Fridge on 12v (1 Viewer)

[Feltwell]

Well, traced the cable, went straight to the distribution unit. Fuse OK, but take the unit out and the connector where the fridge cable joins it is fried - it's got hot enough to melt the solder on the pcb board - I'm just glad nothing caught fire!

Finding the cause of that and repairing a pcb is beyond my skills, so I've referred it on to a couple of places that advertise that they repair these things.

 

[JeanLuc]

I had exactly the same problem with the fridge in my Hymer. Perhaps the damage was not so severe, but the connector block that contains the fridge 12v supply had burnt a bit. The supply unit in my case is a Schaudt Elektrobloc (EBL99). I contacted them and sent it back to Germany for checking / repair and supply of a new connector block and pins. Fast service and not too expensive - probably cheaper than getting it fixed n the UK. What make is your charger / distribution unit? It might be worth contacting the manufacturer direct.

 

[johnandi]

if ours has been on gas or mains before travelling the 12v normally maintains the temp,

Same with ours, seems fine on 12v - 'standard' fridge/freezer as fitted in 2007 Hymer B654. (Dometic?)

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[Feltwell]

What make is your charger / distribution unit? It might be worth contacting the manufacturer direct.

It's a Nordelettronica. Thanks for the tip - not sure about contacting the manufacturer direct though - my Italian is non-existent for starters! Their website is only in Italian. I've found 3 UK places who do spares & repairs so hopefully one of them will come up trumps.

 

[Yorick]

When I'm driving I plug the fridge into my 300w inverter

 

[JeanLuc]

In case you haven't contacted this outfit, they claim to repair Nordelettronica
http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/nordelettronica.php

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[tonyidle]

If the correct wiring is used for the fridge 12v connection it will freeze the milk in the door on a long journey. My experience was with a caravan. After years (and several caravans) suffering from poor fridge performance on 12v I took the plunge & rewired the van with more-than-adequate wiring for the fridge supply. I managed to achieve a 0.5v drop from car battery to fridge and because there's no thermostat on 12v the aforementioned milk freezing occurred on a 300 mile trip in France in pretty high ambient temperatures. My current MH (a Hymer) manages a 2.2v drop from the starter battery with engine running. 14.2v at the battery and 12.0v at the fridge. Pretty poor really.

 

[Lenny HB]

It's a Nordelettronica. Thanks for the tip - not sure about contacting the manufacturer direct though - my Italian is non-existent for starters! Their website is only in Italian. I've found 3 UK places who do spares & repairs so hopefully one of them will come up trumps.

Don't think they are in business anymore.

In case you haven't contacted this outfit, they claim to repair Nordelettronica
http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/nordelettronica.php

They closed down the repair side about a month ago.

 

[Feltwell]

In case you haven't contacted this outfit, they claim to repair Nordelettronica
http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/nordelettronica.php

I have, thank you. He replied really quickly - "We would not repair this as it is possible that the heat has delaminated the track from the PCB, or it may detach at a later date, so a long term successful repair is less likely."

Bad news but I appreciate greatly him being upfront about it, sounds like a good trader. The heat has cooked that part of the pcb, some of the solder has melted.

His recommendation is to go for a later version of the same unit, apparently it has much better connectors. No vested interest as he doesn't sell them.

Only other option is, as it's only the fridge supply part that's affected, if I can rig up an alternative supply for the fridge. There's space behind the panel to do so. If it's feasible or not I don't know.

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[Feltwell]

Don't think they are in business anymore.


They closed down the repair side about a month ago.

Not sure on that Lenny - chap there hasn't mentioned that in his replies to me. Website does say they are between premises, but will go out to 2 local campsites to do repairs.

He's been very helpful actually - especially considering he's no chance of a sale from me. If it's just the fridge part of the board that's affected, he thinks it will indeed be possible to bypass it completely, which is good news.

Time to get the multi-meter out and figure out how it all works! Could be a bit of a pig of a job, the wiring is all behind the water tank, if there's not much slack in that then I may have to take the tank out to get to it properly

 

[Lenny HB]

Alan posted on O&A forum that he was closing down at the of the month can't rember if that was Aug or Sept, you may have just chaught him in time.

 

[Mikeco]

I have, thank you. He replied really quickly - "We would not repair this as it is possible that the heat has delaminated the track from the PCB, or it may detach at a later date, so a long term successful repair is less likely."

Bad news but I appreciate greatly him being upfront about it, sounds like a good trader. The heat has cooked that part of the pcb, some of the solder has melted.

His recommendation is to go for a later version of the same unit, apparently it has much better connectors. No vested interest as he doesn't sell them.

Only other option is, as it's only the fridge supply part that's affected, if I can rig up an alternative supply for the fridge. There's space behind the panel to do so. If it's feasible or not I don't know.

When I did my conversion I bought a Ring relay and attached it to the vehicle battery with a fused link to the fridge. It kicks in after the engine has been going for a few seconds. I think it was around £15 or so and has worked fine for the last 4 years.

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[Feltwell]

Well, so far, this is proving to be a pain in the @rse!

2 places have said they won't repair due to possible heat damage to the board, fair enough. 3rd place has said they will, but the view of the first 2 has rather put me off this, plus they want £125 for the repair!

Nordelettronica are still going, UK agent very helpful and contacted them, only to be told that as my board is from a SEA group motorhome they won't supply direct, only through a dealer. Trouble is, there are no UK dealers! McLouis, my motorhome's brand, stopped being imported in about 2009. I could try going through a European dealer but I suspect it's going to be expensive whatever - I've seen similar units on (finished) Ebay listings for £125 - £150.

So, a good look at the board tonight, and it really does seem that only the fridge connector is damaged - everything else looks & works fine. The fridge relay still works fine. So, come the weekend, if I can connect onto that fridge relay somehow then great, but I suspect it will be better in the long run to just bypass the whole thing completely and fit a new voltage sensing relay to the feed from the van battery, and use it to only power the fridge - something like this, much like Mikeco has done by the sound of it:-

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For anyone who's wondering, the "fuse board" in your van probably does quite a bit more than that if it's like mine - the control panel over the door for water pump, lights, water tank levels etc really is just a switch and display panel, all the relays and actual control kit is on the circuit board on the back of the "fuse board".

 

[Lenny HB]

Don't bother witha voltage sensing relay they can be aright pain in the arse and if you on board charger charges the engine battey the relay will be on all the time you are on EHU.
Use a standard split charge relay the D+ terminal from the alternator to power the relay should allready be wired up to your charger for the exsisting circuit.

 

[Feltwell]

Damn good point Lenny - thank you - I'd forgotten about that. I've got a B2B charger that does pass current back to the van battery, that could be enough to trigger a voltage sensing relay.

Thinking about it, if the D+ signal is there, that should be able to power the coil on a bog standard 40 amp 4 pin NO relay - a special split charge relay is not really required - the leisure battery will still be charged by the original setup. There's a 20amp fuse required on the fridge supply so a 40amp relay should be well up to the job.

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[Feltwell]

Finally got around to sorting this, fairly simple in the end. An ordinary £5 relay has saved me replacing the entire board that is the "heart" of all the van's electrics. Fridge working happily on 12v again!

After refitting all this, I was slightly spooked by the leisure batteries being totally flat - the found out SWMBO hadn't shut the wardrobe door properly, the courtesy light had been on - luckily after 5 days each on a maintenance type intelligent battery charger, the batteries came back to full charge and are holding that charge - Phew! £200 for new batteries is an extra I can do without!