Waeco fridges

rhonda
have the dual battery system including isolator looked at by a "competant" auto elec

Rhonda,

Have you checked out the WAECO FAQ at

http://www.waeco.com.au/includes/media/faq.pdf

There are many variables to consider including wiring, operating time on the auxiliary battery without running the engine, ambient temperature, extra insulation, how many times you opened the lid how cold you have set the thermostat etc etc.

There are codes for the error light. You may have the safety cutout set too high.

We normally operate on two green lights (ie not a freezer setting) and it keeps the beer nice and cold on normal trips. I reckon The alternator needs to charge up your spare batttery for about three or four hours or even longer if you have almost flattened the battery overnight. You cannot expect the auxiliary battery to run the fridge for two whole days unless you are careful with the settings and the ambient (outside air) temperature is cool. There are simple formulas to work out current drain from the battery. A lot has been written on this forum on the subject.

Kings

Hi Ronda,
I operate a Waeco 60 litre, i run our waeco on 3 green lights which equates to 0 degrees celcius. I did extensive temperature checks on the fridge over various trips and fond the 1st green light to be +10 degrees, 2nd to be +5degrees and 3rd to be zero.
Spot on with the instruction book. When I did the CSR last july we cryovacced all our meat chicken and fish froze and then wrapped each item in a sheet of newspaper packed it in the bottom of the fridge and then a layer of newspaper on the top and then placed our other chilled foods on top, 2 weeks later we were still pulling out frozen meat etc and it all lasted the entire 4 weeks that we were away.
In relation to the error light, I was running the fridge off a second battery which was a 55AH battery and it would last for 24 hours without recharging and as were driving 7-8 hours per day it would fully charge. my error light was coming on when the battery had run down and then when the battery carked itself. The other problem I have come across is if there is some resistance on the connection from the battery. but if your battery is OK you better have the system checked

Rhonda2

you dont say how many flashes on the Waeco. The number of flashers indicates the type of problem. These are the flash codes for the Danfoss in the Waeco taken from their customer support notes -

Flashes Danfoss BD35/50 Kompressor Guide Red Flash Guide Type

One Flash
Can be caused by:
• Insufficient cable size
• Too many connections
• Poor connections
• Not designating fridge with own direct circuit from battery

Battery Protection Cut-Out
If the error light on your fridge flashes once every 5 seconds, it is definitely indicating that you have a voltage drop problem. This means that the wiring in your car may be inadequate to carry the correct amount of volts to the fridge. To test if this is the problem, plug the fridge into a suitable AC adaptor. If you find that the fridge works, you can eliminate that there is a problem with the fridge and the car wiring configuration or plug connections
should be stringently checked.

We recommend car/motorhome/caravan wiring to be a minimum of 6-8mm cross section wire for up to 4 metres. Above this length the wiring would need an extra millimeter for every metre. If the fridge does not work on the correct Waeco AC Adaptor, further investigation is required. Contact Waeco if this occurs.

Two Flashes
Fan over current cut-out
If the fan circuit in the control module has a load in excess of 0.5 Amps, the system will fail.

Three Flashes
Motor Start Error
If your error light is flashing three times every 5 seconds, the rotor may be blocked or the differential pressure in the refrigeration system is too high.

Faulty compressor or faulty control module.

Four Flashes
Minimum Motor Speed Error
This failure occurs if the compressor is running slower than 1850 rpm.

Flash Flashes
Thermal cut-out of electronic unit
If the error light is flashing five times every 5 seconds, the refrigeration system has been too heavily loaded, or if the surrounding temperature is high, the electronics will run too hot.
This is generally caused by not allowing enough ventilation around the vents of your fridge. To overcome this, simply ventilate your fridge more effectively.

As a previous poster says if it is a battery problem goto an auto electrician.

You'll get the error light flashing if the 12v socket isn't earthed properly. As others have said - check the cable sockets back to the battery. Not likely to be the fridge.

Peter

If you are using your standard car Cigarette lighter to plug the fridge into, then I'd recommend getting a new socket installed that can handle high current. Something like an anderson plug, hella socket, low voltage socket, waeco cigarette socket etc should do the trick.

Also, if you do have a fridge socket that uses cable too thin for the job or has too long a cable run, your voltage will drop and the error light will flash regardless of how long you drive for each day. I have flexible cable around 7mm wire diameter for each neg and positive, and I have a fridge plug at the back of the car with a 6-7m extension cord and it doesnt flash low voltage. Doing the same setup with thinner wire would certainly make the low voltage flash.