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Old 08-04-2010, 12:43 PM   #1
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Gremlins

All summer I've been driving my Georgetown on all kinds of roads going to Motorcycle Events. Everything was working fine; no problems. The past two weeks it's been sitting in the garage ; resting ; waiting for the next rally. I took it down to fill it full of gas (3 miles smooth roads); filled up the water tank and put it back in the garage. As usual; I do a walk through to make sure all the lights and water pump are turned off. I opened the door on the fridge (it wasn't turned on) and just for the heck of it I pushed the power on button. No power; no lights; nothing! Now the darn thing worked all summer; and it worked last week when I walked by and hit the switch. Checked all the fuses ;;all ok. Took off the outside vent; removed the control box cover and checked the fuse; it was also ok. Got a voltmeter and checked for power. Stared at it for a few minutes; went back in the house and searched the web for fridge problems. Bottom line seemed to be a loss of 12 volt power or a circuit board. Went back out; retraced everything I just did. Still no power.
Just before I was ready to call a repair shop; I took a screwdriver; opened up the panel in the bedroom and tightened all the 12 volt wires leading to the fuse panel. I went back outside and pushed on every connection on the circuit board. Tried the fridge again and lo and behold I had power again.
So it was either the wires in the fuse panel or the connections at the circuit board that were just loose enough to cause a problem. Go figure why things break while sitting. At least I avoided a repair bill.
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Old 08-04-2010, 12:46 PM   #2
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There have been reports of the push on connectors in the outside control box corroding and causing a bad connection. That sounds like your problem and when you moved everything around it scraped off enough of the corrosion to make contact.
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Old 08-04-2010, 01:31 PM   #3
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The temperature inside the TT is probably swinging wildly from hot to cold each day and night it's just sitting there. The resultant expansion and contraction can lead to loose connections if they weren't very solid to begin with.
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Old 08-04-2010, 04:13 PM   #4
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Corrosion and all the movements can bring on those Gremlins!
I lost my headlights one morning. They worked the last time I drove the motorhome but a few weeks later I planned to leave before daylight. Started it up and no headlights. Had running lights but no headlights. Traced it out to be the ground to the headlights. FR used an aluminum self tapping trim screw with an over-sized washer. This would have been ok if they would have removed some of the paint in the area of the washer and screw. The only thing completing the ground was the threads on the screw and it had corroded. I wire wheeled off some of the paint, drilled a hole through the frame and bolted that sucker on. Then sprayed battery terminal protector over it. No problems since. If this is as bad as it gets I'm happy.
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Old 08-04-2010, 07:18 PM   #5
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Great detective work. Good to hear you figured out the problem before it became a huge repair bill. Have a great trip on your next outing.
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Old 08-05-2010, 03:25 PM   #6
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Gremlins are back and they won. I tried the fridge again today and it didn't work again. There seems to be a loose contact on the control board. I ordered a new board today. I have a question I hope someone can answer. I can get everything to work by jiggling on the contacts. However, the interior light in the fridge won't come on. I have power to the top panel (the temp gauge works as does the auto.gas button. The fridge works just as before the problem; both on propane and ac. I checked for power at the contact coming out of the control board and it shows 12 volt. The green wire connected to the board also shows 12 volt. This wire goes through the back of the fridge. The door switch has two wires on one side and a single red wire on the other side. I have no power at the switch nor the light. I don't think the control panel has anything to do with the interior light. Can anyone tell me what could be wrong? The fuses are ok and the bulb is good.
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Old 08-05-2010, 03:38 PM   #7
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There should be +12 volts to the bulb at all times when the fridge is turned on. Use a volt meter to check both contacts on the fixture and use the cooling fins at the back of the fridge for ground. The switch itself to turn on the bulb has no voltage on it, it only switches the negative side.
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Old 08-05-2010, 06:29 PM   #8
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I checked the voltage at the bulb and there is none. There is a green wire (12 volt) coming from the control board that goes inside the back of the fridge. At the bulb there is a red wire attached to one side of the bulb and two black wires attached to the other side. I know I should have 12 volts on the red side; but nothing. Does the green wire that goes into the back of the fridge branch off into the red wire and the black wires? There has to be a problem in these wires but I can't see as they are behind the fridge wall. I don't think the control board would prevent the interior light from working as long as the power to the fridge is on. I know that the interior light only works when the fridge is turned on. Now it doesn't work even with everything else working ok. If only I knew for sure that the control board wasn't causing this.
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Old 08-05-2010, 09:31 PM   #9
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Yep, sorry, without some hands on time I am at a loss. One word of caution when troubleshooting RV electrical problems: do not assume by wire color that you have positive or negative. In other words just because a wire is red doesn't mean it is +12volts and just because it is black doesn't mean its ground either. I have seen a lot of wacked out colors used in RV wiring that just doesn't seem to make sense. Hopefully the new board will help. Hope you didn't buy the OEM replacement though.
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Old 08-06-2010, 09:51 AM   #10
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What is the model number of your unit?

