Fridge operation on 12vDC vs. 110vAC

B

BeachsideDave

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33989
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Hi all

Been lurking for a long time and love the forum. Thanks in advance for all of the great input.

The fridge in my cabin is ice cold on shore power, but won't operate underway with 12v DC. The panel has a breaker for both 12v and 110v, and the manual says it should... but it doesn't. Before I dive into it and start from scratch, any ideas?

Thanks much ~ BD
 
So switch for 12v is on? If on it should work.
Look for a breaker fuse, sometimes they pop.
Is the light in fridge on when just on 12v, if not then no power.
If yes, then power but not cooling and that is a different issue.
You may also have a battery switch and it may only work on 1 of the batteries.
Battery switch may say A B or Both. See if that make a difference. Usually most people will use A or B and not both so they don't kill both batteries but if fridge on one that is one you need to have on. Again check light in fridge.
 
Thanks for the reply CurrentSea

Breaker on the 12v side of the panel is on. When on shore power running 110vAC, the light is on and it gets cold quickly. The fridge works great, just not on 12v even when running both batteries in on position. Sounds like a fuse.

Any idea where that fuse may be located for I start tearing into this?

Many thanks. ~ BD
 
Every boat is different. Most usually have a breaker panel with push type breakers that pop.
Mine is located up by my helm. They usually put the 12v breakers up there since its easy to reset if underway. Look under your dash, around helm. Google.
If not that, then it could be relay. I have heard others have this issue where the relay goes though I thought most fridges are 12v and 110v gets stepped down, so it's odd it works on 110v and not 12v, so a fuse or breaker is likely.
 
Is the boat new too you, is it possible the previous owner put just a 110 volt fridge in. The dual voltage ones are expensive and sometimes they are replaced with 110 only.
 
Is that the reefer manual you reference? Does the light come on with 12V? refers usually only have one compressor often 12V so you need to verify that 12V is actually getting to the unit.
 
You didn't mention what fridge you have , but my little old Norcold DE-561 has a fuse by the power supply on the 12 v side that had to be replaced once. ( No light on this mini fridge) .
The fuse wasn't shown on the parts diagram but the yard pulled the fridge and found it.
There is a separate fridge breaker on the boat panel but I believe that is only for the shorepower AC on this boat.
 
Thanks for the input all. The fridge is a dual voltage Norcold DE0051. Light is supposed to come on in either power source. The breaker on the 12v side of the panel does not trip and acts fine. There is also a breaker for it on the 110v side. Shorep[ower works fine and is ice cold. It must be a fuse. Downloaded the manual, but hard to tell exactly where it (or they) might be. Looks like im going to pull the unit and start looking around.

~ BD
 
If there is an independent 12 v fridge circuit leading to the panel breaker , there could also be a dedicated fridge circuit large fuse within 8-10" of either the house battery or it's battery switch, just to protect the wiring.
 
You'll probably going to have to pull the fridge out to get to the 12 volt wire that supplies power to it and test that wire to make sure you are getting power. A simple cheap test light will do the job.
If you are, it's a fridge problem.
If you aren't getting power from that wire you're going to have to trace it back to see where the problem is.
 
quote:
Originally posted by JVM225

You'll probably going to have to pull the fridge out to get to the 12 volt wire that supplies power to it and test that wire to make sure you are getting power. A simple cheap test light will do the job.
If you are, it's a fridge problem.
If you aren't getting power from that wire you're going to have to trace it back to see where the problem is.

Click to expand...


Kind of obvious, but if you do find 12v power in, you should confirm good return to neg ground there too since you can have either one w/o the other.
 
Update: Pulled the fridge, checked voltage... none. Traced wire to the bilge where it ran direct to the battery (fuse in line was good), but the connection was bad. Cleaned and replaced connection, runs fine now. Bottom line - the fridge is wired direct to the battery (through the switch panel) so that you still have power to the fridge even if the battery selectors are turned off. Fridge must be turned off via the breaker on the panel.

Does this sound correct? Its the way that it was originally wired.

Many thanks ~ BD
 
Glad to hear you tracked it down. A cheap test light is one of the most used tools in my "boat tool bag". Also, I've found that the vast majority of problems with 12 volt stuff not working is as simple as a connection gone bad.
 
That's a typical installation. I had the opposite situation with the cockpit fridge on our Cruisers. It worked on 12V but not on 120V AC. A month of pulling things apart yielded nothing. There was no AC voltage going to the fridge. Another member on the Cruisers forum posted a photo of his circuit panel with one of one of the 'spare' breakers labeled hand labeled 'cockpit fridge.' Cruisers never bothered to label the AC breaker. When I pulled the panel, I found that someone in the boat's past had replaced the 'ring' connector with a 'U' connector and hadn't tightened the screw on the breaker! The wire had fallen off and had slid behind the wiring harness. A simple replacement of the connector and resetting the system and all works fine. Gremlins, I hate them! Hy
 
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