hi all anybody have any knowledge about these fridges I have a new avida esperence when the fridge is on 12v ( I prefer to have on manual ) with engine running all's good turn off engine and a red light on fridge flashes , leave it like this and check the house voltage and there is no drop , indicating to me that the fridge 12v circuit is wired to vehicle, instructions say to turn on gas when stopped , with solar fitted I always just leave fridge on 12v when parked up , but it seems that leaves the fridge off. ( HELP )
I am no techie but our 90lt dometic 3 way draws about 15 amps on 12v so your 180lt would draw considerably more - so you will need to run on gas when parked up.
I presume you vehicle has a cut off to fridge wiring when engine is stopped to stop flattening batteries.
YOU MAY BE RIGHT DAVID BUT WITH SOLAR BOOSTING THE BATTERY PACK THE FRIDGE SHOULD RUN ON 12V FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS EASILY. I THINK A FULL 12V FRIDGE WILL BE THE ONLY WAY TO GO FOR ME.
You have not given us much to go on. Not all Dometic fridges work the same. A model number would have been of assistance to diagnose your concern.
From what you have said there are a couple of possibilities. One is that your fridge is an AES model, if it is wired correctly then the controller in the fridge will switch off the 12 V operation when you switch off the motor. (the reason for that was given by David.) It sounds like you don't have a handbook for the fridge - does that mean a second hand van? If so it may have a Fridge switch (motion switch) which cuts off the 12 V power after the van stops.
Please give us the fridge model number. Do you have a handbook for the fridge? If you don't we can assist in finding a link for you to download one.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
peterD the unit is new , it is a AES model RMDX25 , and yes I do have a handbook , the 12v power comes from engine I would like to know if I can disconnect that, ie bypass engine , D+wire is the one according to book !
If you don't wish to operate the fridge from 12 V power it is permissible to disconnect the 12 V connections to the tugs battery. I would suggest you do the disconnection in the tug and leave the vans wiring intact for future resale purposes. The wire to the D+ terminal can also be disconnected. However the house battery supply to the B & C terminals must remain so you can still operate the fridge on gas and 240 V. That powers the control board within the fridge.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
If we are stopping for more than 30 min. I always turn on the gas & manually start our fridge - takes approx 2 minutes- when we return & before we move on I turn the gas off & turn fridge to 12v for the vehicle - takes approx. 1 minute. Your fridge is auto all you should need to do is turn the gas on & off - gas usage would be minimal over a couple of hours stoppage as the fridge would already be down to thermostat setting. ( on our fridge the thermostat only works on gas & 240v with 12v drawing 15 amps all the time but yours may be different)
It would appear that you may have purchased your motorhome with an expensive fridge setup that will not suit the way you want to use it - suggest you check your manual for 12v useage as it will be significant when running & may damage your batteries in a short time unless you have a lot of solar capacity & are not stopped in the shade.
thanks peter and david my original query was answered , its obvious that this type of fridge is useless if one wants to stay off grid .
Gday...
If I have read your OP correctly and the comments that have followed this frudge is completely fine for being 'off the grid'.
It runs on 240v/12v AND gas .... like all of us with a 3-way frudge it will work excellently on gas when you are away from 240v. 12v is just for when touring connected to tug battery.
Cheers - John
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
hi all anybody have any knowledge about these fridges I have a new avida esperence when the fridge is on 12v ( I prefer to have on manual ) with engine running all's good turn off engine and a red light on fridge flashes , leave it like this and check the house voltage and there is no drop , indicating to me that the fridge 12v circuit is wired to vehicle, instructions say to turn on gas when stopped , with solar fitted I always just leave fridge on 12v when parked up , but it seems that leaves the fridge off. ( HELP )
Your van batteries and solar are not connected to the fridge heater element, only the alternator can run the heating element at 15 amps on large fridges.
The D+ wire (switch circuit) sees power to the fridge module relay and turns the 12v element on or off as power is applied or cut, as in switching the motor on or off.
The van batteries only keep the fridge module alive so it can operate the AES (automatic energy selection)
The fridge AES switches to the next available power source when engine switched off, (no power on D+) . To Gas, this takes 15 minutes to ignite so you can exit a service station . safety feature
you can turn the fridge to manual operation so as to ignite the gas as needed. Press the AES button to turn off light .
You are trying to keep fridge12v heater element going on solar when switching vehicle off (very big load for solar) you would have to switch power back on the D+wire and connect the van batteries and solar to the 12v element . Presuming solar is only connected and charging van batteries
Not worth the bother of running your batteries down even on solar. these fridges are not designed to run on solar with large 15amp load heater element
You need dedicated compressor fridge to run solar on 12v
Just manually switch the gas on if you don't want to wait for the AES to switch the gas on.
-- Edited by Triggy on Thursday 11th of January 2018 01:58:47 PM
Our RM2455 fridge briefly flashes the interior light and a temp led on the front does too but doesn't stay on. It has done this before but came right but no longer. Have checked the earths and power to the circuit board etc. Any ideas?
We have an 184ltr 3 way.
Off grid always run on gas. Using fridge, gas heater (2 hrs a day) and hot water service (all day) we get about 11 days out of a bottle.
I now simply carry a third bottle in the ute to get around supply and with luck cost issues.
thanks peter and david my original query was answered , its obvious that this type of fridge is useless if one wants to stay off grid .
No, they are not useless for off power camping. We get over 2 weeks from a 4.5 kg bottle. You can have a lot of nights off power with gas for the price you pay for a replacement fridge and a very large solar system.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
thanks peter and david my original query was answered , its obvious that this type of fridge is useless if one wants to stay off grid .
No, they are not useless for off power camping. We get over 2 weeks from a 4.5 kg bottle. You can have a lot of nights off power with gas for the price you pay for a replacement fridge and a very large solar system.
We used our old Three Way fridge for off grid camping for 10 years, before replacing it with a 12v/240v compressor fridge. Always intended we would install a compressor fridge when it died. It did die and replaced it with the 12/240v fridge.
As Peter D says we were never compromised by using it off grid on gas for weeks. That's with 2 x 4 Kg bottles of gas. We never actually ever ran out of gas.
surely the biggest concern off grid is water storage, its always been my limiting factor even when good clean river wateer is availably, never had a gas problem
cheers
blaze
