Fridge not working on battery power

Cincy Aquaholic

Cincy Aquaholic

Active Member
Mar 15, 2009
1,329
Cincinnati
Boat Info
290 SS - 2016 Ford F250 Powerstroke
Engines
Twin 5.7 with Bravo 1's
My cockpit fridge decided to stop working on battery power. Works fine on shore and with generator. Any thoughts? Cabin works fine and I haven't noticed any other DC issues. :huh:
 
I'm having same issue - already pulled out fridge and checked the fuse, and read somewhere it could be the power board (?) located on top of the fridge that might need to be replaced.
 
If it’s a Norcold, that is its usual fate… the compressor should be a 120V AC unit and when on 12V DC it runs on an inverter that is prone to break. The solution could be to fix it or put an inverter to have 120V or get a new fridge with a 12V Danfoss compressor :wink:
 
Norcold's DC power board is an oscillator that creates something like 28V AC (don't quote me) if it's anything like mine. It's easily replaceable and on top of the fridge under a metal cover. Norcold has some diagnostic procedures on the net if you do a search. I recently diagnosed and fixed mine (the AC wasn't working) and I found that there was a blown diode on the DC power board which includes the circuit which senses the AC and DC supplies and decides whether to use AC or DC power board (which creates lower AC via an oscillator).
 
Great advice Terri, I didn't know that the Norcold diagnostics were available anywhere. The procedures for mine are exactly as you describe. I plan to try to my Morcold back from the dead soon. Here is a link to the place I found the manuals for mine http://bryantrv.com/docs.html

Theresamarie11 said:
Norcold's DC power board is an oscillator that creates something like 28V AC (don't quote me) if it's anything like mine. It's easily replaceable and on top of the fridge under a metal cover. Norcold has some diagnostic procedures on the net if you do a search. I recently diagnosed and fixed mine (the AC wasn't working) and I found that there was a blown diode on the DC power board which includes the circuit which senses the AC and DC supplies and decides whether to use AC or DC power board (which creates lower AC via an oscillator).
Click to expand...
 
Finally pulled my fridge out and doesn't look like any fuses are blown so I guess the power panel went bad. Wheres a source for a new one?
 
5 years later and a different boat and this issue reared its ugly head again. anywhere know where i can get the part that controls the DC power on a Norcold DE0051?
 
UPDATE: finally decided to look into this issue during spring clean up. SURPRISE SURPRISE!! I removed the metal cover to the power board on top and found one of the wires disconnected from its prong! It has speaker wire type connectors. Probably the first and last time what I thought would be an expensive repair turned out to be a 15 minute free fix!
 
Always nice to have an easy one once in a while.


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