Brand new Thetford N4000 fridge issue...

[Guzzilazz]

We picked up our brand new Bailey Unicorn V Cabrera (replacement for 2019 Cabrera) on Tuesday, and left for a shakedown to a close-ish site on Thursday. Great tow on fast roads and a lovely first time visit site. All fine until this morning when we heard a continuous clicking, and on looking around the fridge LED display was flashing away like a good 'un. I tried the on/off switch-nothing, disconnecting 12v, then mains then both - no change. The display carried on flashing. I spoke to our Bailey dealer who only suggested two more things -disconnecting the solar power (which did stop the display flashing) but when everything was reconnected, the situation was the same. Final suggestion was to see whether connecting the car to help that relay move, but nothing.

Dealer very helpful, we decided to return because the potential of an unknown electrical issue, and they sprang on the van and uncoupled as we came to a stop.

Just wondered if anyone else has had a similar issue?

 

[Guzzilazz]

Well, for info for others a PCB replacement in the fridge has sorted it.

 

[Guzzilazz]

Latest in this saga...

In the initial fault above, my wife thought that the problem had started when the oven grill cooling fan kicked in. So today, at the end of Shakedown trip 2, we deliberately cooked our toast that way.

Well, blow me the cooling fan kicked in and the fridge went on the fritz again! Obviously a more serious wiring fault, where there is some sort of voltage or current overload routing via the fridge...

The dealer is good, and asked me to talk to the technician so that he could understand the issue directly, so let's wait and see. When we collect next time, I'm insisting on a demo with the circumstances that we set.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Some fridges have a low voltage detection circuit so maybe when the grill fan kicks in it's dropping the volts to the fridge due to the extra load. Although I can't imagine it being that much.

If it is then probably a bad wiring layout.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I had to resolve a failed fridge on a German caravan. It turned out to be the gas hobs earthing wasn't properly installed so the return path for the hobs spark ignition was actually tracking across the fridges PCB .

The symptoms of the OP's caravan suggests that something similar may be occurring. It is essential that all the cooking appliances are properly installed wand all metal parts must have a wired connection to the 12Vdc negative supply.

 

[Guzzilazz]

Thanks both. My previous 12V experience in boats was going the way of the Prof...

 

[Buckman]

Some fridges have a low voltage detection circuit so maybe when the grill fan kicks in it's dropping the volts to the fridge due to the extra load. Although I can't imagine it being that much.

If it is then probably a bad wiring layout.

If we have the air con on fan only, no issue. If we switch on the air con to cool, the fridge beeps as if the door is open. Once the caravan has cooled down the beeping is not as frequent. I suspected the voltage and thanks for confirming. The puzzling past it has only started doling this recently?