Engel Fridge work on 240 but not on 12
Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 21, 2006 at 23:28
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crfan
I have an engel had it about 5 yrs bought off a mate he had it about 4 yrs been great but now it works great on 240v but doesnt seem to work on 12v i can hear the relay kick in but not the compressor hope some one has had this prob as I have pulled the brains out but looks a bit like a swap over unit ?
Reply By: froomey - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 00:16
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 00:16
hi crfan
makes 2 of us, i have an old 29ltre ,does the same
recked my brains to, going to take mine to a fridge mach soon
froomey
AnswerID:
162104
Follow Up By: Ray Bates - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 16:28
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 16:28
Have you got the polarity right?
FollowupID:
416940
Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 02:27
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 02:27
crfan,
Sounds as though it could be a low voltage problem.
Disconnect the 12 volt plug from the fridge and measure the voltage with a multimeter.
AnswerID:
162114
Reply By: rus - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 07:50
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 07:50
Just a warning for others. Fitted my engel 35 to my fourby and found it would not work on 12V (ok on 240V)........when I connected it I had inadvertently left the fridge switch in the ON position hence blowing the 10A fuse. Fuse is located just above the power recepticles (hard to see if you have a transit bag on).
Lesson: make sure fridge switch is in the OFF postion when connecting to power.
Cheers
AnswerID:
162127
Follow Up By: Mad Dog (Australia) - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 17:24
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 17:24
If my memory serves me correctly that is the method advised in the manual.
FollowupID:
416957
Follow Up By: rus - Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 at 07:56
Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 at 07:56
Top of the class Mad Dog, (inadvertently - "Not duly attentive"), I am but a mere mortal.
FollowupID:
417112
Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 08:15
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 08:15
I think this is the same issue that Willem reported a month or 2 ago. Check that the cord is not faulty (maybe see if somebody-else's cord will get it to fire up). Also, in case there is something wrong with your vehicle's cabling, try the new/temporary/borrowed cable straight off a battery source (use one of those female cigi plugs you get with various flouro lights etc, where there is a short length of cable leading to 2 aligator clips).
Good luck
Roachie
AnswerID:
162135
Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 at 08:15
Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 at 08:15
That might have been me. 240v ok, 12v not.
I ended up replacing the 12v cord from end to end - and in my case that fixed the problem. There was only a slight drop through it but that was enough to stop the compressor from kicking over.
FollowupID:
417114
Reply By: Ruth from Birdsville Caravan Park - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 08:45
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 08:45
There's a small diode/fuse located inside the cigarette lighter plug (just unscrew) and find the diode/fue - you can't tell by looking at the diode whether it is working or not. This solved our problem and I always carry spares now.
AnswerID:
162146
Reply By: Ray Bates - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 09:45
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 09:45
Had the same problem with mine although mine is 30yrs old. I ran it for months on an inverter but found that I used too much lecky.
I pulled the back off and found that the plug where the 12 & 240 plug into was broken and not making full contact for the 12v. A drop of superglue did the trick and now it is back in business for the tim e being.
AnswerID:
162167
Reply By: Crackles - Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 21:17
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006 at 21:17
2 possible causes.
1. Undersized wiring or poor plug connections can lead to low volts at the fridge. Would account for the relay click but no compressor.
2. Very common for the wiring in the moulded plug that goes directly into the fridge to break. As previously mentioned try some one elses lead.
Cheers Craig........
AnswerID:
162339
Follow Up By: pwebster - Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 at 18:41
Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 at 18:41
Some thoughts on Engel fridges as I recall. They run on AC 50 Hertz at low voltage. Consequently, on 240V operation there is a simple transformer that lowers the voltage to supply the compressor. On 12V operation there are electronics involved that INVERT the 12V into 50Hz AC (at low voltage, maybe say 20 Volts ?). Thus if your Engel works on 240V and not 12V DC there maybe something wrong with the INVERTER electronics.
Hope this helps.
Peter
FollowupID:
417244
Follow Up By: Crackles - Friday, Mar 24, 2006 at 08:23
Friday, Mar 24, 2006 at 08:23
Peter the inverter certainly is another option. From memory I believe the Engel runs on 30 V AC. My brother who sells car fridges amoung other things told me the greatest single cause of fridge failure he sees is poor wiring & bad connections & thankfully is the cheapest to fix.
Cheers Craig........
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