Electrical shut down

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Sue and Henry

T...... We got a dometic rm2351. I can't find anyplace in the paperwork and instructions that tells the draw. I did find a spot in line that said 12 to 18 amps. Does that make sense?

175 watts or about 1.6 amps

[knighth001]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

It's a planning number, and it's strictly for absorption-type fridges, which must make heat in order to operate. (Compressor fridges are a different animal altogether.) Using an absorption fridge on electricity is very much like having another heater plugged in. Which one does, effectively.

Here's a quote from one of many discussions about this online:



And assuming (perhaps wrongly) that Sue's is an older such fridge, I think it's likely to be at the high end of that.

Francesca

Ahh, interesting. Thanks for the explanation. I'm just using a dorm fridge basically. a 2.5 cu. ft. Kenmore I had laying around. http://www.managemylife.com/mmh/lis_...M/L0523071.pdf

I guess if I ever step up to a 2-way or 3-way I'll have to worry about that.

[Bob Miller]

Here;s the speification sheet. It also notes that you must have 12VDC available for the control circuits: http://www.dometic.com/ce27b7d9-a21d...530f2ed0.fodoc

[Sue and Henry]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

175 watts or about 1.6 amps

Thanks Tom.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Here;s the speification sheet. It also notes that you must have 12VDC available for the control circuits: http://www.dometic.com/ce27b7d9-a21d...530f2ed0.fodoc

What???

Sue's fridge suddenly rang a bell- I remember that discussion now. I thought she managed to find one that does NOT require any direct 12v input!

Francesca

[Sue and Henry]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

What???

Sue's fridge suddenly rang a bell- I remember that discussion now. I thought she managed to find one that does NOT require any direct 12v input!

Francesca

I think it does require the battery for the control panel. It automatically selects 120 but when that is not working the little battery operated brain inside attempts to switch over to propane. Otherwise, it doesn't run on 12 volt.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Sue and Henry

I think it does require the battery for the control panel. It automatically selects 120 but when that is not working the little battery operated brain inside attempts to switch over to propane. Otherwise, it doesn't run on 12 volt.

The issue is that when you boon dock, the little brain is squandering battery power.

[Raz]

Finding how much current those control boards use is a bit of a task. I did a lot of digging and found that in some cases the contol board current is upwards of 500 mA (1/2 A). As that's 100% duty cycle it's rather significant if you're boon docking.

In regard to the original question I agree with Francesca, a small heater can easily set off a 15 A. breaker especially at start up. Raz

[Carol H]

hummm I just read the owners manual and it reads in part:

:"Automatic energy selector system
The refrigerator is equipped with an automatic energy selector system. The user turns the refrigerator on and then, the refrigerator automatically selects the most suitable energy source available, either 120 V aC or lP gas operation. The system can be set by the user to be fully automatic (auTo mode is selected) or to operate on lP gas only (auTo mode is off)."

Wonder if when boon docking and you put the fridge on gas, and turn the auto mode off if the control board current drain drops down - suspect it may.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Carol H

hummm I just read the owners manual and it reads in part:

:"Automatic energy selector system
The refrigerator is equipped with an automatic energy selector system. The user turns the refrigerator on and then, the refrigerator automatically selects the most suitable energy source available, either 120 V aC or lP gas operation. The system can be set by the user to be fully automatic (auTo mode is selected) or to operate on lP gas only (auTo mode is off)."

Wonder if when boon docking and you put the fridge on gas, and turn the auto mode off if the control board current drain drops down - suspect it may.

The ones I've looked at had electronic temperature control (thermostat) and a buffer circuit between the thermo couple and the safety switch. Both are needed to run the fridge.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

The ones I've looked at had electronic temperature control (thermostat) and a buffer circuit between the thermo couple and the safety switch. Both are needed to run the fridge.

