No, Darnit, The Light Doesn't Go Out When I Close The Door!

[Mike_LeClair]

Yes, I did a search and there were no related previous posts. I read another posters thread about wondering if the light goes out or not and enjoyed some of the more humorous replies and tried to look past the snarky old usual posts from the usual snarky folks.

Anyhoo - the light does not go out when we close the fridge door. I took earlier advice and used my phone to video the thing after the door is closed. Yup, STILL ON!! WTF???? The plunger thingy (tech term) seems to work in that it slides in and back, it just doesn't break the connection to power. I can't for the life of me figure out how to get this thing free from the top of the fridge as I can't see how it is held on up there. It almost seems as if it is glued up there. There is no way to pop the thing into two halves so I am flummoxed.

Anybody in the collective here have any experience gutting and repairing these things? Thanks

Cheers!
Mike

[DrewE]

Harvey51 wrote:
Replace the incandescent bulb with an LED bulb to cut the electricity use and heating by a factor of 5 to 7. It won't matter much if it is on all the time.

If one is using the low temperature system that leaves the light on all the time for cold weather operation, this is somewhat counter-productive in that the LED bulb will also cut out the heat production by the same factor. Assuming nothing is defective or misadjusted, that's the usual reason the fridge light would be on all the time.

[JohnG3]

Unscrew the light bulb before you close the door.

[Harvey51]

Replace the incandescent bulb with an LED bulb to cut the electricity use and heating by a factor of 5 to 7. It won't matter much if it is on all the time.

[myredracer]

NRALIFR wrote:
Sound(of his own voice)Guy :):)

[wa8yxm]

Hey, I can not speak for the others but I've read so many operation (And service) manuals I need a computer to keep 'em all sorted out... That computer is currently under my left elbow,, Displaying a service manual.

[SaltiDawg]

Mike LeClair wrote:
...
Anyhoo - the light does not go out when we close the fridge door. I took earlier advice and used my phone to video the thing after the door is closed. Yup, STILL ON!! ...

Mike,

So the light actually went out when you shut the ice box door, but the video camera sensed the low light and turned on the camera light.

:S

[Mike_LeClair]

Well, don't I look foolish! Face Palm X 50. I DO indeed have a LA switch and I turned it off. Glory Be - the darned light now turns off as needed when I manually trigger the switch at the light. WOW, do I ever feel stoopid!

Thank you all for your input and ideas - y'all ROCK!

Cheers!

Mike

[pianotuna]

Look to see if there is a humidity control switch. They often operate by turning on the fridge light.

[SoundGuy]

NRALIFR wrote:
And yet, it still exists. And makes perfect sense.

In only some fridges, not mine.

Maybe you should redesign your add on switch.

:):)

Ergo, no reason to. :R

[SoundGuy]

The OP hasn't provided any details about the make / model of fridge he has but on Page 18 of this Dometic RM Series Diagnostic Service Manual it states (in part) ...

5.11 Climate Control Heater & Switch

Not used on all units.

5.12 Low Ambient Switch

Not used on all units.

For a complete explanation click on the above link. I repeat, my particular DM2652 does not have any of these switches and does not offer any way of manually controlling these circuits despite what others may claim. It's entirely possible that the interior light in the OP's fridge is intended to be periodically turned on when the main fridge door is closed ... if continuity tests show any switches his particular fridge has are fine then perhaps he's trying to fix a problem that isn't. :R

[wa8yxm]

Solving this problem, depending on the make and model of your fridge, may be so easy you will FACE PALM when you do it.

On your fridge there is at least one switch, and possibly two, these are likely slide switches, On/OFF not knobs and not push buttons.

one is marked something like Moisture control
This switch controlls a genuine heater that is in the area of the door seal, the job is to heat it enough that water does not condense when you open the door.

The other is marked LAT or Low Ambient Temperature This one keeps the light on when the door is closed. That is it's function to keep the light on

I do know why, but clearly the fix is to turn it off.

Why keep the light on

Turns out if it's cold enough out (neer seen it that cold) the firdge does not run enough to keep teh frozen froze or some such so adding a bit of heat (from the light bulb) inside the refrigerator keeps things working properly

[NRALIFR]

And yet, it still exists. And makes perfect sense.

Maybe you should redesign your add on switch.

:):)

[SoundGuy]

DrewE wrote:
Some RV fridges have a switch of some sort that turns the light on all the time, using it as a little heater (for climate control or cold weather operation or some such, I can't recall precisely what at the moment).

SoundGuy wrote:
Never heard of anything like this nor would it make any sense at all.

Chris Bryant wrote:
Called a Low Ambient Temperature switch or control (LAC or LAT). Used on some Dometic models. In low temperatures, the fresh food compartment stays at temp, but the cooling unit doesn't run enough to keep the freezer below zero, so they add heat to the fresh compartment, making the cooling unit run enough to keep the freezer cold.

ksg5000 wrote:
On my fridge this switch is located in the freezer compartment door jam way up top - almost impossible to locate unless your looking for it. Open the door and look for black sitch on black trim.

NRALIFR wrote:
Yup, it actually exists even though they didn’t bother letting Sound(of his own voice)Guy know about it. It’s a switch I’ve forgotten about several times myself, and have to reacquaint myself with once in a while. It works exactly as described, when it’s “on”, the little light stays on when the door is closed.

It’s the same method I use for my beer fridge in the garage during the winter. The freezer section doesn’t stay cold enough when the ambient temps are below 40-ish, so I put a jumper across the door switch to make the light stay on all the time. The 25w bulb adds just enough heat so that it runs a little more and the freezer stays at the proper temp. Amazing.

:):)

Great info but sorry, absolutely no switch anywhere on my particular DM2652 ... I've been over it with a fine tooth comb and I can guarantee there is no switch anywhere. 😞 However, according to Chris's explanation perhaps the light in the OP's fridge is intended to not go off. :h

[NRALIFR]

ksg5000 wrote:

Chris Bryant wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

DrewE wrote:
Some RV fridges have a switch of some sort that turns the light on all the time, using it as a little heater (for climate control or cold weather operation or some such, I can't recall precisely what at the moment).

Never heard of anything like this nor would it make any sense at all.

Called a Low Ambient Temperature switch or control (LAC or LAT). Used on some Dometic models. In low temperatures, the fresh food compartment stays at temp, but the cooling unit doesn't run enough to keep the freezer below zero, so they add heat to the fresh compartment, making the cooling unit run enough to keep the freezer cold.

On my fridge this switch is located in the freezer compartment door jam way up top - almost impossible to locate unless your looking for it. Open the door and look for black sitch on black trim.

Yup, it actually exists even though they didn’t bother letting Sound(of his own voice)Guy know about it. It’s a switch I’ve forgotten about several times, and have to reacquaint myself with once in a while. It works exactly as described, when it’s “on”, the little light stays on when the door is closed.

It’s the same method I use for my beer fridge in the garage during the winter. The freezer section doesn’t stay cold enough when the ambient temps are below 40-ish, so I put a jumper across the door switch to make the light stay on all the time. The 25w bulb adds just enough heat so that it runs a little more and the freezer stays at the proper temp. Amazing.

:):)