl actually run at 9.7V. When the fuse plays up it melts internally causing a break in connection and therefore cuts power to the compressor, cooling fan will still run. It then connects again and restarts the compressor.
They are now replacing them with a larger 10amp polyfuse.
The reason why it didn't play up when plugged into 240V is because when running of 240 it goes through a power converter down to 24v. On 24V electronics run much cooler as opposed to 12V where electronics run much warmer.
He also told me that when the fuse plays up it will try to draw heaps amps just prior to cutting power and could be monitored with an ammeter.

I gave him my CF40 and he is going to put one of these heavier duty fuses in mine even though mine still works fine as he reckons it's only a matter of time before it does the same thing.


Rob

Explorer

While installing the new wiring replace the plug also. Use the socket that fits the Waeco plug with the red bit removed. The cigarette style of plug/socket rely on the spring in the plug to push the plug pin up to a plate in the socket. It only takes a small piece of grime to destroy the contact between the two and increase resistance. With the newer type of plug/sockets the plug pin fits in between two or more fingers. This wipes the contact clean at each insertion and increases the contact area. The cigarette style are only good for an amp or two - the newer types come in 10 & 15 A ratings.

PeterD

Exploder,
Just thought I'd let you know that I took my fridge to a friend (the waeco service rep) and he replaced the 4amp polyfuse with a 10amp one (what waeco are replacing them with).
He put it through a variable 12V adaptor thet also displays amps being drawn. The only way to make the error light come on was to run fridge flat out in turbo mode and reduce the voltage going into it down to 10.6V at which point the polyfuse kicks in, as it should.
As a test, I have it in my work car at the moment which is a falcon and have run a merit socke direct from the battery. It has been running all night on 4 LED's and when I got in the car this morning I cranked it up to 7Led's and put on the turbo mode. It has not failed. I think it is actually reaching the desired temp's quicker as well and there definetly feels like there is less heat coming out of the side if the fridge where all the electronics are.

If your fridge is still under warranty get it done.

Rob