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

[tedzo]

Just had new fridge installed and now batterey will not last through the night.
This has happened every time dry camping.
Batterey checks out fine, fridge is on gas only, never had problem with old fridge, what gives?
Fridge starts flashing error code when batterey low and does not have enough juice to ignite coupler.
Only other things that are on are the carbon monoxide detectors.
Maybe bad camping world install?, wires crossed? Parasite drain?
This is the 7cuft model rm-3762
Anyone else with this prob?

[CA_Traveler]

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.

[CA_Traveler]

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.

[slickest1]

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.

[tedzo]

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

[CA_Traveler]

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.

[tpi]

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.

[ewarnerusa]

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.

[solismaris]

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.)

[steveh27]

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.

[Old-Biscuit]

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????

[tedzo]

ewarnerusa wrote:

solismaris wrote:
...You should be able to go literally weeks with the fridge set to gas. The power consumption of the electronics is very low.
....

This is something I'm curious about. Intuitively I would agree with this statement. But readings these forums there are some claims that the 12V control panel on a modern RV absorption fridge (while on propane) is on all the time drawing 12V power. I've read in the neighborhood of 1 amp continuous load. This sounds like very little, but that is 1 amp for 24 hrs/day. That means 24 Ah/day just to run the fridge on propane. If you've got a single group 24 battery with a typical ~80 Ah rating (40 Ah available to stay above 50%), then in only two days you would use all of your recommended available battery just with the fridge alone.
Now I don't know if these claims are true and I don't really ever get a chance to test it because I have solar installed and no amp meter on my batteries, but it is kind of eye opening. The following links are what I found in a quick search on Google. Seems like claims of 0.1 A to 2 A to run the 12V electronics on the fridge when running on propane.
http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=103161
http://rvservices.koa.com/rvinformation/rvmaintenance/rv-converters-and-amp-draw.asp
http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3853
The only actual datasheet I found while surfing was for a Norcold and it said 1.2A on 12V DC power.

Thanks for the info! Most is common sense. 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.

[tedzo]

wa8yxm wrote:
Well, those of us who subscribe to the theory of KISS (Keep it super simple is the polite translation).

Have you tested the batteries to insure they are not on their last gasp?

Battery tested great from autozone and batteries plus. Charged and took load fine.
Never had this problem before new friidge was installed.
Do not want to spend more bux on led lights just yet.
Would like to take back to camping world for diag. But they have a lousy appt window and charge for any service.
The fridge works fine and is still under warranty, but i am at a loss on what to do.
Shall i start a post under camping world products thread?
Thanks all,
Ted

[wa8yxm]

Well, those of us who subscribe to the theory of KISS (Keep it super simple is the polite translation).

Have you tested the batteries to insure they are not on their last gasp?

[ewarnerusa]

solismaris wrote:
I expect 1.2A is the maximum, not the average. I've gone 2 weeks without problem before (accidentally; I thought I was plugged in but the breaker had tripped). Maybe some fridges are different.

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.