Faulty Fridge - Do Not Worry

[viking]

Any ideas whats going on with my fridge ? 2008 cali owned since nov 2009.
The fridge has always been unreliable from day one. Flashing fridge fault icon. sometimes can be reset and runs for days (whether on battery or on hook up) othertimes has to be reset 2 or 3 times a day and other times it just will not reset for most of the day and then it will and other times will run trouble free for 10 - 12 days. I've learnt to live with it but I can never rely on it. I've discounted it being a fuse because with a blown fuse it would never work that much I do know. By the way I had it checked out when under warranty and once when out of warranty vw dealer couldn't find a fault. On the computer check only.

 

[campandfly]

Our Cali Fridge thermostat has started playing up too after working perfectly for nearly three years.
It will maintain 3.7oC if set to #6 on the overhead display or will run till freezing on MAX.
It will also start up on #5 but does not run long. I have checked all ambient temps etc. and it is not working like it used to.
I could easily live with the 3.7oC or on max but it is still just in warranty.
Just worried the dealer may under VW's advice want to rip out the fridge to change the whole thing.

If my understanding of all of the above posts are correct it just needs the 101N0220 replacing as that's the thingymajig that controls temps. Is that correct?

 

[davep74]

I replaced the control box which sits to the left of the picture. If you do it by lifting out the fridge. Easiest way to be fair. You should put copper grease on the earth shunt. Saves you a job later on if your heating ever started to play up due to a poor earth. Having done both on mine I can tell you it’s a pain in the bum. But worth it

 

[duelago]

Hello gurus!

Hope someone is reading in this old thread. Tons of useful info here, but unfortunately I still have problems with my fridge in the California T5 2007.

Timeline:
1. Relay clicking and fridge turned itself off after one second turning it on.
2. Installed new leisure batteries. I had the originals from 2007.
3. Checked the fuses under the driver seat (It's a "Swedish" car). All ok
4. Tried the Danfoss controller with a separate 12V battery and connected C and T to make sure I bypassed the thermostat. Didn't work
4. Ordered new controller and installed it. Still didn't work but the control panel reports that the fridge is on.
5. Tried the new controller and fridge with my separate battery and, voila, the compressor is running.

Someone was talking about a fuse under the fridge. Where exactly can I find this fuse? Do I have to remove the fridge to get to it? I installed the new control box without removing the fridge. It was a bit painful but it worked

Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance

Happy camping from Sweden,
/David

 

[westfalia]

Any other ideas?

Could be the earth shunt, well it probably is if it all runs off a separate
battery.
If you do a search- earth shunt- there is plenty of info to inform you.

 

[pjm-84]

My connector had the same arrangement as the picture in the posting above. This caused my fridge to short out whilst on the move. I relocated the connector and hey presto....no more issues with the fridge cutting out.

 

[duelago]

Could be the earth shunt, well it probably is if it all runs off a separate
battery.
If you do a search- earth shunt- there is plenty of info to inform you.

Hmmm. It looks like the earth shunt mod is done on my car. I have a piece of paper on the wall behind the rear leisure battery talking about the earth shunt. The text is in german and I don't speak the language very well, but someone did something regarding this for sure. There is an extra brown wire from the minus on the rear battery. (I bought my car used from a VW dealer in Munich in 2009)

Do you think it's broken again?

 

[duelago]

My connector had the same arrangement as the picture in the posting above. This caused my fridge to short out whilst on the move. I relocated the connector and hey presto....no more issues with the fridge cutting out.

Thanks for the advice. I will double check. I connected the cables the same way as on the old controller but it doesn't work. I also tried to bypass the thermostat by removing the blue and yellow cables and did my own bridge of C and T. Still not working.

 

[westfalia]

Do you think it's broken again?

If the earth shunt has been upgraded from the original one then it should not
fail.
One way that i know of about checking if you have a bad earth is that if you have the
internal lights on and you start up the heater then the lights will flicker whilst the heater
draws the power to start up.

 

[duelago]

If the earth shunt has been upgraded from the original one then it should not
fail.
One way that i know of about checking if you have a bad earth is that if you have the
internal lights on and you start up the heater then the lights will flicker whilst the heater
draws the power to start up.

Thanks for the tip. I will try this

 

[duelago]

I removed the fridge today. It's still not running when using my cars electrical system. It works fine if I bridge C and T and run it from a separate 12V battery.
Do my earth shunt look like it should?
I tried the trick with the heater. My lights are not flickering. I.e I think it's fine.
Any ideas?

/David

 

[westfalia]

View attachment 49722

I removed the fridge today. It's still not running when using my cars electrical system. It works fine if I bridge C and T and run it from a separate 12V battery.
Do my earth shunt look like it should?
I tried the trick with the heater. My lights are not flickering. I.e I think it's fine.
Any ideas?

