Dometic tundra - compressor not cycling?
I have a dometic tundra tj42 in my 2007 outfitter apex 8. I normally turn off the fridge when I won't be using the camper for a while. Last trip was Memorial Day weekend and all was fine. Had been ...
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Well, the strangest of things is going on...
On arriving home today after work, I walk past the TC and hear the fridge running. Hmmm, I thought I turned it off and pulled the fuse? It also sounds like more than just the fan is running. Sure enough, I reach inside the fridge and put my hand on the evaporator (freezer) portion and there is frost. I'll be...
All this after reading up a bunch on the Danfoss 35 and 50 compressors (mine is the 35 as would be virtually all TC sized fridges). Seems like common experience is that this compressor is expected to last 20 years or more, but the electronic controls, maybe not. So, I found as cheap of a replacement controller as I could find from a place that also sells a pre-fab 12V LED with female spades to hook in and read controller diagnostics.
Since I'm not going anywhere in the next two weeks, I shut the fridge off and pulled the fuse. New controller will be here tomorrow night and by the weekend, I'll try it again with the old controller and diagnostic LED installed. If it works, it works. I'll just hold on to the spare controller despite the expense.
Oh, and I from what I gathered, the 277 Ohm resistor on the ckt card that I got for $11 would plug into the lowest spade terminal on the main ckt card to add resistance in the compressor ckt. Depending on the resistance, you can control the compressor speed from something like 2000-3500 rpm. No resistor = 2000 rpm. 277 Ohms = 2500 rpm. Etc. There are kits out there to put in manual rheostats or automatic speed control so that your system cools down quickly and then runs the compressor at a low speed for longer periods of time with the thought being lower speed over longer duration vice higher speeds for shorter duration will result in lower energy consumption and higher service life. Since I had no resistor in the first place...I'm thinking I'll keep it that way. Just means the fridge would take longer too cool down at 2000 rpm vice a higher speed.
On arriving home today after work, I walk past the TC and hear the fridge running. Hmmm, I thought I turned it off and pulled the fuse? It also sounds like more than just the fan is running. Sure enough, I reach inside the fridge and put my hand on the evaporator (freezer) portion and there is frost. I'll be...
All this after reading up a bunch on the Danfoss 35 and 50 compressors (mine is the 35 as would be virtually all TC sized fridges). Seems like common experience is that this compressor is expected to last 20 years or more, but the electronic controls, maybe not. So, I found as cheap of a replacement controller as I could find from a place that also sells a pre-fab 12V LED with female spades to hook in and read controller diagnostics.
Since I'm not going anywhere in the next two weeks, I shut the fridge off and pulled the fuse. New controller will be here tomorrow night and by the weekend, I'll try it again with the old controller and diagnostic LED installed. If it works, it works. I'll just hold on to the spare controller despite the expense.
Oh, and I from what I gathered, the 277 Ohm resistor on the ckt card that I got for $11 would plug into the lowest spade terminal on the main ckt card to add resistance in the compressor ckt. Depending on the resistance, you can control the compressor speed from something like 2000-3500 rpm. No resistor = 2000 rpm. 277 Ohms = 2500 rpm. Etc. There are kits out there to put in manual rheostats or automatic speed control so that your system cools down quickly and then runs the compressor at a low speed for longer periods of time with the thought being lower speed over longer duration vice higher speeds for shorter duration will result in lower energy consumption and higher service life. Since I had no resistor in the first place...I'm thinking I'll keep it that way. Just means the fridge would take longer too cool down at 2000 rpm vice a higher speed.
