Dometic fridge - "error"

I haven't finished my trouble-shooting (barely started), but....

So we took a three-night camping trip, and th eDometic was perfectly fine for the the two nights and days. Battery in the TD stayed up above 2/3 for most of the trip.

Then, the battery is down at "1/3" and the fridge's error light starts flashing, and the temp had climbed from 4 to 7.

Unplugged the fridge and plugged back in, but error light was on again within a few minutes.

I'll check to see if the fridge error light comes on when I plug it into AC.

I will also check to see if the fridge error light comes on when I plug it into the outlet in my car.

After the error light started flashing, I never heard the fridge make any noise, at all....(probably because it is actually "off")

Kinda frustrating. Am hoping there is something that I am doing wrong....

-Al

 

Al,

The refrigerator will switch off if the voltage is not high enough in order to protect your battery. Mine has a setting to operate on low. Don't know what conditions you had but mine operated for 5 days at IRG.

 

so, it would be "normal" operation for the fridge to go into "error" mode if the battery drops to 1/3? (or somewhere between 1/3 and empty)

That would be good to know, as I wouldn't have to do all sorts of troubleshooting.

I will call the Dometic guys, as they have been very responsive in the past. But checking with the community here is usually a pretty good bet.

ps re "conditions" - My fridge was packed with food, much of it frozen or close to frozen (meat). And the temp was set at 4C. And it was 60-75 degrees, and mostly in shade. It held the temp for >48 hours.

Perhaps I should conserve the TD battery, a bit, on these trips by plugging the fridge into the tv for a hours/day. Wouldn't kill the tv battery, and might give me an extra day of TD battery.

 

What voltage range setting do you have it set at? You can set it from low, to med, to high through the display.

Cary

 

What Cary said. I have mine set to low and it usually gets me through a long weekend no problem at the temps you listed. IRG was in the 60s.

 

I'm not sure (but will check when I get home)

This is not done through the display, but through a switch on the side, near the pwer cord, no?

The display only allows you to select the temp.

But I will doublecheck when I get home.

 

here is the manual for mine
http://www.novakool.com/support/documents/bcdmanul.pdf

I have the bcd30

you can not set the voltage through the panel - you set it via a switch on the side, near the power cable
I have mine set to the "3" setting, or 11.1 V

When I came home today, I unplugged my TD and plugged in my warm/21 degree Novakool. The TD battery was full. The error light did not come on. And my Novakool is now at 5 dgrees.

so I am guessing thje battery was too low, and the error light flashing was to tell me that there just wasn't enough juice to power the unit

so now I am back to, "How can I get more than 48 hours out of my TD battery, so I can extend the cooling of the fridge?"

I barely used the radio and speakers. Maybe a few hours over the whole weekend. Let's say 8. And I used the galley light, also probably hours (3 nights), and less than one hour of the cabin light.

at least the fridge ain't broke!!

 

The DOMETIC battery monitor is set at the display and can be set to low med and high, the threshold for each is as follows:

Battery monitor setting___LOW__MED__HIGH
Switch-off voltage______10.1 V 11.4 V 11.8 V
Restart voltage_________11.1 V 12.2 V 12.6 V

Low is pretty low and I would not want to drain a battery that low. Even 11.4 is lower than recommended. Note that the reset voltages are higher so it will take a pretty charged battery to reset the Dometic if the monitor is set to high. Of course there are possible blown fuses that might be the problem.

For IRG we ran for three days solid on a 55 AH AGM battary and then I hooked up the battery to an inverter and ran AC devices all the way home on the same battery and I don’t think it ever got into the 11’s for voltage. The Dometic CF35 works like a champ.

 

mine is set at 10.0/11.1

thank you all for you thoughts. Much appreciated,

-Al

 

Al,

You are correct, the Novakool is simpler. It just has the two position switch on it.

Cary

 

it's a three position switch

and I still don't know which setting to use.....Novakool suggests that we use the "third gear"

Battery monitor setting___1____2_____3
Switch-off voltage______10.3V 11.3V 10.0V
Restart voltage_________11.4V 12.4V 11.1V

(These #s are in the correct order, per the manual, page 1)

I am guessing that if I used any other setting, the fridge would have stopped working/turned off even earlier in the weekend.

Could my radio be sucking too much juice, even while "off"?

-Al

 

ran the test

fridge goes into "error" mode when battery output hits 11.3

I was on setting "3" which should turn the fridge off at 10.0

I'll post a table showing the readings, later, though you don't learn much from it. The fridge stays cool, until it doesn't. It goes into error mode while the battery is still producing enough juice to power it.

But I got nearly 72 hours out of the fridge, set at 4 C, with no other load on the battery, other than a radio which is switched off.

Granted, the fridge was empty. Not sure what impact that would have. Am guessing it works harder than if it was full of food (unless all the food in the fridge was much warmer than 4 C).

 

Al, did you mention what type and size of battery you have. I have the 72 AGM and I think Joan does as well. If you have a 33 non-AGM battery, you would be every lucky to get 48+ hours. Also, if it has repeatedly been drained below minimum thresholds it would not lose the ability to hold a full charge. Letting the battery run as low and 10.0 and even 11.3, which are very low values, is not a good idea. I am also wondering if the trailer battery charger is the one that might be shutting down the refrigerator. Everything seems to want to protect your battery from over draining. Finally, voltages are difficult to read consistently and the values you are getting may not be accurate.

 

Thanks so much for the input. Battery management is a new skill for me!!

re your questions

I have the upgraded battery

I have only used the battery for about 15 nights, so.....And the battery would only have been drained low on the third night, or so, of each trip. A typical weekend trip would not drain the battery to low. So it's probably only been "low" about 4 times.

are you saying I shouldn't be running the fridge for 48 hours? That is good to know, as I can "top up" the battery by attaching the trailer to my TV, on occasion, while we are camping. I guess the solar panel is more necessary than I thought!!

I am only using the voltmeter which Cary provided

 

re battery management and fridge temp management, do folks think it would be wise to put the Dometic IN the tow vehicle during the day when you leave the campsite/TD and drive your tv to your hiking (or whatever) spot? At least the Dometic wouldn't be drawing down the TD battery. But if you keep it plugged in to your tv, it would be drawing down your tv battery, maybe to a troublesome level.

It's a great idea if you will be out driving for a while, and can keep it cold while driving, but if you are doing a short drive (most likely) and then simply parking the tv, your dometic is then sitting in a very hot box (the tv) and sucking off a small battery.....