Fridge is trying my patients
Submitted: Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:30
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32225
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Member JD
Hi All,
My fridge is starting to annoy me! I run it the garage on my power supply..runs great,put into my truck and it throws an error light..put the multimetre to the back plug plenty of power to run it..no heat..so wire is not to thin..checked the battery with a hydrometre reads OK..checked earths all OK..I'm going to run a battery cable all the way back to the fridge and use 50 amp anderson plugs to supply power..if this does'nt work...I think I have covered all bases?????
Reply By: roofscooter2 - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:37
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:37
JD, just shoot it!! & get an ice box.
AnswerID:
163216
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:50
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:50
Its been good until recently..and I only shoot other peoples fridges...LOL..tempting at times thought.Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
417967
Reply By: Lone Wolf - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:51
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:51
This seems awfully strange. Are you running ANY other accessories? I am wondering if something else is running, and maybe pulsing, giving you an error light. Normally the light would only come on if there is not enough voltage. Sometimes, I have seen this, and it can be what is termed a dry joint inside of the female plug socket.
Try this....
Connect your power pack to the battery terminals, with the battery disconnected of course, and quickly see if it works or not. Process of elimination. If it doesn't, then you've got a voltage drop problem inline somewhere.
Wolfie
AnswerID:
163221
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:00
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:00
Its a dedicated power sourse,but will
check it as I replace the wiring with heavier cable...not sugesting the wire is to thin but just want to make double shore its not nice going bush and your second guesing your food because of fridge...er.. your write somethings being overlooked somewhere.Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
417971
Reply By: Old Scalyback & denny - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:15
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:15
goodday jd
what sort of plug are you running
in the back of the patrol i have my fridge fed by a 6mm twin wire (red & black inside a sheath)it has a fuse at the battery end and a T plug at the fridge end cut the manufacturers plug off
the T plug is a 32v rated and i have more trouble unpluging due to very tight i have pulled the wires out
i keep finding the cigarette lighter type plugs are just a pita
steve
AnswerID:
163231
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:29
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:29
Hi Folks,
I use a cigarete type of conector and socket..but it connects quite firm and has been good for about 2 years now??This the confusing part and everything seems to be good.Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
418002
Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 21:33
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 21:33
Cigi plug sockets are notorious for letting you down. What about a Hella type plug? Much more positive connection.
Also, despite you getting good voltage reading on a multi meter at the plug end where it goes into the fridge, if there is a bad connection or a partially broken wire (eg: the internal cable near the plug could be mostly broken from fatigue.....you wouldn't be able to see it and it would still conduct 13 volts, but not enough grunt for the fridge).....
What about trying to power-up a portable compressor (like ARB etc) using this power lead? They draw about 30+ amps and that would "prove" the cabling is adequate. To do it you'd need to make up a "joiner" section of cable so you could poke the metal ends into the female end of the fridge cable......just a thought. If you do this, you'd probably need to actually have the compressor under load, by attempting to inflate a tyre.
Good luck
Roachie
FollowupID:
418024
Reply By: Redeye - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:26
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:26
Hi JD
Suggest you try two things.
1. If you have a blade fuse it may have gone high resistance due to metal incompatibility. This has happened a number of times to me.
2. Make sure the earth on the battery and other connections are correct and not insulated by body paint. This also has embarrassed me.
Three
do NOT use cigarette lighter sockets. Bad Bad Bad
Redeye
AnswerID:
163238
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:22
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:22
OK Redeye,will
check it out..nothing embarassing about it..its just a little confusing??thats why I put it the
forum.
JD
FollowupID:
417995
Reply By: Laura B - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:46
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 19:46
we had same sort of problem - found out it that it was the little switch that we could put it on to say how much drainage we wanted from the battery - sorry for the non-intelligent terms! - forgot to change the switch when we put the deap cycle battery in....now she's working good....
hope this helps..
