Norcold 1200 ..Help

[drifterpilot]

My Norcold 1200 refer has been working fine for the past couple of weeks. I am getting ready to leave on a trip tomorrow morning. This morning I noticed the refrig wasn't cooling in the refrig compt or the freezer. The coach is plugged into 50A from the house and the refrig is powered "on" at the door. I looked in the back behind the unit and noted the red light is not illuminated on the small square black "box". The 12v plug wire has 12v power available going "In". The 12v receptacle pin "Out" has no power. I have seen this issue discussed previously on this forum, but cannot locate it at the present.
Is there a work-a-round or do I need a new black unit?
I have two RV dealers 20 miles away with their store open today (Sunday).
As I have stated previously, I'm rather short-fused on this.
Thanks

[rick_werth]

When you can, I would also make sure any/all the Norcold recalls for your refrigerator have been done. Just one less thing to deal with/worry about.

[larry_cad]

Glad to hear you got it going. One thing to keep in mind is that the 1200LRIM tends to cool "better" with propane than with 120vac heaters. What you have may be an indication of a failing cooling unit so be mindful of that. If you don't find a blown 120vac fuse on the board keep this in mind.

Have a great trip.

[drifterpilot]

I just discovered the refrig/freezer will operate on propane.
I will troubleshoot with what has been recommended by this forum when I reach my 1st destination on Monday. I will be parked there for a few days.
I will report once I find it won't run on AC.
Thank you for your help.

[Executive45]

Start with the easy stuff before throwing money at it...

Have you put the fridge in diagnostic mode? What is the code showing?

Disconnect the thermister. Thats the thingy attached to the fins inside the box. Follow the wires to the top and unplug it. The light will be disconnected as well. The thermister is simply a thermostat so don't expect your box to ever cycle with it disconnected. This means the fridge will cycle by time rather than by temp. If that doesn't work then you'll have to dig a bit deeper.

1. Take a picture of the wiring at the back of the fridge in case one or more have to be removed.

2. Remove the cover on the black box affixed to the back of the fridge. Inside are two fuses. Use a meter and determine both of these fuses are good. If the 120V fuse is bad, make sure it's replacement is a slo-blo fuse.

3. If both fuses are good, then reset the recall box. You can do this once, then Norcold says you'll have to take it to a dealer. The dealer will reset it for you with a large magnet. (Note-you can do this yourself)

4. You can reset the control board yourself with a small jumper. I used a short piece of telephone wire as they are #18 solid copper. See page 12 of the manual for instructions. You'll hear a distinct click when it resets.

Remember the freezer cools first, then the box.

I played around with mine for two years AFTER replacing the cooling unit with the Amish. I finally chucked it and installed the Samsung 197. You might consider the same route and save yourself a lot of aggravation....best of luck...Dennis

[larry_cad]

Here is the link to the diagnostic instructions for the 1200LRIM.

1200LRIM service manual

Keep in mind the 1200LRIM is notorious for failing in this way and has been known to fail by catching fire. If the cooling unit is bad, give serious consideration to swapping it to a residential type.

[larry_cad]

Since you are running the fridge on shore power, the cooling is coming from 120vac power heaters,rather than propane. On the control board you will find 5 amp glass fuses which provide the 120 vac power to the heaters.

Two things you can do: check the fuses(s) to see if they are blown or switch to propane.

If the cooling unit on the fridge is working, it doesnt care if the heat comes from the propane flame or from the 120 vac heaters.

If neither system causes the fridge to cool, there is a good chance your cooling unit is bad. However, it is also possible your control board is bad. Check the easy stuff first and then go to the more involved troubleshooting stuff. The norcold system does have built in diagnostics you can access from the front control panel. The procedures are available online.

[johnsonbert]

If you have 12V in, I believe there is 1 or 2 fuses under the black cover. I would begin by trying to check them to see if they are good. Hope this may help.
Hope your able to get it going. Happy Trails. Bert