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09-04-2020, 07:49 PM
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#21
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Junior Member
Name: Judith
Trailer: 2007 Casita 17' SD
Kentucky
Posts: 16
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Is the heater located inside the column?
I can't determine where the dc heater is located looking at the wiring diagram.
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09-04-2020, 08:45 PM
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#22
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Junior Member
Name: LYNN
Trailer: Little Guy Mini Max
Texas
Posts: 9
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Agree with Raz, Rogerdat and RedBarron55. Best course is replace 30A fuse and holder first; if it fails immediately, then try to find and check 12V heating element and/or wiring for short to ground. No need asking how I know.
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09-05-2020, 03:22 AM
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#23
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Senior Member
Trailer: Trillium 2010
Posts: 5,185
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09-05-2020, 06:20 AM
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#24
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Senior Member
Name: JD
Trailer: Scamp 16 Modified (BIGLY)
Florida
Posts: 2,445
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No need to dig to the heating element, just disconnect the wires and check to make sure it is not grounded (shorted to ground)
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09-05-2020, 09:35 AM
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#25
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Senior Member
Name: Mike
Trailer: Escape 21 & Jeep GC 5.7 (Previous 2012 Casita FD17 & 2010 Audi Q5)
Puget Sound, WA
Posts: 1,775
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Quote:
Originally Posted by genesis315
Attached is a photo of the 30A fuse. The holder is also melted.
Before the yellow sleeve, the wire is orange. (Doesn't look like it in the photo)
After the yellow sleeve and to the terminal block, the wire is red.
The orange and yellow wires don't appear to be the same gauge.
Doubt if this is factory wiring, but prior owner never mentioned any problem.
I have had this unit for 5 years without any DC refrigerator problem.
I know I have to replace the fuse.
Is the correct fuse case shown?
It also looks like the wire needs to be replaced. If so, what gauge/color (?orange)
Finally, is there an underlying issue that caused the problem in the first place?
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The fuse holders are sold with a loop of wire attached. This picture below is from a package of 10-gauge fuse holders I bought several years ago. You cut the wire loop and make up the connections to the vehicle or trailer wiring.
It's difficult to tell from the photo but it might be that moisture got in the fuse holder and corrosion at the fuse terminals contributed to high resistance at that location.
Since the back of the refrigerator is vented and exposed to weather, you might want to get a covered "waterproof" fuse holder as shown in the photo. I would also place it so that it faces downward to further reduce the potential to accumulate any water.
All of the circuit's connections should be checked as heating will occur wherever there is a poor connection. There's a good recent thread here on the Escape forum that discusses making up crimp connections properly.
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post346769
__________________
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09-05-2020, 09:59 AM
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#26
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Senior Member
Name: Steve
Trailer: 2018, 21ft escape— 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie
NW Wisconsin
Posts: 4,500
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Some of the fuse holders are nothing more than 2 crimp on 90 deg slide terminals encased
in plastic . If you are not careful when placing the fuse in the holder , the fuse blades can slide along side of the crimp on terminals instead of into the terminals .
The fuse holder / fuse will conduct but when a load is applied the connection will heat and eventually destroy the holder and the fuse .
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09-09-2020, 01:21 PM
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#27
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Junior Member
Name: Dennis
Trailer: 2017 Escape 17b
PA
Posts: 15
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The dometic refrigerator uses a boiler. when you run it on 12v or 120v electric it is just a great big resistance load like a hair dryer or toaster, and puts one heck of a load on your batteries. I'm assuming there are different heating elements for 12 volt and 120 volt operation. Did you check continuity and connection on the DC heating element?
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09-09-2020, 01:33 PM
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#28
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Junior Member
Name: Dennis
Trailer: 2017 Escape 17b
PA
Posts: 15
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looks like you need a 30 amp (#10 wire fuse holder and a couple butt connectors for 30 amp wire usually 30a connectors are yellow.
not sure about size of wire in circuit...fuse shouldn't be larger than smallest wire. if it's #10 all the way through it would be a 30 amp fuse.
