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Old 06-30-2016, 01:37 PM   #1
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Solera fridge

We are traveling and our fridge is acting up. We opened it to put stuff in and a few minutes later opened it and the inside light was out. I then noticed the auto light was flickering. The check light was also flickering. RV has been parked for 6 months but we ran the fridge on ac for several days while prepping for this trip.

When we run the generator, should we expect the fridge to switch to ac operation? The Auto light continues to flicker.
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Old 06-30-2016, 02:22 PM   #2
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Hunch, so try this; you might have a faulty on/off switch on the control panel. Cycle the button on and off taking note to see if, when in the on position cycle, it removes the fault. If you are sucessful, just leave the switch alone at that point. Get back if that "temporarily " fix gets you back up and running. There is a cheap way to fix the problem i'm told by a friend in this case. Good luck.

To your other question; fridge is dual fuel, gas and electric. On ac it uses a heating element to produce the necessary heat for the absorption system to function and produce cooling. On propane, that becomes the heat source. If the panel gives you the ok reading on one source and not the other, that gets you closer to the problem. But, if you get the same panel reads on both fuel sources, it just might be the on/off switch malfunctioning.
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Old 06-30-2016, 10:10 PM   #3
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I never got it to work on Propane while traveling. Once we got to a campground, I connected the AC. Initially it appeared it was not going to work. I left it on and after a few minutes the auto light light brightly and the fridge started working. I have not touched it since.
In the morning I will see if it survives a on off cycle then try propane again after cleaning out the burner.

Thanks for the support!
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Old 07-03-2016, 12:22 PM   #4
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My fridge will also do that when my coach batteries are low. Even on propane, the fridge need 12 volts to operate.
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Old 07-03-2016, 01:07 PM   #5
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I had issues again and found this diag manual http://www.fourwh.com/NewDometicRefrigeratorManual.pdf

Odd thing was every time I checked voltage with the fridge on it showed 12 volts. Today I checked it with the fridge off and only saw 4 volts. I tried to trace the supply wire and gave up. Snipped the power cord from my air pump, fished it from the 12 jack in the bedroom and now we have a solid 12v and the fridge is happy. Once I get home, I will resume my tracing of the supply wire and repair it at the problem area.

That diagnostic manual helped me. Fridge needs minimum 9.6v to operate and the lights will flicker if your below that. Once I read that, I knew were to focus my attention.
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Old 07-03-2016, 01:31 PM   #6
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Just out of curiosity, can you check both sides of the switch to make sure its not the culprit. Not sure if that makes sense in your current rewired setup or not.
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Old 07-03-2016, 02:39 PM   #7
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Given that the diagnostic manual describes my panel light dim flickering as a symptom of low voltage along with my direct voltage readings. I feel confident that supply voltage was the issue. Simply running a wire out from a 12 socket brought the system back to life. I can now see a varying voltage on the supply line with it disconnected from the unit. I suspect I will find a frayed wire or loose where it ties into the 12v buss. Odd that there does not seem to be a fuse in the panel. Only the two fuses in the fridge.

Anyone know where the fridge gets its supply from? I will be able to answer that once home and with lots of panels removed.
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Old 07-03-2016, 02:41 PM   #8
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make sure all connections are tight . I've seen even in the eyebrow board loose connnections from the main control board .
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Old 07-03-2016, 05:14 PM   #9
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I have taken some long trips in this thing. I tighten or reseat every connection I come across now.
Thanks to you all for the support.
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Old 07-23-2016, 09:50 AM   #10
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UPDATE

We finally returned home and I made an earnest effort to trace the source if the problem. It turns out the fridge and furnace share a fuse. Evidently when this coach was built, they damaged one of the blade holders where the fuse is inserted. It was only making intermittent contact and arcing/welding it's self on occasion to form a circuit. EEK. I was able to reshape the receptacle so it gets a positive bite on the fuse and all is well now.

I find it odd that the heater fan and fridge share a fuse, but it all makes sense now. Last winter our heater worked off and on. This was the first trip since then.
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Old 07-24-2016, 06:41 PM   #11
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Glad you found your problem. What you might want to do is buy those fuses that light up so if you do have a contact issue in yiur fuse block, the fuse itself will let you know its that giving you the intermittent connection.
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