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Power to Fridge

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Stan Simpson:
We're getting ready to head out for a spring shake down trip on Thursday. Went to the coach today and turned on the fridge. I don't have shore power there, so I set it on LP.

After awhile, the fault code came up reading "DC Low". Since I didn't hear the fridge come on, or any flow of propane, I'm guessing the chassis batteries are what run the fridge on propane.

I ran the engine for about a half hour, and turned it on again. Same settings. I waited for a half hour, and no fault codes came up, and I could definitely hear the fridge running.

Does the DC just power the circuit board to get it running? Or does it require DC to continue running? Do you think my half hour of running the engine charged the chassis batteries enough until I leave?

As always, thanks for the help.

Stan

Joel Ashley:
You should have used the genset, Stan.  Charging low batteries with the engine alternator is a good way to ruin it, as several threads on this forum have explained.   It should be the house batteries that run the fridge.  It is likely also that the gas valve didn't turn on at the tank if the batteries were down.

The gas valve, burner ignition, and most if not all fridge control circuitry are 12 v.  If you have an ice maker on the fridge, that is AC.

If you park the rig where it has no solar battery upkeep or AC available, then turn off master battery switches before leaving it, and always use the genset, not the engine, when you return, even if you have to use the boost switch or portable jump unit to start the genset.

Joel

Jim Nichols:
Needs 9 volts to comp. board.

Stan Simpson:
Now I'm confused. When I'm going down the highway, the fridge is running on LP. It switches automatically when I unplug from shore power. There is no 12V power except from the chassis battery, yes? I have had the fridge on for about 3 hours. I just ran over to the coach to see if everything was okay. The fridge is still running, however, the inverter is on. The panel said I had 11.7 volts in the house batteries. I shut everything off.

What does the fridge run off when I'm driving down the road? Stored energy from the house batteries? The chassis batteries? I never looked...the inverter comes on?

I can't wait until we get to our first Beaver Rally in Gillette in June. I hope someone there can walk me through the electrical system...especially the inverter/charger...in layman's terms. I'm not an engineer...just an end-user.

Jim Nichols:
The 9 volts I mentioned is from house batteries and what the lowest voltage the frig can have before it shuts off while on propane. The only time it runs on 110 house current is while pluged to shore power or the gen is running suppling house current.  The computer board for the fridge needs DC voltage of no less then 9 volts to decide what is needed. Do you have manuals for the fridge?

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