Norcold 1200LRIM won't stay off

Are you using an inverter?

I had a similar problem with a different model Norcold with electronic controls. I was told that it was most likely ac ripple current in the 12 volt dc power. My rig had an old magnetek converter in it and I replaced it with a new Progressive Dynamics converter. It solved the problem.

I believe that someone earlier in this thread mentioned that it sounded like this very problem. I'm sure my old Magnetek converter had bad filter capacitors that were letting in the ripple current and the new PD converter solved it.

I'm not a tech person, but I believe you can test for the ripple current by checking the 12 vdc voltage with a digital meter set on the ac voltage setting. Hopefully someone else can tell you exactly how to do a test for the ripple current. Good luck-- Mick

As another stated, you are getting AC ripple thru the DC. Since you have an Inverter/Charger, that will rule out a Converter cause. Now, there are a few other items that can cause this type problem on OLDER units. The most often cause is a defective Fluorescent light ballast. Are you doing your tests with ALL the interior lights OFF. If not, you make sure all the interior lights are OFF and then reset the Refer and see if it will now turn on and off correctly. IF you change out both rear and Optical boards to current, the odds are the problem will go away as those are the only 2 items that will be affected by AC ripple and causing your problem. Now, you state you spend upwards of 2k or more replacing a functioning refer for this problem? Online it appears the Control kit for your refer is from $225 to $350. Also, what I would do, is run a simple 12 volt ON/OFF lighted switch from the rear of the refer to a spot inside the RV and just KILL the power to the refer when I wanted to shut it down. WHY spend a lot of money for a simple solution????? Doug

Doug mentioned a defective Fluorescent ballast. I had a bad one that caused my garage door opener to fail so I'd check that out like he said.

I would also run an extension cord from shore power and plug the refrigerator into that with all the power shut down in the RV.

Okay, I unplugged the 50 amp cord, shut off the invertor and all the lights....as soon as the 12 power is applied the fridge propane burner ignites.

There is now no response from the optical control for ON/OFF. The rest of the controls respond ie: temp, modes. It appears to likely be the "optical control" or "control board" that is malfunctioning.

For the immediate...as long as the fridge works sufficiently, I am just going to unplug the 12 volt when it is stored. Future plans are to replace with a Samsung.

Thanks for all the replies.