In preparation for a month plus long trip up the coast from San Francisco to our new home in Cowichan Bay, BC on Vancouver Island, we got to the boat last Thursday night, July 28th, 2016, at 2100. What a week.
We left the boat and The Bay Area in late June. Except for a little dirt up top, all seemed fine, and we loaded the milk and butter we got for the next morning’s breakfast into the fridge and turned in.
Next morning, no working fridge!!! The batteries were fine, having sat for a month with the solar panel and a new controller, battery voltage was 12.85V.
I spent a couple of days doing diagnostics, confirming the fan worked, not being able to confirm that the compressor was OK since sometimes we’d blow a fuse, other times not. Traced it down to the control module. 30 year old, hard to find part. Of course, it was a WEEKEND! First thing on Monday, I got on the phone and spent the morning going thru Fisheries Supply in Seattle, who had me call Dometic in Florida who told me their module was $815 !!! but that folks have been telling them they found them on the internet for $200 !!!
I finally found RParts in, of all places, Santa Cruz, just down the coast from us here.
Rparts link: http://www.rparts.com/product_info....ucts_id=556&osCsid=cq9epffmmvd27noi7jh0gkkqr4
Actually talked to a wonderful lady named Donna who, instead of fobbing me off, actually spent the time to confirm that the part would work with their technician. $265 including s/h and tax. It was supposed to get here Wednesday, since I explained to Donna just what the issue was. I could have driven down and picked it up, but that would have wasted an entire day and we had lotsa boat chores to do in the meantime.
Instead of just waiting around, we got the port cockpit locker all cleaned out and cleaned up, bought some additional plastic storage boxes. Started the ruthless cleaning up of the boat down below. Might finally have room for all the food and water bottles we intend to buy. I don't think food will be the real issue, I want to stock up with heavy stuff like liquids so I don't have to haul that heavy stuff when we're harbor hopping.
The module got here on Tuesday, a day early !!!! so I spent the afternoon figuring out the changes to the wiring, drawing a diagram (of course) and getting wire connectors for the teeny wires from the fridge (ICD telephone connectors).
Spent Wednesday morning putting it all together, using YouTube to find out how to access the four pin plug on the side of the compressor.
Those are the diagnostics I actually did.
When she started up, I did NOT experience that BIG bounce of spiking current on our nav station analog ammeter that I’d been seeing for many years, either. That's one of those symptoms that a good friend and I have been discussing in our recurring Fridge Follies saga over the years. My conclusion is that the old module has been slowly failing for years. It also gives me a lot more faith in my boat's entire electrical system, 'cuz that spike caused by the old module had been stopping the fridge from cycling when the house bank was only at 12.4 or 12.5V, then it was the module, not the electrical system.
Bookmark Rparts, great folks.
We left the boat and The Bay Area in late June. Except for a little dirt up top, all seemed fine, and we loaded the milk and butter we got for the next morning’s breakfast into the fridge and turned in.
Next morning, no working fridge!!! The batteries were fine, having sat for a month with the solar panel and a new controller, battery voltage was 12.85V.
I spent a couple of days doing diagnostics, confirming the fan worked, not being able to confirm that the compressor was OK since sometimes we’d blow a fuse, other times not. Traced it down to the control module. 30 year old, hard to find part. Of course, it was a WEEKEND! First thing on Monday, I got on the phone and spent the morning going thru Fisheries Supply in Seattle, who had me call Dometic in Florida who told me their module was $815 !!! but that folks have been telling them they found them on the internet for $200 !!!
I finally found RParts in, of all places, Santa Cruz, just down the coast from us here.
Rparts link: http://www.rparts.com/product_info....ucts_id=556&osCsid=cq9epffmmvd27noi7jh0gkkqr4
Actually talked to a wonderful lady named Donna who, instead of fobbing me off, actually spent the time to confirm that the part would work with their technician. $265 including s/h and tax. It was supposed to get here Wednesday, since I explained to Donna just what the issue was. I could have driven down and picked it up, but that would have wasted an entire day and we had lotsa boat chores to do in the meantime.
Instead of just waiting around, we got the port cockpit locker all cleaned out and cleaned up, bought some additional plastic storage boxes. Started the ruthless cleaning up of the boat down below. Might finally have room for all the food and water bottles we intend to buy. I don't think food will be the real issue, I want to stock up with heavy stuff like liquids so I don't have to haul that heavy stuff when we're harbor hopping.
The module got here on Tuesday, a day early !!!! so I spent the afternoon figuring out the changes to the wiring, drawing a diagram (of course) and getting wire connectors for the teeny wires from the fridge (ICD telephone connectors).
Spent Wednesday morning putting it all together, using YouTube to find out how to access the four pin plug on the side of the compressor.
When she started up, I did NOT experience that BIG bounce of spiking current on our nav station analog ammeter that I’d been seeing for many years, either. That's one of those symptoms that a good friend and I have been discussing in our recurring Fridge Follies saga over the years. My conclusion is that the old module has been slowly failing for years. It also gives me a lot more faith in my boat's entire electrical system, 'cuz that spike caused by the old module had been stopping the fridge from cycling when the house bank was only at 12.4 or 12.5V, then it was the module, not the electrical system.
Bookmark Rparts, great folks.
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