Dometic 150 ltr 3 way tropical fridge not working on 12v.

Submitted: Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 17:12

ThreadID: 79430 Views:6226 Replies:6 FollowUps:2

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Member - Boo Boo (NSW)

Good evening again,

my brother in law and sister have just come over from Adelaide for a bit of a party on the weekend and the conversation turned to caravans and camper trailers.

They have the fridge that does not work on 12v. He is fairly smart when it comes to these sort of things, (he's looking over my shoulder as I type), but he can't work out why it doesn't work.

Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution?

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Reply By: Member - David C2 (VIC) - Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 17:25

Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 17:25

Hi BooBoo, I had a problem with a Engel fridge once worked ok on 240v but not on 12v. I took it to a service guy only to told it was working fine. It turned out the 12v power supply was not fully charging or holding sufficient charge.
Replaced the spare battery and we were back in business.

Happy Travels Dave

AnswerID: 421213

Reply By: Baz&Pud (Tassie) - Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 17:43

Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 17:43

Hi Boo Boo
Had a problem with the fridge a few years back, just wouldn't work on 12v turned out to be a broken earth wire, not saying this is the problem though.
Cheers
Baz

Go caravaning, life is so much shorter than death.

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AnswerID: 421215

Reply By: Member - sdr00y (Beecroft,NSW) - Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 20:49

Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 at 20:49

Ask him how thick the wire is that he has connected the fridge to. The wiring from the battery to the fridge connection needs to be quite thick to allow the electricity to get to it and the wires should be earthed back to the battery for best results, not earthed to the vehicle body.

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AnswerID: 421243

Follow Up By: Member - warren h (SA) - Friday, Jun 18, 2010 at 10:06

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 at 10:06

Check the 12 volt lead notorious for giving trouble.

FollowupID: 691594

Reply By: kema - Friday, Jun 18, 2010 at 10:35

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 at 10:35

Had this problem with 50ltr waeco would not run on 12v. turned out to be the 6amp fuse is to light to start the fridge kept triping on start up. Had it replaced with 9amp, problem solved

Cheers Kema

AnswerID: 421275

Follow Up By: farouk - Friday, Jun 18, 2010 at 19:21

Friday, Jun 18, 2010 at 19:21

Having had this problem twice the problem both times was the 12v element , I assume it is lighting up and staying alight with a healthy flame but not getting cold, also working fine on gas and 240v, the logical conclusion would be 12 v element R/S
Last time had one replaced was in 2007 and cost was 1 hr labour and i element $140 certainly a ripoff but what options are there when you are packed and ready to travel, given the time couuld be replaced by any handy man.
Farouk

FollowupID: 691702

Reply By: farouk - Saturday, Jun 19, 2010 at 11:11

Saturday, Jun 19, 2010 at 11:11

Correction to previous post, what I wrote there about the flame etc had no relevance, must have been having a seniors moment!! and the rest of the reply was incorrect as well .
What was actually replaced was the 240 volt element, have never ever had a problem with 12 volt so perhaps I should learn to read the posts properly!!!
Farouk

AnswerID: 421401

Reply By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Sunday, Jun 20, 2010 at 10:52

Sunday, Jun 20, 2010 at 10:52

Thanks for the help fellas.

Roger will check the things that you have mentioned before any thing else.

My bet it will be the earth not making contact.

AnswerID: 421515