/David

Ive zoomed in on the picture and it looks like the earth shunt has
been done, also as you say, no flickering lights so that's not yer problem.

So the fridge works on an external battery but not on the 2 leisure batteries in the van.....

Do the van batteries have enough juice in them

 

[duelago]

Ive zoomed in on the picture and it looks like the earth shunt has
been done, also as you say, no flickering lights so that's not yer problem.

So the fridge works on an external battery but not on the 2 leisure batteries in the van.....

Do the van batteries have enough juice in them

Batteries are brand new. High quality Varta. Charged then for 12 hours or so after I installed them. Control panel reports fully charged. Must be something else.

Do I have to remove the control panel completely if I want to reset it?

I will double check all fuses tomorrow, but do you know which fuse that is used for the fridge?

 

[Emil Silenhag]

I helped a friend one time with his fridge that didn’t worked. Turned out not enough voltage reached the fridge for some reason. Maybe bad connection somewhere, but we couldn’t find it. It was much easier just route a new 12 v cable from the battery underneath the wardrobe.
Have you seen the Danfoss Fault Diagnostic papers..? We used that to pin point the problem..
Lycka till ! (Swedish) Jag är också svensk, men bor i Norge.

 

[duelago]

I helped a friend one time with his fridge that didn’t worked. Turned out not enough voltage reached the fridge for some reason. Maybe bad connection somewhere, but we couldn’t find it. It was much easier just route a new 12 v cable from the battery underneath the wardrobe.
Have you seen the Danfoss Fault Diagnostic papers..? We used that to pin point the problem..
Lycka till ! (Swedish) Jag är också svensk, men bor i Norge.

Tanks for the Diagnostic chart!
So if I understand you correctly, you just wired up + from the rear battery to + on the Danfoss controller and left the ground cable as it is?

Tack för hjälpen

 

[Emil Silenhag]

We made a new ground also, to a bolt in the back wall of the kitchen cupboard.
And for the new + cable, I don’t remember the details there unfortunately...but it was simple and logical. There were a relay and wires to Danfoss control unit and more. We just made a simple electric diagram over the existing connections. After that it was simple to know where to connect the new 12 v wire.

 

[duelago]

I did some measurements with my cheap chinese multimeter. I get 12V between the red and the brown cable directly under the relay when the fridge is switched on from the control panel.

However, I get near 0V when I measure in the contact that goes in to the Danfoss controller. The only difference is that the brown wire is combined with the black one in the "Danfoss plug". The contacts looks fresh without any wear.

 

[Emil Silenhag]

Here are some input.
You wrote: Tried the new controller and fridge with my separate battery and, voila, the compressor is running.
Based on that it could be not enough voltage reaching the fridge.
Have you “tested the power supply” accordingly to Danfoss diagnostic chart? I used a cheap multimeter from Biltema (probably chines to)...
The red and brown cable in your picture, are you sure those are the same cables ? I think I remember that when we peeled of all that black sticky tape from the wires the routing was not as we thought it was...
Maybe you know this, but you can lift up the relay from its seat and have a look at the terminals to se which wire goes where and so on. Small electric diagram on the side of the relay to...
Regarding fuses under the seat, I always check them all with a multi meter inn “beep-mode”. Slightly better access with the seat at 90 degrees, or better completely removed (one bolt in each corner)(do not disconnect airbag wire)

 

[duelago]

Here are some input.
You wrote: Tried the new controller and fridge with my separate battery and, voila, the compressor is running.
Based on that it could be not enough voltage reaching the fridge.
Have you “tested the power supply” accordingly to Danfoss diagnostic chart? I used a cheap multimeter from Biltema (probably chines to)...
The red and brown cable in your picture, are you sure those are the same cables ? I think I remember that when we peeled of all that black sticky tape from the wires the routing was not as we thought it was...
Maybe you know this, but you can lift up the relay from its seat and have a look at the terminals to se which wire goes where and so on. Small electric diagram on the side of the relay to...
Regarding fuses under the seat, I always check them all with a multi meter inn “beep-mode”. Slightly better access with the seat at 90 degrees, or better completely removed (one bolt in each corner)(do not disconnect airbag wire)

You are right, not enough voltage is reaching the fridge. I peeled of the black tape and you are right again. I get 12V to the relay but the voltage in to the fridge is coming from somewhere else and here we have the problem.

I will try your trick with a cable directly from the rear battery next...

 

[duelago]

Solved!!

The second problem I had was in fact the 10 Amp fuse under the seat. I just did a visual inspection last time, but cheating is never a good idea. Checked with a multimeter this time. It's the red fuse that is easiest to reach.

So to summarize. A new Danfoss controller + fuse and my fridge is running again.
Thank's for the help everybody.

