Dometic refrigerator issue

Sous

Sous

Member
Jul 27, 2011
671
Herring Bay, MD
Boat Info
2009 330 DA, Raymarine C80, Intellian, VesselView, Kohler, Sea Lift, Central Vac
Engines
MerCruiser 8.1 Horizons DTS
So I did most of my commissioning this weekend and had an issue with my cabin refrigerator. This is a Waeco/Dometic unit. For some reason the compressor won't run when connected to AC (shore) power and the unit eventually throws a 3 red flash error. If I disconnect the AC power all is well on battery. It runs fine and gets down to 38 degrees. AC power is fine at the recpetical and through the power cord (about 122 VAC). I'm thinking the electronics unit is bad but wanted to see if anyone has had this issue before and hopefully has an easy fix.
 
I'll chime in...last fall, at the beginning of winterizing, I noticed that my DC Amp draw, while at the dock, hooked up to shore power was 4-5 amps. Nothing should have been drawing that much power. After troubleshooting with DC breakers, I was able to determine that it was the refrigerator. Like you said, I had power at the AC outlet behind the refrigerator, but the refrigerator was running on DC.

Pulled old "converter box" out, and replaced it with this: WAECO ( MOBITRONIC )MPS-35 AC TO DC MULTI-VOLTAGE POWER CONVERTER $85.50 on Amazon.

Simple install.

Jaybeaux
 
Jaybeaux said:
I'll chime in...last fall, at the beginning of winterizing, I noticed that my DC Amp draw, while at the dock, hooked up to shore power was 4-5 amps. Nothing should have been drawing that much power. After troubleshooting with DC breakers, I was able to determine that it was the refrigerator. Like you said, I had power at the AC outlet behind the refrigerator, but the refrigerator was running on DC.

Pulled old "converter box" out, and replaced it with this: WAECO ( MOBITRONIC )MPS-35 AC TO DC MULTI-VOLTAGE POWER CONVERTER $85.50 on Amazon.

Simple install.

Jaybeaux
Click to expand...
Interesting, so did you simply bypass the main control board? My issue is a bit different in that the unit is trying to run with AC power connected but the compressor won't kick in. I actually have to unplug the AC power cord from the unit and it fires right up on DC power. But seeing as these are really DC power refers, I think the fix could be the same... just "fool" the unit to think it's running on DC. I like the sound of 85 bucks better than the actual control board at over 200!
 
Sous said:
Interesting, so did you simply bypass the main control board? My issue is a bit different in that the unit is trying to run with AC power connected but the compressor won't kick in. I actually have to unplug the AC power cord from the unit and it fires right up on DC power. But seeing as these are really DC power refers, I think the fix could be the same... just "fool" the unit to think it's running on DC. I like the sound of 85 bucks better than the actual control board at over 200!
Click to expand...

I would agree with replacing ac/dc converter, guessing its out putting enough power to allow things to start but not enough to star compressor. All the converter does it take the ac and make it into dc, the fridge always runs on dc.
 
Replace the converter. Common problem on these units. Interestingly the repair to the old box costs less than $5 to fix. If you know someone that is good with electrical boards, they may be able to replace the malfunctioning components. usually it's a bridge rectifier or transistor and a fuse. I fixed my old one and kept it as a spare.
 
Thanks everybody, I'll likely go that route.
 
gerryb said:
Replace the converter. Common problem on these units. Interestingly the repair to the old box costs less than $5 to fix. If you know someone that is good with electrical boards, they may be able to replace the malfunctioning components. usually it's a bridge rectifier or transistor and a fuse. I fixed my old one and kept it as a spare.
Click to expand...
gerryb, I have the same problem with the MPS-35 power supply; it works on AC but not on DC. Would love to learn how to fix it, rather than buying a new one each time it goes (not first failure).
 
abarbasch said:
gerryb, I have the same problem with the MPS-35 power supply; it works on AC but not on DC. Would love to learn how to fix it, rather than buying a new one each time it goes (not first failure).
Click to expand...
gerryb,
I have the same problem with the MPS-35 power supply; it works on AC but not on DC. Would love to learn how to fix it, rather than buying a new one each time it goes (not first failure). (new email)
 
If it ran on DC when unplugged, why not just unplug it?
 
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