On our unit the light power comes from the control board on J2 as a red wire and goes thru the switch to the light and leaves the light as a black wire and goes to the common ground on the control board.

Here's a place you can download manuals for Dometic fridges.
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Old 08-06-2010, 01:58 PM   #11
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Gremlins

My fridge is a RM3962. I just finished installing a new control board. What an ordeal!! The wires going to the board have angled terminals. I found two that were loose and when I tried to crimp them a little tighter they broke. The red wire marked D+ controls the power to the top panel of the fridge and allows it to light etc. If it is so much as a little loose you get and E0 error code(no communication) After getting this fixed; I proceeded to replace the terminal on the green wire that connects on J2. I see that yours is red but mine is green. The wire inside this insulation is one fine strand; about the thickness of a hair. It is enclosed with strands of fabric' probably so it doesn't break off. Getting a new terminal on this fine wire was a major headache. If you crimp it so it makes contact then it breaks off. Finally got this done. The fridge works as before but the interior light still does not come on. I checked the ground and it is ok; the switch checks out fine; the fuses are good; the bulb is not blown; the terminals on the back of the light are connected. I am at a total loss as to what is wrong. The red wire going to the bulb contact has no power to it. I noticed there is a jumper wire from D+ that runs to the gas valve and the other end runs to the back of the fridge.. If this is the power supply to the fridge then it should supply power as the gas burner lights. I even replaced the ends on this wire and checked continuity to make sure the terminals weren't bad.
If your model is RM 3962 then we have the same setup. Have you had the recall done? This is when these jumper wires were run to the D+ terminal on the power board. My board is setup as follows:
Red wire=J1(Bat+); Green wire=J2(Lamp); No wire on J3 ; Red wire on J4(D+Alt); Yellow wire on J5(Flame) Gray wire on J6(Lah)
The dealer placed the jumper on for the recall over two years ago and I never had a problem. It's supposed to cut off the burner in case there is a malfuntion and the fridge leaks gas and sets the thing on fire. (I only wish)
I talked with the dealer I bought the board from and he never heard of anything like this..He didn't think the board controlled the interior light. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated as this has me baffled.
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Old 08-06-2010, 06:32 PM   #12
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Crossfire,

I highly suggest you contact Dinosaur Electronics and ask your questions. The gentleman there is VERY knowledgable on the RV refrigerators as well as other appliances and can and has helped me and others with troubleshooting in the past. I have used his electronic boards to replace the OEM in all my appliances when they go bad. His are superior to those supplied by the manufacturers. Give him a try, he might be more help.
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2009 Georgetown 378TS | 1998 Jeep Wrangler | 1998 Skeeter ZX202C
Nights camped in 2009: 53 | Nights camped in 2010: 55
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Old 08-06-2010, 07:19 PM   #13
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Thanks for the info on Dinosaur site . E-mailed them with synopsis of problem. Hopefully I'll get this solved. I'll let everyone know how this turns out. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
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