Laura B
AnswerID:
163247
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:26
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:26
Hi
Laura B
I started getting my quals at 26..never lost touch with reality and allways listen to whats said as they might just hold the key!Thanks
Laura for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
417999
Reply By: On Patrol - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:05
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:05
G,day JD
As I said to you at the Show & Shine Sunday, that I sometimes have the same problem. I shut the fridge down for a few mins. and re start it and the problem dissapears for some time, but i will be interested to see what comes of this thread. For those that did not hear our coveration Sunday. I have a 60lr Waeco and i have installed a curcuit breaker with 2 merit plugs and 1 Cig lighter plug, it also has a volt meter built in and all showes
well there and getting 12-13volts unloaded and 12.5 loaded (with compressor on) but that error light still sometimes comes on????.
AnswerID:
163261
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:11
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:11
Yeah,rogo,I heard you and took it on board,but as soon as I got
home put on the the power supply and it worked perfect..this the confusing part!by the way very neat and tidy your fridge setup.
JD
FollowupID:
417988
Follow Up By: On Patrol - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:28
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:28
Nice welding job on the spare wheel bracket come shovel holder!!!!
I will have to get you to weld up one for me LOL.
FollowupID:
418001
Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:10
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:10
JD,
Are you running the earth through the vehicle body, or do you use 2 core cable, as mentioned in one of the other replies? Seems there can be plenty of problems with vehicle earth return.
Merit and Arrid are 2 types of reliable plugs, as
well as others made by Hella, and Narva.
Hooroo...
AnswerID:
163264
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:20
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:20
Hi Bob Y,
I am running it throught the body but I have quite a few earth straps earthing chassis to body..cant remember the brand but its a heavy duty cig lighter type plug that connects quite firm,I'm about to change it anderson plugs and full lenghtof batt cable..maybe that will fix it?..confusing??
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Peter 2 - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:15
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:15
I suspect that you are getting a voltage drop under load at the frig.
The only way to
check it is to use a good quality multimeter connected across the frig side of the power plug, usually you can pull the cover off the plug and just watch it as the frig first starts, you will probably find that it dips momentarily.
A normal 12v voltmeter (as fitted in vehicles) won't pick it up usually.
AnswerID:
163269
Follow Up By: On Patrol - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:33
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:33
G'day Peter
my volt meter drops for a split second, on compressor start up sometimes. Maybe that is enough to trip an error light in the fridge. Now all we have to do is solve that problem??? Do you think JD has the solution useing a battery cable, or is that overkill???
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:34
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:34
Hi Peter 2,
I checked it with a multimeter,but not under load will do that tomorrow,Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
418005
Reply By: Member No 1- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:30
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:30
lets start from scratch..
what is make and model?
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:38
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:38
Hi Numero Uno,
Its a 80 ltr
Waeco that has worked good until recent and the rest has already been written in other replies..sooooo what do you think?
JD
FollowupID:
418007
Follow Up By: Member No 1- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 07:04
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 07:04
as others have said definitely a 12v problem by the sounds of it
dirty wiring connections, poor joints (which heat up creating high resistance joint under load) or cabling is or are the probable reasons
this could be vehicle 12v or unit 12v wiring....connect straight onto
battery to check?..this eliminates all vehicle connections that might otherwise be suspect.....if problem still happens then most likely 12v wiring problem in
fridge...
FollowupID:
418100
Reply By: MickeyJ - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:45
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:45
I have the same problem with my
Waeco 50 L The problem is with the plug in to the side of the
fridge. If you wiggle it the error light will come on. I have a replacement plug, that I can take apart, so I squeeze the terminals and put it back toether and it is ok for a few months. I have heard of this problem a number of time on this
Forum now.
Cheers
Mickey
AnswerID:
163285
Follow Up By: On Patrol - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:50
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:50
G'day MickeyJ
If its that simple it can easily be fixed. Will try that out. Did you hear that JD.
Thanks MickeyJ
I'm dropping out now, See ya later.
