Trouble with 12v fridge system

carmary
carmary Forum Participant Posts: 15
edited April 2016 in Caravans #1

Hello everyone.

Can anyone help. We have just bought a Lunar Quasar 2014 caravan with a Dometic Fridge.The van is second hand and in very good condition,bought ,we felt from very honest folk and quite happy with our purchase. Over Easter we used the van BUT couldn't make
the 12v system work on the fridge..it kept declaring a fault.Either too little voltage or possible heating element probs. The later will certainly be bad luck as the fridge is only 2yrs. old and had very little use. Incidently, are there two heating elements,mains
& 12v....or am I wrong? The fridge worked well on mains and kept everything very cold..We thought that the car wiring may be incorrect  as this van is the first we 've pulled with this car but having tried the system with my son's new 'pickup' there still
is a problem,so we don't think it's the car.

Can anyone give us some advice on the matter? I've e-mailed Dometic and I'm waiting an answer.Maybe someone in the 'club' might be able to help.

Also...how dos one get off the fridge grill? Try as we might there isn't a simple screw,only a clip that won't budge and we don't want to break the grill but can't see anyway to open it without brute force.Any answers would be gratefully received.

Typically,Lunars' 'handbook' doesn't give practical information for such things.It's like walking through a minefield trying to establish what actually covers our van.

I'm sorry if this is an old gripe but it's new for us. HELP PLEASE !!

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #2

     .... Incidently, are there two heating elements,mains & 12v......

    yes. sorry can't help on your other specifc questions though Laughing

  • alfigone
    alfigone Forum Participant Posts: 48
    edited April 2016 #3

    Hi Carmary,

    Can't help with your specific questions, but the following may assist.  Firstly the fridge only truly works off 12v when connected to the car and when the engine is running, also it is only really designed to keep an already chilled fridge chilled!

    When the towing electrics are disconnected the fridge will only work on gas or 240v, it will still use 12v though to ignite the burner usually.

    Secondly, it still may be an issue with the tow car if the probelm is when you are towing, as some modern cars have what is called a smart alternator, and these have been known to cause issues for caravan fridges & charging the caravan battery.  Check the
    following
    thread     which may assist. 

    If it's nothing to do with any of the above then it may be the fridge that is fautly. 

    Paul.

  • commeyras
    commeyras Club Member Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #4

    Are there not a couple of slide things on the grill which unlock it for removal?  Try spraying the slides with WD40 or similar if they are stuck.  As stated, 12v is only for when towing.  If not happy you may well be under guarantee so back to dealer to solve problem.

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,155 ✭✭✭
    10,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited April 2016 #5

    It's not necessary to remove the fridge vent covers to use the fridge. Usually they remove by means of a plastic button turn-key.

  • carmary
    carmary Forum Participant Posts: 15
    edited April 2016 #6

    Thanks for all the responses, I appreciate your help. I'm now thinking that there is a fault which will have to be put right. It sounds as though it's probably the heating element.We had the van attached to the car & the engine running when we tried the
    12v. and it was at this point that the fridge registered a 'fault' as we were setting up to go. It just seems such bad luck if the fridge is already needing replacement parts in such a short time.

    We wanted to open the fridge grill to see if there was any other fuse or something that would  help us to identify the 12v problem but coulldn't open the grill,so we've just left it for another day. Hey ho ! Thanks anyway to everyone.

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #7

    You have checked that your car is wired correctly ....... Cool

  • madhouse4
    madhouse4 Forum Participant Posts: 129
    edited April 2016 #8

    Don't believe that the pickup is wired for fridge through 13 pin, my ranger wasn't from new, we had to modify loom, best thing is to check power at car plug first to make sure your getting power to caravan

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,673 ✭✭✭
    2,500 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited April 2016 #9

    Did you try revving the engine?

    What sort of fault was fridge showing?

  • markflip
    markflip Forum Participant Posts: 177
    edited April 2016 #10

    The manual for your fridge can be found here:

    http://www.dometic.co.uk/service/documents/manuals/

    The fridge manual should be more help than the caravan manual for diagnosing techinical issues and might help with your grill removal problem.

    As others have said, to me this sounds like a problem with the electrical supply to the fridge, rather than the fridge itself, which is 'telling you' that it needs more voltage, they typically require 14v or more before they will operate.

  • Taylor081174
    Taylor081174 Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited April 2016 #11

    I xperienced the same problem with our 2014 Quaser. It transpired that when our car was ticking over the fridge wasn't able to draw enough power from the battery, so whenever I opened the door to the van I would hear the fridge alarm going off. I took the
    van on a run and set my phone up up inside to record the fridge alarm. No problems experienced when I listened to the recording. Came to the conclusion that the car needed to be under power and generating additional vaults for the fridge to keep Cooil on journeys 

  • chrisn7
    chrisn7 Forum Participant Posts: 72
    edited April 2016 #12

    I xperienced the same problem with our 2014 Quaser. It transpired that when our car was ticking over the fridge wasn't able to draw enough power from the battery, so whenever I opened the door to the van I would hear the fridge alarm going off. I took the
    van on a run and set my phone up up inside to record the fridge alarm. No problems experienced when I listened to the recording. Came to the conclusion that the car needed to be under power and generating additional vaults for the fridge to keep Cooil on journeys 

    Quite right. There is a 12v power supply to a relay in the car that in turn supplies the power to the fridge once it senses a given voltage is present. This supply is itself protected by a fuse in the 12v line to the relay. Check this is intact-if you really
    do have a 12v problem with the fridge, its quite likely its blowing this fuse,

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