A lot of the fridges these day seem to draw some dc to work.... funny enough when the topic of the replacement fridge for Sue's old fridge came up, someone pointed out specs that indicated that even my 21 year old Dometic draws a *little* bit of dc power when on propane.... had never read/heard that before so had never bothered to look at my meter to see what it was drawing.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Carol H

A lot of the fridges these day seem to draw some dc to work.... funny enough when the topic of the replacement fridge for Sue's old fridge came up, someone pointed out specs that indicated that even my 21 year old Dometic draws a *little* bit of dc power when on propane.... had never read/heard that before so had never bothered to look at my meter to see what it was drawing.

A "little" is a relative term. From a previous discussion we concluded that if the controls are in the trailer as opposed to at the outside access, there is a good chance that DC is required for propane operation. Also if there is a digital read out. The only ones I know of made today that do not require DC when on propane are the Norold N300 and the Dometic 2193. There might be one or two others but not many. Raz

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

A "little" is a relative term. From a previous discussion we concluded that if the controls are in the trailer as opposed to at the outside access, there is a good chance that DC is required for propane operation. Also if there is a digital read out. The only ones I know of made today that do not require DC when on propane are the Norold N300 and the Dometic 2193. There might be one or two others but not many. Raz

Totally agree Raz, I was just questioning whether or not it may pull less DC if it wasnt on Auto mode than it would on it. It would be nice if the manufactures where to state more clearly their documentation what the draw is on propane as it seems hard to find even on their websites.

I wonder if anyone has put a meter on a Dometic 2193 to confirm it doesnt pull any DC on propane. I know it is the replacement for my old fridge which I had always assumed didnt pull any DC while on propane as the documentation/manual doesnt give any info on it, that was until someone here pulled up some documentation that it actually did - all be it a small amount.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Totally agree Raz, I was just questioning whether or not it may pull less DC if it wasnt on Auto mode than it would on it. It would be nice if the manufactures where to state more clearly their documentation what the draw is on propane as it seems hard to find even on their websites.

I wonder if anyone has put a meter on a Dometic 2193 to confirm it doesnt pull any DC on propane. I know it is the replacement for my old fridge which I had always assumed didnt pull any DC while on propane as the documentation/manual doesnt give any info on it, that was until someone here pulled up some documentation that it actually did - all be it a small amount.

This has been argued multiple times. Why don't you contact Dometic and find out?

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

This has been argued multiple times. Why don't you contact Dometic and find out?

Humm not arguing it just asking if anyone has metered it

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Humm not arguing it just asking if anyone has metered it

Right then we could argue about how it is metered, whether the meter was of adequate quality and calibration, what other similar refrigerators might also draw, do European refrigerators have the same draw, what gauge was the wiring and was it single strand or braided ?

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Right then we could argue about how it is metered, whether the meter was of adequate quality and calibration, what other similar refrigerators might also draw, do European refrigerators have the same draw, what gauge was the wiring and was it single strand or braided ?

Tom..... wrong side of the bed?

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

Tom..... wrong side of the bed?

Tired of the same old arguments by the same people.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Totally agree Raz, I was just questioning whether or not it may pull less DC if it wasnt on Auto mode than it would on it. It would be nice if the manufactures where to state more clearly their documentation what the draw is on propane as it seems hard to find even on their websites.

I wonder if anyone has put a meter on a Dometic 2193 to confirm it doesnt pull any DC on propane. I know it is the replacement for my old fridge which I had always assumed didnt pull any DC while on propane as the documentation/manual doesnt give any info on it, that was until someone here pulled up some documentation that it actually did - all be it a small amount.

We owned a Norcold 300 and now have the Dometic 2193. I have serviced both units. Both are primitive by today's standards. No electronics what so ever. The DC connection goes directly to the heating element via a switch. Nothing else. Promise Raz

Edit: Found the schematic. They don't get any simpler than that. Not even a thermostat on the DC side.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

We owned a Norcold 300 and now have the Dometic 2193. I have serviced both units. Both are primitive by today's standards. No electronics what so ever. The DC connection goes directly to the heating element via a switch. Nothing else. Promise Raz

Thanks Raz.