FollowupID:
418009
Follow Up By: Member JD- Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:54
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 20:54
Hi MickeyJ,
Well you got me thinking but at the show'n'Shine the truck was parked and there was no movement at all,I pulled the plug out and check power to the plug with On Patrol while we were discusing it,so it was a new conection so to speak..but will have a look at the plug conection while i'm going,Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
418010
Reply By: Footloose - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 23:57
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 23:57
Why are your patients being tried ? Did they commit crimes ? :))))))))
AnswerID:
163336
Follow Up By: Member - Bware (Tweed Valley) - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 00:28
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 00:28
Yeah, I didn't know you were a doctor. Tell your patients to buy their own
fridge!
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 08:15
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 08:15
LOL..fellas..you's can understand what i'm saying..its been a long time since school..LOL
FollowupID:
418113
Reply By: Greiglin - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 06:47
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 06:47
Chuck it and buy a real good esky.
We survived really well on our 3 1/2 month
camping holiday just with an esky and during that time we only had to buy 3 bags of ice. We just lined the top after filling with a good thick newspaper. Every time we were going to go bush for 5-6 days we would ask store managers, caravan park managers even butchers if we could freeze our bottles of salted water and our goods before we took off bush. Never had a knock back.
Drysdale River Station was the only place we paid for the service and it was only a couple of dollars to freeze bottles and we bought meat which was already frozen. Then if we still had a day or two swinging we got stuck into the Tin Muck or pasta and jars of sauce. No problems. Only caught enough fish to eat on the day etc.
Everyone is different.
AnswerID:
163365
Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 08:27
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 08:27
Hi Greiglin,
If you new me you would never say throw it away,when I cant fix something..to the piont of frustration I usually just park it in the corner of the shed until I drag it out and most times fix the dam thing with a fresh outlook on it..for instance..a 4 " grinder of mine which give up the the ghost about a year ago..I've been doing a garage cleanup,..and came across it again was about to throw it out a thought to my self I'll have a quick look at it..took me about 25 min good as new now,it had a partial cooling fan colaspse which I broke out the fan part that welded itself to the shroud cleaned up sandpaper...bla ..bla ..figgered I was on about 50 dollars an hr for that repair...that why it good to put these things to the
forum because the smallest of comment somtimes puts you on track to fixing it..Hope I havent bored you..Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
418118
Follow Up By: hz75 - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 19:30
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 19:30
Greiglin, interesting post.
Have been tossing up
weather to buy waco, engle or simaliar.
From what i have heard, those eskies are really good. Can you tell me what sort of esky it is, how big is it and where you live. I live in townsville (Very hot) Did you use dry ice or ordinary ice? Also what was the esky used for , beer? food? or both? As i have 4 children and esky would probobly be used for all of the above, do you think the esky would stand a chance as apposed to a waco or engle?
Cheers
Darrell
FollowupID:
418218
Reply By: Howard T - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 08:52
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 08:52
Hi JD
Havent read all of the threads but if its a
Waeco then check the socket on the
fridge and clean the prongs(?) where the cord plugs into it. They get very dirty and corrosive. Been caught a few times with it and now its a normal part of my maintenance routine. The tiniest speck of dirt will interrupt the 12V supply.
Howard.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 09:03
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 09:03
Thanks Howard,
Did'nt think of checking the pin conectors..took it for granted that the pulling on and off would clean them as I went but will definately look
JD
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 21:44
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 21:44
Maybe a squirt of WD40 or similar on the prongs/plug might be a good idea. I have to do that on my trailer plug from time to time when lights don't work etc.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Tony J - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 10:29
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 10:29
Hi, I had a similar problem, would run on the 240v supply but sometimes not on 12v. Problem got worse until it would not run at all. Contacted
fridge manufacturer and they knew the problem instantly (over the phone). Their explanation was; Turned out that some years ago (3,4 or 5 years now, have had
fridge for long time)," Danfos had a bad batch of motors that had a wiring short problem in the windings. The bad batch could not be identified by serial or batch numbers. Just had to wait and see which went bad." My
fridge was fixed free of charge by replacing the motor, electrics and dryer. Electrics and dryer because the latest and greatest motor was supplied and installed.
