New dometic new gen is drawing more power than old fridge.

Just clampon to the positive refer wire to measure the refer draw.

These tools are invaluable for the DYI RVer, especially for determing battery and AC loads. The clampon ammeter measures AC volts/amps, DC volts/amps, resistance, frequency (useful for checking a gen) and temperature. The accuracy is more than adequate for RV usage. The line splitter allows for easy measurement of AC amps for any plug in appliance. The female plug is on the bottom and the 2 loops allow for measuring 1x and 10x amps (useful for measuring small AC loads). About $75 for the pair. Check that any clampon meter you purchase can measure DC amps as they are less common than ones that measure only AC amps.

Do i Just attach to pos/neg lead behind service panel to get reading?

The jaw opens and closes around a wire. You do not remove any wires etc.

For example in 2 seconds you clamp onto the refer positive DC wire and read the current.

I will follow this thread to find the answer. We just bought an older travel trailer for fishing trips and it just had a new Dometic 6 cu fridge installed. Between the fridge and the furnace being on a couple times overnight the battery was dead before morning. I made a trip to town and bought a new battery thinking to old one was not up to snuff and the next morning the new battery was almost dead.
I have been scratching my head trying to find the power drain. The fridge was on propane by the way.

CA Traveler wrote:

I will disconnect monoxide alarms, radio, tv antenna booster and turn on fridge and check draw. If more than 2A then something is definately screwy.

I'd start with measuring the refer since it's been replaced.

A $50 DC clampon ammeter would be a good investment for this and the future. It then becomes trival to measure amps.

Do i Just attach to pos/neg lead behind service panel to get reading?
Thx

I will disconnect monoxide alarms, radio, tv antenna booster and turn on fridge and check draw. If more than 2A then something is definately screwy.

I'd start with measuring the refer since it's been replaced.

A $50 DC clampon ammeter would be a good investment for this and the future. It then becomes trival to measure amps.

There's also the "climate control" function on some Dometic refrigerators. It is resistance heater surrounding door and draws an amp or maybe more on the largest models. On my Dometic, installed in a 2011 class C, this function is not switched-it is constantly on. I snipped the wire to it. On mine it only drew half amp or so.

solismaris wrote:

ewarnerusa wrote:

What would be varying the load in a 12V control panel where an average would be much less than a max? One of the threads I linked mentioned that an actual Trimetric reading showed higher draw when the fridge was cooling and they theorized it was the due to the solenoid opening the gas supply. But if I recall it was only a 0.2 A increase.

Here's one guess: There is a solenoid with a spring keeping the gas closed off when there is no power, and to turn on the gas continuous power is needed to hold open the solenoid. (Just a guess.)

LOL. I'm guessing you only made it through the first sentence of my post before replying? I think you're right though, it makes sense.

ewarnerusa wrote:

What would be varying the load in a 12V control panel where an average would be much less than a max? One of the threads I linked mentioned that an actual Trimetric reading showed higher draw when the fridge was cooling and they theorized it was the due to the solenoid opening the gas supply. But if I recall it was only a 0.2 A increase.

Here's one guess: There is a solenoid with a spring keeping the gas closed off when there is no power, and to turn on the gas continuous power is needed to hold open the solenoid. (Just a guess.)

I will never replace my 3 way Dometic in my 1997 Xplorer as it has no 12 volt draw when on gas. I boondock a lot with a single 105 AH battery. I will repair it as needed.

Your fridge as an 'Automatic Low Ambient Control' (LAC) function....cycles interior light when ambient temps go below 50*F.
Maybe it is stuck ON causing high DC draw????