Electrical Fridge not working on 240 Volt

[Coastrunner]

Hi guys.

My Dometic Fridge stopped working on 240 volt. Initially I wasn't overly concerned as I just used gas for the limited amount of times we used the van.

After chewing through a few gas bottles I decided that its time to have a look.

First up, I checked the fuses hoping it was an easy fix. No such luck. All fuses were good.

I removed the vents on the side of the van, only to find I didn't really have enough access to see everything so I decided to pull the fridge right out. (as shown in pic)

Removing the fridge involved undoing several screws either side of the fridge door & removing the top switch cover above the fridge door. I also had to undo one screw at the back base of the fridge.

I slid the fridge forward until the gas fittings/ connections (at top of fridge) were accessible. I then undid the gas connection and pulled the fridge right out.

I checked all the wiring and found that no wires has become disconnected. I was hoping that's all it may have been.

While I had the fridge out, I also took the opportunity to turn it upside down and give it a good shake. I found once before (on my old van) that this is good to do if you have a problem starting and running the fridge on gas. Even though I have had no dramas on gas, I thought I'd give it the anyway.

After reading a few forums, I found that the most common reason (apart from loose or disconnected wiring was the element.

As shown in pic, the element is located at the bottom right corner of back of fridge.

It was a simple matter of unclipping the round cylindrical cover and pulling the 240volt element up and out.

I bought a new 240Volt element on ebay for my fridge.

Model number was inside fridge door.

My model number was a Dometic RM2350. Element was $115 genuine domtic 240 V element.

Its easy to tell the 12 volt element from the 240 V as the 240 has three wires including the green earth whereas the 12 Volt element only has the two.

From here, it was just a matter of following the old elements wires and disconnecting them, and re connecting the new wire plugs where I had just disconnected the old ones.

Put it all back together, put it to the test and had a nice icy cold freezer within 3 hours.

Happy Days.

See pics attached.

 

[Smirke]

Great job. I was expecting a different ending there, I must admit.

 

[Coastrunner]

Yeh. Me too Smirke.

I was so happy to see it all working once it was all back together again. It gives me the confidence to help others and know that I can do it again if the element goes again.
Pulling the fridge out also gave me the opportunity to clean out the area behind it too.
It was very dusty and grubby back there.
I also noticed that the boofheads that originally installed the fridge didn't even remove some of the cardboard from the box the fridge originally came in.
I love the expanda, and have found that most things are easily fixed, but definitely think that some of the workmanship is a bit slack.
Anyway, It's all good now.

 

[Drover]

Great write up, been thinking about pulling my fridge out just to sort out the wiring, may have stuck it in there though when I sealed all the holes up so the thing would work properly.
Nice to know about the 240 element.

 

[Coastrunner]

Thanks Drover.

Forgot to post another point about the 12 volt wiring.

Hoping someone can help me out here.

When I pulled the fridge out I noticed the 12 volt wiring colours didn't match.

As shown in pic above.

From the fridge I have red and black 12 volt wires.

From the battery I have white and black 12 volt wires.

But the red is connected to the black, and the black is connected to the white???

Has anybody else found this?

Is this incorrectly connected?

I don't think the fridge has ever been removed before, so I'm wondering if this is how it was connected in the factory and if this is correct?

I only ever use the 12 volt when travelling so I`m not really sure if the fridge really works on 12 volt as It's usually frozen on 240v for a few days before we go?

Any advice would be welcome here!

 

[Drover]

"Don't Panic " all is normal for a Jayco, Jayco Black is positive and Jayco White is negative, I think they do this to cause confusion. So the standard Jayco wiring loom will have the white/black and equipment that is fitted, like the fridge will more than likely have the normal Australian Red/Black wiring, I have got into the habit of using my meter when playing around with any of the 12v wiring to make sure I have the right wires/ polarity.................

While your getting adventurous have a look inside the dodgy metal panel underneath where your wires come from the hitch and go into the van, you will be amazed at the jumble you will find, I redid all mine and knocked up a box to stuff them in out of the elements.

 

[Coastrunner]

"Don't Panic " all is normal for a Jayco, Jayco Black is positive and Jayco White is negative, I think they do this to cause confusion. So the standard Jayco wiring loom will have the white/black and equipment that is fitted, like the fridge will more than likely have the normal Australian Red/Black wiring, I have got into the habit of using my meter when playing around with any of the 12v wiring to make sure I have the right wires/ polarity.................

While your getting adventurous have a look inside the dodgy metal panel underneath where your wires come from the hitch and go into the van, you will be amazed at the jumble you will find, I redid all mine and knocked up a box to stuff them in out of the elements.

