At 12:42 PM 6/1/2012, Jon Durham wrote: >The Dometic frig in my 85 Vanagon runs great with gas or AC current but >will not cool much with battery current. Why? Jon, the AC and DC heaters are each rated 85 watts; but because of the lower voltage and correspondingly higher current the DC one is very subject to problems with connections. Go through the whole system (including the top of the fridge, if necessary) with the fridge running on DC and measure the voltage drops in millivolts across each connection, and between the connection and the wire an inch away on each side (use a needle). Anything more than a few millivolts (less than five, say) is a reason to clean up the connection or re-make the crimp connector onto wire that's been carefully scraped shiny-clean. The fuse itself will necessarily have a little drop across it, that's how it works. But between the end of the fuse and the terminal should be practically nothing. If the fridge fuse isn't already that kind, buy some of the glass-enclosed ones from Littelfuse that mimic the European type. They are much less prone to corrosion than the others. Remember that the actual contact point on the fuse holder is the edge of the little hole in each springy contact. It's possible for there to be problems with the heater itself, but much less likely. One thing to check, though, would be that it's properly inserted and secured in its tube attached to the boiler. Yours, David |
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