 

[Frans_T5]

hey Guy's Frans from the Netherlands,
I have been reading your tread with interest, We are also facing trouble with our compressor cool-box in our Cali.
Its an T5 2006 version.
It takes a long time to cool down from ambient to 6 deg. C Today I setup a test and have found the following result.
The Cali was plugged in the mains, I place a large 3L water bottle in the fridge and have set the temp to 7 deg. C
our panel give deg. C the newer versions what they told me shows levels from 0 to 9.
I fitted a thermometer to the rear wall (evaporator location) and a thermometer close to where the box thermistor sits.
The 3L water temp when I started was 20deg. C After six hours the compressor was still at work and I read the following temperatures,
The rear wall (evaporator area) -15 deg. C
Thermistor area +7,6 deg C
To complete I had removed the small inspection panel and placed a small computer fav to cool the condenser en compressor.
I have doubts about the cooling box ability to cool according to the 41l of volume, the doubt came because the compressor seems to run almost continuous, in the past I remember that the compressor came on about 5..6 times per hour.
Some comments would be much appreciated.
Does some one know which refrigerant they have used in the box, I guess r134a but like to be sure.
I'm thinking to place an piecing valve on the compressor suction line and add if necessary some refrigerant.

Yours,
Frans

 

[willwander]

hey Guy's Frans from the Netherlands,
I have been reading your tread with interest, We are also facing trouble with our compressor cool-box in our Cali.
Its an T5 2006 version.
It takes a long time to cool down from ambient to 6 deg. C Today I setup a test and have found the following result.
The Cali was plugged in the mains, I place a large 3L water bottle in the fridge and have set the temp to 7 deg. C
our panel give deg. C the newer versions what they told me shows levels from 0 to 9.
I fitted a thermometer to the rear wall (evaporator location) and a thermometer close to where the box thermistor sits.
The 3L water temp when I started was 20deg. C After six hours the compressor was still at work and I read the following temperatures,
The rear wall (evaporator area) -15 deg. C
Thermistor area +7,6 deg C
To complete I had removed the small inspection panel and placed a small computer fav to cool the condenser en compressor.
I have doubts about the cooling box ability to cool according to the 41l of volume, the doubt came because the compressor seems to run almost continuous, in the past I remember that the compressor came on about 5..6 times per hour.
Some comments would be much appreciated.
Does some one know which refrigerant they have used in the box, I guess r134a but like to be sure.
I'm thinking to place an piecing valve on the compressor suction line and add if necessary some refrigerant.

Yours,
Frans

Fan might help, before you go messing with the gas, maybe you are just expecting too much. On tests I’ve done, It too over 7hours to cool a full fridge to temp, and that’s in a brand new fridge. Compressor starts cycling once temp is reached.

Fridge Settings and Temperatures

Most of the stuff was cold, apart from a 2l bottle of tap water. Went down to around 8-10degC after a while, but I’ve ordered a Bluetooth logger and have it booked into the garage on Monday just before the warranty expires just in case! I have no experience of a CaliO fridge, but : Have you...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Frans_T5]

Fan might help, before you go messing with the gas, maybe you are just expecting too much. On tests I’ve done, It too over 7hours to cool a full fridge to temp, and that’s in a brand new fridge. Compressor starts cycling once temp is reached.

Fridge Settings and Temperatures

Most of the stuff was cold, apart from a 2l bottle of tap water. Went down to around 8-10degC after a while, but I’ve ordered a Bluetooth logger and have it booked into the garage on Monday just before the warranty expires just in case! I have no experience of a CaliO fridge, but : Have you...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Dear Wildwander,
Thanks for your prompt reply, and no I'll not mess with the compressor in this stage. I'm in real doubt about the fridge box capacity because I could not remember that it been so terribly slow in cooling our stuff.
High ambient temperatures is not helpful sure, the Dutch Cali agent selling sun reflecting foils they have magnets and can be placed on the outside at the fridge box area. This can only be used while you are not driving..
The fan modification has been also suggested by the Cali service station in Amersfoort The Netherlands, they modify all there new cali's with a small fan in order to cool down the compressor area. this cavity becomes extreme hot by de fridge box compressor and getting worse when connected to the mains, VW has decided to fit the (our) charger against the bottom of the fridge box.
The compressor controller accommodate a 12V fan connection, the fan is than controlled by de compressor controller, however they advice to add an on off switch for the fan so you can switch it off during your sleeping hours when you find it to noisy .

The fan need to be connected between the small + en F terminal, the on off switch is not present on the original Danfoss schematic.
But you can also connect the fan to some 12V and control it your self... using a on, off switch whatever.

 

[willwander]

Yes, I think the fan would probably be a good mod.

 

[RichardDouglas]

Andrew. Was there a part number for the unit?