Yeh. There's some dodgy looking work there Drover.
I think I'll do the same.
I only have a seven pin flat connector to the van, that I`ve since read isn't the most effective way to be running the fridge on 12 volt when driving.
I`m hoping that the 7 pin connection still does something though, even if it just maintains the fridge temperature.
My fridge is only a little 90 litre dometic, so am hoping that I`ll be able to get away with a 7 pin connection???
Does any one else run their fridge with a 7 pin connection and find it works ok?
Nice to finally know that the wires are connected up the correct way.
Thanks for your reply mate. Had me worried.

 

[Drover]

Actually with a 7 pin if you have a look at the van plug you will more than likely find it isn't connected, thats what i found with mine and as we have similar vans I would say yours could be the same, while previously I had said a 12 pin was okay I have recently found the 12 pin was giving trouble, this was mainly from the weight of the plug causing it to pull out slightly when it was set up with the large pins upper most, this would cause resistance and things would melt, no problem when it was mounted with the large pins on the bottom. (changed vehicles ) I took the easy and cheaper way out, 12 pins cost about $30 each, and fitted an Anderson plug to power the van/fridge and all is good. Bought a bag of andersons from ABR sidewinder, 10 for $20 good value.
12v on the fridge isn't all that great, weve driven for 6 hrs and then found we had forgot to turn the fridge to 12v and the temp ha donly risen a couple of deg, no more than when it was on, western QLD so it wasn't cold.

 

[Coastrunner]

Wow! I`ll have to have a look and see if my van plug connects to my fridge.

I feel like a goose! All this time I`ve been saying that my fridge on 12 volt just maintains the temp when in actual fact it was probably doing nothing and not even connected. Any wonder I thought it was better on gas and 240v. haha.

Just having the fridge door closed was maybe all that was keeping the fridge cool while travelling.

I would have thought that if Jayco installed a 3 way fridge with the option to use 12 volt power, they would have also had it wired into the 7 pin van plug?

I'm surprised they haven't wired the fridge into the plug.

There's probably thousands of people like me, that have the false impression that they can switch the fridge switch over to 12 volt power when travelling thinking that they still have power to their fridges but don't!

After reading your last post about 12 volt not really doing that great a job, I think I`ll leave as is. Most of my trips are usually no more than a few hours anyway. Sounds like the fridge is like a good eski and keeps cool if left close anyway.

Once again, I really appreciate your feedback mate.

 

[mfexpanda]

Wow! I`ll have to have a look and see if my van plug connects to my fridge.

I feel like a goose! All this time I`ve been saying that my fridge on 12 volt just maintains the temp when in actual fact it was probably doing nothing and not even connected. Any wonder I thought it was better on gas and 240v. haha.

Just having the fridge door closed was maybe all that was keeping the fridge cool while travelling.

I would have thought that if Jayco installed a 3 way fridge with the option to use 12 volt power, they would have also had it wired into the 7 pin van plug?

I'm surprised they haven't wired the fridge into the plug.

There's probably thousands of people like me, that have the false impression that they can switch the fridge switch over to 12 volt power when travelling thinking that they still have power to their fridges but don't!

After reading your last post about 12 volt not really doing that great a job, I think I`ll leave as is. Most of my trips are usually no more than a few hours anyway. Sounds like the fridge is like a good eski and keeps cool if left close anyway.

Once again, I really appreciate your feedback mate.

Ours is I did check it though when we picked up the van

 

[Coastrunner]

Thanks mfexpanda. Is yours fitted with the 7 pin plug as well?

 

[mfexpanda]

Thanks mfexpanda. Is yours fitted with the 7 pin plug as well?

No it has the 12 pin plug but the 2011 expanda we had used a 7 pin and a Anderson plug just for the fridge .

 

[Coastrunner]

Ok. Hmm.

I`m beginning to think that mine probably isn't wired up as it's only a 7 pin plug.
Sounds like 7 pin plugs aren't wired up to fridge.

 

[Coastrunner]

Hmmm!

Sounds like its just the 7 pin plugs that aren't wired into the fridge.

 

[mfexpanda]

Ok. Hmm.

I`m beginning to think that mine probably isn't wired up as it's only a 7 pin plug.
Sounds like 7 pin plugs aren't wired up to fridge.

If I remember right the fridge needed bigger wire and pins than the 7 pin plug uses .
Jayco ran the fridge wires separate from the others and I just needed to add the Anderson plug .
Now Jayco use the 12 pin and that's how they accommodate the fridge only wires

 

[chartrock]

Our Journey came from the factory with a 12 pin and I had the dealer change it to a 7 pin plus anderson plugs for fridge and battery. We found on our run out to Lightning Ridge the fridge temp dropped considerably on 12 V while driving. Mrs CR found vegies freezing and was not happy.