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09-10-2020, 10:20 AM
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#29
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Senior Member
Trailer: 1981 Trillium 5500
Posts: 1,158
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I would put my guess on bad fuse holder first, I have had one fail, looking exactly like your picture, bad connections are common, as previously mentioned, the cheaper ones have a tendancy for the fuse not to seat properly, and the wire size should be the same as the supply, the only time I would use smaller, is after a fuse, reducing the available current from say a 30 amp available to say a 15 amp for a fan circuit, then I would drop from #10-(30 amp) to a #14-(15 amp), just my opinion though
Joe
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09-11-2020, 07:54 AM
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#30
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Junior Member
Trailer: 1974 13 ft Boler
Posts: 3
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No cooling on DC
Hi g,
Trouble shooting may not help.
DC Frig 101.
1. First thing we must understand is that three way frigs were never designed to cool on DC power.
2. DC power is a maintenance mode power source. If the frig is at 74 degrees DC power will maintain 74 degrees
If the frig is at 40 degrees DC power will maintain 40 degrees.
3. I would check your manual to confirm this.
I have disconnected my DC power on the frig just because it is a waist of time and energy.
I run propane when traveling and 120v when shore power it available and all is good.
Happy thing,
Ron
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09-11-2020, 08:27 AM
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#31
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Senior Member
Name: Greg
Trailer: 2008 Casita 17' SD
Washington
Posts: 1,997
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve dunham
The refrigerator has 2 electrical heating elements , one works on 120 VAC and the other works on 12VDC also there is a 12 VDC fuse for the refrigerator in the converter . I would check the fuse first and if that’s good then the 12 V element
The elements are inexpensive and not difficult to change out
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The fridge won't work on any of the three operating modes, (120 vac, 12 vdc, or propane,) if there isn't 12 vdc power available to the fridge's control board. There is also another fuse outside as well, (but I assume it is fine since the fridge is working on the other modes.) You have to pull the lower outside vent cover to access it. Just so you know that the converter fuse isn't the only fridge 12 vdc fuse you have.
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09-11-2020, 08:29 AM
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#32
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Senior Member
Name: Steve
Trailer: Scamp 13
California
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rivenwood
Hi g,
Trouble shooting may not help.
DC Frig 101.
1. First thing we must understand is that three way frigs were never designed to cool on DC power.
2. DC power is a maintenance mode power source. If the frig is at 74 degrees DC power will maintain 74 degrees
If the frig is at 40 degrees DC power will maintain 40 degrees.
3. I would check your manual to confirm this.
I have disconnected my DC power on the frig just because it is a waist of time and energy.
I run propane when traveling and 120v when shore power it available and all is good.
Happy thing,
Ron
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I do not understand this because both the 125 volt and the 12 volt elements are 175 watt elements so should put out the same heat to operate the fridge. the fridge is designed to work 3 ways not 2-1/2. maybe the fridge works poorly on 12 volt because of an inaccurate source of power supply but by design should work properly on all 3 modes of heat source.
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09-11-2020, 02:42 PM
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#33
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Senior Member
Trailer: 1981 Trillium 5500
Posts: 1,158
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The fridge will work fine on dc. It will be a battery hog, but if you can keep the battery charged, like when towing, it will work just fine. I used to run my inmont im33 on DC whenever I was towing, no matter how long the trip, and my fridge was always cold , when i was shutting off the vehicle I would switch to propane
Joe
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09-20-2020, 09:31 PM
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#34
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Senior Member
Name: Elliott
Trailer: Bigfoot
Everywhere
Posts: 462
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On larger fridges, it's common for the AC element to be larger than the DC element. In this case, both are 175W so it should be about equally effective. Propane is more like 316W, so it'll work noticeably better.
Replacing the fuse holder's definitely necessary. I'd disconnect both wires leading to the DC element and use a multimeter to make sure it measures ~0.8 Ohms (within ~10%). Anything outside that range (or no continuity, or dead short) means you need a new element as well. Chances are the problem is a loose connection in the fuse holder, but best to check the element as well before running power through it again.
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09-20-2020, 09:40 PM
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#35
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,940
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevebaz
I do not understand this because both the 125 volt and the 12 volt elements are 175 watt elements so should put out the same heat to operate the fridge. the fridge is designed to work 3 ways not 2-1/2. maybe the fridge works poorly on 12 volt because of an inaccurate source of power supply but by design should work properly on all 3 modes of heat source.
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175 watts at 12 volts is about 15 amps, and will deplete a fully charged 100AH lead acid battery to the 50% max safe discharge point in about 3 hours.
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