California Fridge - malfunction?

Freeway123 · Jun 16, 2021

Hi
We have just spent a long weekend (the first time outing) with our 2012 reg California and went to Dartmouth. The weather was warm but not over hot.
Unfortunately we experienced an issue with the fridge. Before we set off the fridge was set to level 7 cooling. All Ok for the first 3 days. We also hooked up the van to an external power supply on the campsite. On the 4th day the fridge turned itself off and would not allow us to re-start via the control panel. All we got was we could turn it on and then would turn off and then left it for a while and tried again. This time it would not turn on but could hear a solenoid click down by the fridge. (Tried again with or without the external power supply - still the same).
On travelling home on the Monday strangely we could get the fridge to work and was OK whilst driving and was cool when we arrived home some 4 hours later.
Has anyone else experienced this issue. Could there be a fault with the external power supply and how can this be tested?
What is the average time on leisure batteries that the fridge should run for, (using no other van power services)? (Picture of the fridge condenser unit attached).
Sorry its a long question but would love to hear if anyone else has the same problem.
Many thanks

WelshGas · Jun 16, 2021

Freeway123 said:
Hi
We have just spent a long weekend (the first time outing) with our 2012 reg California and went to Dartmouth. The weather was warm but not over hot.
Unfortunately we experienced an issue with the fridge. Before we set off the fridge was set to level 7 cooling. All Ok for the first 3 days. We also hooked up the van to an external power supply on the campsite. On the 4th day the fridge turned itself off and would not allow us to re-start via the control panel. All we got was we could turn it on and then would turn off and then left it for a while and tried again. This time it would not turn on but could hear a solenoid click down by the fridge. (Tried again with or without the external power supply - still the same).
On travelling home on the Monday strangely we could get the fridge to work and was OK whilst driving and was cool when we arrived home some 4 hours later.
Has anyone else experienced this issue. Could there be a fault with the external power supply and how can this be tested?
What is the average time on leisure batteries that the fridge should run for, (using no other van power services)? (Picture of the fridge condenser unit attached).
Sorry its a long question but would love to hear if anyone else has the same problem.
Many thanks

View attachment 80167

What was the voltage on the Control Panel when the fridge played up?
The fridge will switch Off if the Leisure Battery voltage drops to 11.5v.
When on Hookup what is the voltage on the Control Panel and do you have the plug icon R lower corner of the screen?

Freeway123 · Jun 17, 2021

Hi
Many thanks to your reply.
From memory it must have been showing around 11.5v and as you state the fridge probably closed down. I would have expected the mains connection to have provided a power source but I am new to this and don't have a user manual to refer to need advice.
I have just checked the control panel this morning and the attached two pictures are: off the van batteries and the second one is connected to the house mains.
I note on the LHS of the panel it has two symbols which I assume are batteries. I note the top one has a single bar in and bottom one no bars. Is this relevant?
Also no external connection indicates 13 volts and 100% 0.0 Amps discharge; and when connected indicating 14.3 and 4.8 Amps. Does this mean that the batteries are good or do they need replacing?
Many thanks
Freeway123

AlisonF · Jun 17, 2021

The left hand is the fresh water and waste water tanks.

Freeway123 · Jun 17, 2021

Many thanks Alison

WelshGas · Jun 17, 2021

Freeway123 said:
Hi
Many thanks to your reply.
From memory it must have been showing around 11.5v and as you state the fridge probably closed down. I would have expected the mains connection to have provided a power source but I am new to this and don't have a user manual to refer to need advice.
I have just checked the control panel this morning and the attached two pictures are: off the van batteries and the second one is connected to the house mains.
I note on the LHS of the panel it has two symbols which I assume are batteries. I note the top one has a single bar in and bottom one no bars. Is this relevant?
Also no external connection indicates 13 volts and 100% 0.0 Amps discharge; and when connected indicating 14.3 and 4.8 Amps. Does this mean that the batteries are good or do they need replacing?
Many thanks
Freeway123

View attachment 80186

View attachment 80187

That appears OK.
So when the fridge stopped the Control Panel showed 11.5 v, hence the fridge switched off.
When you plugged into the mains, when camping, did you see the Plug icon, R lower corner, and did the voltage increase to 14+ volts?
If not, something wrong with campsite supply.
Appears to be working at home.