Not bad service really as I bought the
fridge second hand from a private sale. I delivered the
fridge to the manufacturer (I was heading that way) and they shipped it back to me free of charge.
So a secondhand
fridge was made new again!
Not saying that this is your problem but just maybe...
Good luck
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 10:41
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 10:41
Hi TonyJ,
Thanks for your input,mine runs spot on from my 6 amp 12 volt power supply..240 step down ofcourse..I'm going to change to heavier wires and anderson plugs..once I do this of course and it still happens..I suppose it only leaves the battery...anyway I'll will sort it out.
JD
FollowupID:
418144
Reply By: VK3CAT - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 17:06
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 17:06
JD, just a note on cabling. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that someone was using 6mm red and black cables incorporated in a black sheath. This is automotive cabling and the actual 6mm size is more relevant to what size hole the cable will fit through. Typically this cable will actially be around 4mm squared (the correct measurement of the conductors actual cross sectional area - used for 240 volt mains cabling measurements etc)
With my
fridge in the back of the car I use an automotive cable where each conductor is close to 16mm squared. Both positive and negative are run back to the battery via a DC circuit breaker. I ran the cables through the chassis rails which simplified the installation.
Cheers Tony, A Grade electrician.
AnswerID:
163465
Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 18:41
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 18:41
Hi Tony,
Thanks for taking time to advise me on cableing,i've been contemplating running the cable thru the chassis rail since the weekend when I was talking to fellow at the show'n'shine he was full of monkey cunning..and sugested I do just that..which now I think I will after you have confirmed this is the way to go..with the size of the cable I was pretty much onto it..I checked with my metre today and the
fridge seems to pull 3 amps while the compressor is running..if i'm reading it write the voltage drops is really insignificant.Should have it sorted shortly.THanks for your input,Much appreciated.
JD
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Mike DID - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 19:19
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 19:19
For the 5 amp startup surge, you need really high contact pressure. The pressure for the centre Cig Lighter contact is provided only by the friction on the outside of the Cig Lighter - UNLESS you have the Cig Lighter Socket that has the retaining springs.
These springs are visible inside this socket here.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b356/MikeAus/Auto/PICT2566DCConnectors100k.jpg
If your socket in the Power Supply has these springs but the one in the car doesn't, it could explain your problems.
SOLUTION - DON'T use Cig Lighter Sockets.
Mike
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 21:38
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 21:38
Hi Mike DID,
Its not really a cigarete lighter plug just similier..its been good for around 2 years..and it fits nice and tight..the ones in my power supply are hard contact type which i push on independently of each other..Yes I understand what your saying about not useing cig lighters plugs but if you seen and felt the connection and how secure it feels you would no why I have used it..anyway its all being changed to anderson plugs and heavy duty cableing...if it did'nt last this long it would not be confusing Mike, Thanks for your input.
JD
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 21:53
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 21:53
Is there any way you can get rid of the plug socket on the
fridge? If you're going to the trouble of running heavy cable to the rear of the vehicle using Anderson plugs, it would be a shame to still have to rely on the small metal pins in the plug on the
fridge. What about taking the back off the
fridge and if possible, attaching the new, heavy wires, directly to whatever junction set-up is inside that the plug leads to? I would envisage having these 2 heavy cables coming out of the
fridge and maybe having a couple of feet of this cable exposed, with an Anderson plug on the end of that. It would mean the
fridge was only able to be used in YOUR vehicle (or someone elses if they too have Anderson plug socket of course).
FollowupID:
418254
Follow Up By: Member JD- Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 22:07
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 at 22:07
Hi Roachie,
Good idea that I will look into it..Thanks mate.
JD
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