i have a Thetford 3 way fridge which up until a few days ago was working perfectly. We were travelling from Toowoomba to Goondiwindi and apart from it being a reasonably rough road and 42^ all was fine. The fridge was working on 12v when we left but when I stopped about an hour later the power button was flashing red and all other indicators were flashing. I turned the fridge off the on and all was good for about 30 minutes. This was repeated the next day with the longest the fridge rinning being about an hour. I will try today by just hooking up the tug and letting it run.
It works perfectly on gas or 240v but 12v is in the lap of the gods. Any advice would be appreciated.
It sounds as if you have a thermal overload cutout on the 12V supply to your fridge. The combination of the hot day, causing more heat load on the fridge, and the extra heat already where the thermal cutout is located probably caused it to trip. When it cooled down a bit it came back on again. If you can find it, maybe arrange for some ventilation of the area around it to try to keep it cooler.
Thanks, I was wondering whether that may have been the case. I'll see how it goes today, we're stopped for a few days now but waiting for cooler days may take a while.
Yep I fitted a fan at the back to direct air through system . Found the fan with cowling around fan to work the best. I ended up replacing 3 way with around 210l compressor fridge . Best upgrade I did . Set thermostat and forget . Battery volts , charge getting low . They ( 3 way) draw around 20amps . Where compressor is around 5 amps .
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Wednesday 10th of January 2018 11:02:15 AM
Thanks, I was wondering whether that may have been the case. I'll see how it goes today, we're stopped for a few days now but waiting for cooler days may take a while.
Yes, the standard fan has been on. I tried this morning once everything had cooled down but it only runs a few minutes before cutting out. I guess I'll have to wait till I get back to Sydney to pull everything apart.
If anyone has a photo of where the thermal switch is it would be appreciated.
