Dometic refrigerator question

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Had a Trail America tire explode on me yesterday and it severed the wiring under the kitchen slide. It had pulled hard. I went under today and spliced the wiring, but the refrigerator as well as the lights above the kitchen table still do not work.

Looks like my next step will be to remove the underbelly and see if wiring got pulled loose under there. The junction box for one of the wires that did not get severed was pulled hard, but everything still was connected in there.

Thought that maybe I could at least get the refrigerator working on just electric by plugging the cord into a 110 outlet that I knew was working, but still no luck. Does anyone know if the circuitry for a Dometic requires both 12 volt and 120 volt before it will operate?

Chuck
 

ct0218

Well-known member
I believe it does require both. Also, the blowout could have caused a momentary short and blew one of the 12V fuses (I think there are a couple of them).
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Thanks, Clark. I did pull the 12v fuse in the fuse panel as well as the fuse back of the outside grill and both of those looked OK. I'll look for others.

Did check all 12v fuses and all look good. Hear a hum near the panel, so I assume that the invertor/convertor is also working properly.

Does anyone know where the wiring that enters the frame terminates in the dining slide? I'd like to remove the underbelly, but don't want to be cutting it in the wrong place.

Chuck
 
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Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Howdy, my flex guard fell down on the tire and wore through the reefer supply wire. All I did was splice it back up and no problem. I wonder if when the tire blew if it pulled the wire and broke a connection on one of the ends?
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Uncle Rog said:
cdb, have you tested the wires with a meter?

No, so far I know that I have 125v at the plug and that all fuses and connections at the 12v panel are tight. I don't have a wire long enough to test for continuity at the wire, but have a friend joining us later this afternoon who is bringing some equipment with him, so we should be able to figure out where the break might be.

Chuck
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Update to the problem

Unlike Uncle Rog, splicing alone did not work for me.

What we found out was that the tire (either front or rear) ran over the section of the wiring that goes into the coach, pulling it our of the intended connections. In the case of the green/white combination, we found it when we removed the drawer under the refrigerator and it was just barely visible. We pulled it up and then pushed in through the same plastic piece that the red/white wire went through which was at the back of the refrigerator. We then connected these wires into the connecting lugs and we had a working refrigerator.

Still puzzled why the lights above the table and at the ceiling would not work, we discovered when we removed the upper refrigerator grill on the outside that the red/white wires went into the coach and back out again and once in again (two separate holes about 12" apart. We partially removed the trim that the two lights were in and there was no connection there. Once we made this connection, all lights worked.

So, now everything is working as intended.

Thank goodness that my friend is a very patient engineer. I would nover have discovered this on my own. Probably saved me 2-3 hours in service at about $105/hour. Bought him and his wife dinner that night - great bargain in my books.

Chuck
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Chuck,

Bad experience with the blow-out but a good learning experience on troubleshooting. Thanks for sharing what you found.

Jim
 
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