Refrigerator Issues

[DD716TED]

I am at a campground and the camper next to me asked me if I had any ideas as to what is going on with his Dometic RM2862 refrigerator.. I didn't but have INET and he doesn't so I said I would ask.. His refrigerator after being on for a day or so just shuts off.. He is on park power and everything else works fine, just his the refrigerator shuts off. Doesn't shift to gas.. just off and all lights and indicators are off. Tells me it is a 12 volt issue but what? After 8 or 9 hours it comes back on and works for several hours and again shuts off. The frost switch above door is off. His 12 v house batteries are both new (2 months old) and are fully charged. Propane bottles are full and on. any ideas on what to offer him as suggestions?

[Bumbie]

We had a similar issue with a Dometic in our '05 Safari Simba. Our issue ended up being frost that had covered the thermostat in the freezer. It corrupted the thermostat and the fridge/freezer would not come on until the frost had melted away. Thermostat replacement was an easy fix...once I figured it out.

[wa8yxm]

The 12 volt suggestion is a good one. Make sure his converter is .. well. converting. Make sure he has good 12.6 or better yet 13.6 volts.

next. I'd do a plug cleaning.. THere is a multi-wire connector on the circuit board. in my fridge that's in a black box lower left as you look at the back (outside) unplug and replug a few times.

Pull the "Eyebrow" (The part with buttons and lights) straight out, it just snaps in place. THat's the other end of the same cable. Unplug and replug a few times there as well.

Check for BUGS. the multi-legged biological kind.. Especially in the eyebrow.

The story goes that the reason we call computer glitches "Bugs" is that when they diagnosed the first one it was an insect caught in a relay (I've actually seen that kind of bug on a switch).

Well.. I've got that kind of "Bug" in this RV he may have as well.

[rockylarson]

My refrigerator circuit board, under an easily removeable cover, from the outside panel, has a small fuse. I would skip testing it and just replace. I think it is in the 3 to 5 amp range.

[MitchF150]

My new trailer's Dometic fridge did something similar. But, it only did it when it was plugged into 120v. What it would do, on either 120 or gas is it would cool down just fine. But, once it reached temp and would start to cycle, it would not turn on again.

I then ran it on gas only and unplugged and let it go with the batteries. It ran great and cycled as it should.

After some interweb research, it was determined that it was a main board issue.. I ordered a new board for about $100 from Amazon. I decided NOT to take it back to the dealer for warranty (it would have been covered) mainly because I didn't want to haul it over there.. Wait a week for them to diagnose it, another week for them to fix it...

I got the new board in 2 days and had it installed in about an hour and it's been operating fine ever since while plugged in.

Good luck! Mitch

[wopachop]

Have one of those spray cans of air? Or a compressor?
My guess is circuit board related. Maybe you could blast the area with air. Remove and connect any connectors there.

Check the connectors on the service panel. AS well as where power attaches to the fridge. I think mine uses little lock down screws that could easily have loosened on ya.

[BFL13]

It could be his converter is not providing 12v and he is on a nearly dead battery for 12v. It dies below what the fridge needs, then the battery recovers a little so it can do some more fridge, repeat.

Need to learn if the fridge is the only 12v thing that is acting up to know if that theory could work.