Trouble with my Engel (ARB) 40 litre

Hahahaha when are you going to give up on those unreliable POS' and get a real fridge - WAECO :)))))))

I had a similar problem with my Waeco.

It turned out to be the power cord that plugs into the fridge. The wires on one end were only crimped, poorly, fixed that with better crimping and solder and no more probs.

So perhaps you might check your power cord as a first step.

Hi Roachie,
If I read your post correctly the fridge is misbehaving on both 240V AC and 12V DC. That is not good.

It's unlikely to be a connection on the inlet to the fridge as the different voltages use different pins, at least on my 20 odd year old Engel they do.

The compressor and again I'm speaking for my old unit but see no reason yours is different actually runs on about 30V AC.

So somewhere in the middle there are two electrical paths showing the same problem, culminating in a compressor.

That's the long winded way of saying when an Engel doesn't play on both AC and DC then it's likely to be the compressor or compressor control electronics as these are the only components common to both supplies.

I know I haven't helped beyond the fact that I own an Engel and a Waeco and guess what? Beer tastes the same out of either fridge!!

Geoff

God Blimey mate. The thought of switching to Waeco, next it will be switching to a Tojo.

It might be as simples as a minor gas leak which is causing it to short cycle. Why don't you have a frigy look at it.

The other prob might be as mentioned that you have a hot joint in the elecs somewhere inside. If you can pull the covers off and look for any discouloured cable. The copper will have a dirty look. If you are so lucky cut the copper back to the clean section, re-crimp and your away.

The compressor should last a min of 10-15 years.

Cheers

Thanks for all the responses blokes......I will take it to an expert first I guess. Could save me many $$$$$$ (I hope)

I reckon its just scared of getting in the new ride ;-)

C'mon Roachie, fess up - you have been tinkering with it haven't you????

Tonight my 5 yr old w#%co that i swear by, on 240v through an ev#kool 2nd grade rectifier, gave me warm beer, what the ...., so i gave it a shake and a kick and nothing happened. Replugged everything and nothing happened. Got the multimetre out and checked the rectifier, volts okay maybe the current. Hooked in a light and got light. So bugger me must be the w#%co compressor. Have aleady had issues with the .... plug a few months ago, thought solved. Thought, must look out for the next eng#l special. then i hooked the fridge direct up to a battery and off it went. What the ... so i hooked it back up the rectifier and ... off it went. What is going on ? Whatever. Eng#l decision deferred for a while. Fridges, i dunno. There's a 240v but 6 energy star 55L bar fridge on the government energy star website, but can you friggin buy it anywhere ? Nope. Not listed anywhere, probably just sold to hotels and the rest bought out by energy suppliers and trashed no doubt.

Porl I posted recently that my 5yo Waeco played dead on both 12 and 240 V (Day before trip, of course).
Turned out to be corrossion in 12v contacts, and loose wire in 240v circuit. So no dramas, but fair dinkum, what are the odds? (May you be so lucky). JH

1. This doesn't sound like the problem but if your Engel has a 3 pin socket connection on the end of the 12 volt cable ,then the connection is likely to fail. The reason is that of the 3 pins, 2 are connected in parallel for the positive connection with a single connection for the negative. I have seen numerous power leads with the burnt out negative connection on the socket. The connection is obviously not suitable for use with higher duty cycles.

2. This is probably more to the point. My 40 litre 1997 Engel died after 6 years. I had it repaired (about $800.00 - ouch!). Not being too impressed, I did some research and found that compressor failure in this model was not uncommon. I had a new fan fitted as well. Engel HQ in W.A were contacted but ...!

3. By comparrison, my mother in law has a nearly 30 year old Engel that works great. Engel - "A Legend in Reliability"

4. And the reason for repairing it was that I still had the slide, transit lock, bag, extra divides and a restricted space to put it in the storage unit in the 80 series.

Cheers, Tony.

should have bought an australian made fridge.col

Who is this Roachie fellow?? I think he is a trol! Engels don't have these sorts of problems. Please everyone don't reply to this post lol

Leroy