Avondale Dart 556 2003 Frdge Dometic RM4270

[David_374581399]

Hi anyone who can help

Our fridge will not run off the car engine. I have checked tow ball electrics, 12V selection, Fusemaster and can find nothing wrong with them. There must be a fuse between the grey connection and the fridge itself but it is not under the fridge, nor visible when I remove the back panels, nor is it on the actual switch itself. The switch does not light when switched on and the engine running. The fridge works perfectly on gas and mains. I have contacted Electrolux who say that they wouldn't know where the fuse had been installed as they didn't install it and I have only just realised that Coachcraft went into liquidation in 2008! Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance

David

 

[RobinF]

Hi the fuse for my fridge on my 2004 dart is under the bedbox near the battery charger on a loose holder maybe its the same in yours. Sorry to ask but did your fridge work and then stop working? Are you sure you are getting the correct voltage at the fridge, I had lots of problems with my fridge due to it not getting the correct voltage due to the voltage drop.

 

[David_374581399]

Hi the fuse for my fridge on my 2004 dart is under the bedbox near the battery charger on a loose holder maybe its the same in yours. Sorry to ask but did your fridge work and then stop working? Are you sure you are getting the correct voltage at the fridge, I had lots of problems with my fridge due to it not getting the correct voltage due to the voltage drop.

Thanks Robin,

I thought that was a spare fuse as it's 15a and it seems intact but I'll change it tomorrow and give it a go. I thought it was for adding air con or some such. I bought the van from careful local owners last year who were quite upfront about the firdge not working on tow. I am more inclined to fix it than they were though! Thanks for your help and I'll give it a go.

David

 

[sarahandher6dachshunds.]

sarah here i have a 2003 dart 556,there is a relay in the car so that fridge will not work when engine is of,i find that it takes a few secs before fridge lights up.the set up for fridge on car is gas off, green off,red switch on,caravan switch on offside front bed locker push horizontal switch towards car.failing that check grey 12s pin no 7,center pin,that is fridge earth, also check pin 6,grove in plug hold at 6 o,clock,pin 6 is at11 o,clock.there does not appear to be a fuse in the wiring,only fuse is in the front of control box front offside seats.all blade type.wiring is along front seats nearside across front under chest and exits front seat offside by water heater.and under a frame cover.only other suggestions is tow car to van mis wired,broken relay in tow car wiring, possibly a loose connection at rear of zig unit lift offside seat, and remove wooden panel,check all connections as they can work loose,please take of battery and mains first.hope this helps.sarah

 

[David_374581399]

Sarah,

Thank you so much for all the detail. It seems I've been searching in vain for a 5 amp fuse! The tow bar and car relay are perfect, the fuses are all fine, the switched are all correct, the battery is fully charged so my last resort will be to disconnect all and open the powermaster back and check if any wiring has come loose. Thanks again,

David

 

[RobinF]

Well this shows how different the wiring can be in the same models. The wiring for my fridge is in the floor straight across the van from the consumer unit/battery charger!

I only know because I had to remove my fridge when I was having problems. You may be able to get to the wiring behind the fridge by removing the fridge vents and test with a multimeter to see if you have got any voltage. It could be a faulty 12v element and the neon in the switch not working. You must check the voltage with the fridge switch on for 12v and car running.

I got mine working after about a year of messing around so dont give up!

 

[David_374581399]

Well this shows how different the wiring can be in the same models. The wiring for my fridge is in the floor straight across the van from the consumer unit/battery charger!

I only know because I had to remove my fridge when I was having problems. You may be able to get to the wiring behind the fridge by removing the fridge vents and test with a multimeter to see if you have got any voltage. It could be a faulty 12v element and the neon in the switch not working. You must check the voltage with the fridge switch on for 12v and car running.

I got mine working after about a year of messing around so dont give up!

Thanks again Robin, I don't have that level of expertise, although I have checked the two vents and followed the wiring down. When you said voltage drop, what was causing it to drop? Was it the charger itself? The battery charges fine from the car's alternator but I'm almost at the 'giving in' point! The wiring does follow the same pattern as Sarah's van, but I've tried all her suggestions and still at a loss.

I can survive without it, just a shame when driving from Paris to Bordeaux that it'll not work for that journey.

David

 

[sarahandher6dachshunds.]

sarah here again all i can suggest is there power to the fridge when connected to the car with the engine running.

the only things i can think of is

1 relay in car wiring loom faulty,

2,bad connection on grey socket clean pins

3grey socket not matched correctly to car wiring loom.

4 check wiring for damage from fridge thru van,look under the a frame,and into socket.

try a dealer to see if working on 12 volt,they can test it on a board,along with the lights.mine will not show up as working on 12 volt for the dealer but does work with my car.

probably something daft like a wire crossed from car to sockets.

 

[RobinF]

The fridge runs straight from the car and not the charger/battery. The voltage drop I had was in the wiring to the fridge it was too low to work, If you could get someone to check the voltage to the fridge with the fridge turned on 12v and the car running you can narrow down where the fault is, I get anywhere between 10.5 and 11.5v at my fridge now and it works fine. If you have voltage at the fridge then its a fault with the fridge if you dont then it is a fault with the car or caravan wiring. I could get to some joints in the wiring to the fridge by removing the fridge grills so it was easy to test.

 

[David_374581399]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your help, I'm so impressed with the amount of knowledge out there.

My father-in-law and I disconnected the battery this morning, looked at the ZIG, all wiring was fine, we put it all back together again, tried it for the sake of it and it worked! There is no obvious reason for this, we have tried everything you've suggested and all were great and logical suggestions. The only strange thing was then when connected to the mains, there was a buzzing sound coming from the ZIG. Unscrewing it again changed the pitch to a 20,000 or so HZ (my father-in-law couldn't hear it!) He then removed the fuse on the spare cable besdie the ZIG and the sound stopped. When he replaced the fuse it remained fine. All very strange. He reckons that it may have been an overly twisted 12V cable which had increased its resistance and was stopping the voltage getting through. Weird anyway, while we're at it, I'll try ordering next week's lottery numbers and see if the magic is still working. Off to France on Friday for a month, thanks for all your help. David

 

[sarahandher6dachshunds.]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your help, I'm so impressed with the amount of knowledge out there.

My father-in-law and I disconnected the battery this morning, looked at the ZIG, all wiring was fine, we put it all back together again, tried it for the sake of it and it worked! There is no obvious reason for this, we have tried everything you've suggested and all were great and logical suggestions. The only strange thing was then when connected to the mains, there was a buzzing sound coming from the ZIG. Unscrewing it again changed the pitch to a 20,000 or so HZ (my father-in-law couldn't hear it!) He then removed the fuse on the spare cable besdie the ZIG and the sound stopped. When he replaced the fuse it remained fine. All very strange. He reckons that it may have been an overly twisted 12V cable which had increased its resistance and was stopping the voltage getting through. Weird anyway, while we're at it, I'll try ordering next week's lottery numbers and see if the magic is still working. Off to France on Friday for a month, thanks for all your help. David

great sarah