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Old 07-30-2015, 10:26 PM   #1
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HW 296 fridge?

What to do? It's take forever to cool when you get set up. Could you leave it on auto with the battery and propane unhooked? And plug in a couple days before you go camping? I don't liked the access to it. Any suggestions?
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Old 07-30-2015, 11:12 PM   #2
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That would be your best bet with leaving it on auto and plugging in to 120 a day before you leave. I can't remember if those switches are click on and click off- I'm thinking you have to hit the buttons several times to get to correct setting. But you would still have to load all your cold stuff in a container and load fridge when you get there.

Entire reason why we purchased the 277- fridge is direct accessible from the door.
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Old 07-31-2015, 01:41 AM   #3
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Put on 110v AC the night before you leave.
once you hookup to leave, switch it to 12v DC.
and when you arrive at the campground, switch over to propane IF you don't have electric hookups. if you do, switch it back to 110v AC.
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Old 07-31-2015, 08:11 AM   #4
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I find that the auto setting does not switch to battery. It seems to flip between propane and shore power and if it finds neither of them, the check light comes on and you have to turn the fridge off to reset. And if you can't access the fridge when the pup is closed, it makes it hard to switch it. Like hondaman, we got the 277 due to the ability to get to the fridge.
if you have the pup opened up the day before the trip and you have shore power, I would turn the fridge on. Switch it to battery just before you close it up, the converter will work to supply the fridge dc power as long as you are plugged into shore power at your house. Once you hook up the tow vehicle, the power then comes through the battery.
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Old 07-31-2015, 08:44 AM   #5
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Yes. Before I go camping I will connect the battery and plug in to AC power two days in advance. The fridge is set to auto.

When I drive to the campground I will unplug and open up the propane so it chills while I drive.

When you arrive, your fridge is nice and cold.

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Old 07-31-2015, 09:22 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
Put on 110v AC the night before you leave.
once you hookup to leave, switch it to 12v DC.
and when you arrive at the campground, switch over to propane IF you don't have electric hookups. if you do, switch it back to 110v AC.
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Old 07-31-2015, 02:21 PM   #7
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Or just leave on auto and let it switch to propane while driving. Then as stated before you will have to bring a tote to load fridge at destination.
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Old 08-01-2015, 08:12 AM   #8
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Start up the day before on auto/AC load refrig next day and make sure your propane is turned on. Unplug drive to camp ground as frig will be on gas. Get to CG if AC available plug in refrig will revert back to AC. Simple and food is cool no extra cooler. Later RJD
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Old 08-01-2015, 11:34 AM   #9
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So when I lower the top leave fridge on auto. Turn off AC and Gas. Wait until next trip. 1,2 or 3 weeks get out of storage a day early bring home and hook to the AC? Is this correct? After seeing the lay out and less storage on the 277 I'm glad we went with the 296.
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Old 08-01-2015, 12:13 PM   #10
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A trick I have learned is I can access the fridge space through the outside storage if you leave the inside cabinet door open you can shimmy your self through. Just make sure nobody is videotaping you ;-)
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Old 08-01-2015, 12:39 PM   #11
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A trick I have learned is I can access the fridge space through the outside storage if you leave the inside cabinet door open you can shimmy your self through. Just make sure nobody is videotaping you ;-)
My big arse is not fitting through there.
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Old 08-01-2015, 07:20 PM   #12
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Do you mean to leave the fridge on DC while in storage and not hooked up to shore power? You will have a dead battery if you do that.
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Old 08-01-2015, 07:21 PM   #13
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Do you mean to leave the fridge on DC while in storage and not hooked up to shore power? You will have a dead battery if you do that.
If I put a battery disconnect on?
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Old 08-01-2015, 07:22 PM   #14
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No a battery disconnect would be good.
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Old 08-01-2015, 07:24 PM   #15
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But if the fridge is on with no power to it at all, the check light comes on and I think you have to turn the fridge off to reset. With the check light on, it won't cool.
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Old 08-01-2015, 07:29 PM   #16
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On second thought, with the battery disconnected, the check light can't come on, no power at all. It may be the same as turning the fridge off. All you can do is try it and see if it works.
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Old 10-11-2015, 07:35 PM   #17
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Hope this is a good place to ask this question, I purchased a new 276 in August. We've had it out camping twice so far and both times the frig was 50 degrees or warmer. That's after running the frig on shore power the day before and switching to 12 volts from the tow vehicle when we leave. Both trips were about an hour and a half, Not very far. I left the frig on Auto expecting it to be cooler when we got there. It still took several hours to cool down to a useful temp after we set up camp. We had to carry our perishables in a separate cooler. I'm not to keen on running propane while traveling and would think the 12 volt would hole temperature OK. Am I doing something wrong here?
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Old 10-11-2015, 07:52 PM   #18
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Your fridge will not switch to 12v automatically. So if your propane tanks were not open, your fridge basically turned off. Once you are connected to your tow vehicle, then switch to 12v. Then unplug your camper from 120v and store the cord. I have blown my main fuse more than once by switching to 12v then plugging into tow vehicle.
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Old 10-11-2015, 10:13 PM   #19
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These fridges do not operate like a typical home fridge, or on the same principles I should say. With that said, there are some mods you can do to the fridge to fix the cooling probs. I have a 2004 228D and my fridge stays right at 38-40 once the mods where done. You should be able to google rv fridge mod, etc. Basically the mod requires diverting the air by the cooling coils and installing a fan or two to draw the ir past the cooling fins.
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Old 10-12-2015, 04:04 PM   #20
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Thank you all for your help. I wasn't aware that that I had to manually switch it to 12 volts (Is this part where I should read the instructions :-) )
I'll definitely give it a try next time.

Thanks for the suggestions on the modifications, I will take a look at this to see if it improves the operation.
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