Dometic RM2610 Intermittently Works An AC- LP Works Great- Really Stuck..Help!

[diamond G Ranch]

I have an older 1992 Fleetwood wilderness travel trailer that I purchased from the original owner and it was in great shape- I completely remodeled the inside and repainted the exterior- The original Dometic fridge worked surprisingly well, especially after I put one of those tornado exhaust fans in the rear cabinet to draw the heat out.....performs much better than any new fridge in these killer hot Arizona summers- well I finally am having problems with this fridge on AC- when you plug it in and turn the selector switch to Elec it fires right up and it will cool perfectly for hours....and then sometime through the night it will quit....when I look at my digital temp gauge both the fridge and freezer are room temp....the back of the fridge is cool, not working.....it shut down sometime through the night....no blown fuse, no blown breaker, the fridge is getting power and it works great on propane. I unplugged the travel trailer for a few hours, plugged it back in, turned the selector switch to Elec and the fridge started working again.....it worked fine for 6 hours and then sometime during the night it shut off again.....I then took it to the RV repair place....of course the fridge fired right up on elec and everything tested just fine....but I had them replace 2 parts that could have been the problem, even though it was working at that moment(I live an hour from civilization in the country so I was trying to be proactive) They replaced the selector switch and the AC heating element....it fired right up on both elec and propane and they tested everything again just to make sure before I left.....I went home, Plugged it in and the fridge worked great on elec....was working for 5 hours before I went to bed- and the fridge quit again sometime during the night while on elec....SAME PROBLEM.....I really am trying to avoid leaving my travel trailer at the repair place .....I realize it is hard to diagnose if you can't reproduce the problem- as I said, it runs fine on elec and cools great for hours....but sometime during the night it shuts off on elec only....through the process of elimination what would be the next part to replace?? As I said, a new selector switch was installed and a new AC heating element was installed.....so what would be the next part to change....?? I really love this travel trailer just as it is, I know the fridge is very old but it works unbelievably well when its working properly....I really would love to get it working right if I can...within reason of course.....I use this travel trailer mostly for boondocking, so I only use the elec function when I am preparing for the trip at the house, other wise I only use the LP function....but I would like it to work properly....so If I can figure this problem out and fix it, I would rather do that. Dometic customer service isnt much help since the problem is intermittent....and the repair shop can't help me unless they can reproduce the problem which would require me to leave the travel trailer there(it's a bad neighborhood, trying to avoid that)

So does anyone have any input....I'd rather throw a few parts at this thing first before I either give up or leave it at the repair place.
RM2610
Product #9219801
Serial #20705467
6 cu fridge with top freezer
Thanks!!

 

[regval]

The good news is that the cooling unit of the refrigerator is capable of working since it works on LP mode. You have to determine if you have a control issue or a primary loss of AC power to the unit. A RV shop would likely disconnect the AC heating element from the control board and wire it directly to an AC source of power and see if the unit cools continuously without interruption. With constant power applied to the AC heating element, the refrigerator compartment will be below freezing and the freezer compartment will be well below zero degrees F after 12 to 18 hours. If this testing works then the problem lies in either the control board or the source of AC power to the control board is at fault (intermittent).
If you want to test this method then you'll have to make up an electrical cord which you can use to apply power directly to the heating element wires. Contact me if you want me to provide further information.

 

[Henry J Fate]

Sounds to be a control board problem. Find the control board and remove the connectors. Check to see if both the connectors and the board look electrically healthy. Clean connections as needed. Plug the connectors back in. Make sure the ac plug for the fridge is clean and tight in the receptacle and the cord looks good. Test the fridge on ac.

If you still experience a shutdown and all of the above looks good, begin looking for a new control board replacement. After market boards will be considerably less than boards from Dometic.

 

[diamond G Ranch]

The good news is that the cooling unit of the refrigerator is capable of working since it works on LP mode. You have to determine if you have a control issue or a primary loss of AC power to the unit. A RV shop would likely disconnect the AC heating element from the control board and wire it directly to an AC source of power and see if the unit cools continuously without interruption. With constant power applied to the AC heating element, the refrigerator compartment will be below freezing and the freezer compartment will be well below zero degrees F after 12 to 18 hours. If this testing works then the problem lies in either the control board or the source of AC power to the control board is at fault (intermittent).
If you want to test this method then you'll have to make up an electrical cord which you can use to apply power directly to the heating element wires. Contact me if you want me to provide further information.

Thanks for your reply....not sure what control boards cost at this point- will have to check....If I want to try your suggestion I will contact you for further coaching....thanks again!!

 

[diamond G Ranch]

Sounds to be a control board problem. Find the control board and remove the connectors. Check to see if both the connectors and the board look electrically healthy. Clean connections as needed. Plug the connectors back in. Make sure the ac plug for the fridge is clean and tight in the receptacle and the cord looks good. Test the fridge on ac.

If you still experience a shutdown and all of the above looks good, begin looking for a new control board replacement. After market boards will be considerably less than boards from Dometic.

Great advice....thanks!!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

You may well have a problem finding a board that old at all. Dinosaur makes some gas-igniter controls for the oldies, if you can identify what one will match yours.

Service manual at Dometic RM2610 Manuals | ManualsLib

Op manual: http://techsupport.pdxrvwholesale.c...fer-Model-RM2510-Installation-User-Manual.pdf

A possibility not yet mentioned is loss of 12v power, which would shut down the circuit board even though the 120v heater is in use. I don't think that fridge restarts once 12v power is restored, but I could be wrong about that. You can test that theory by removing 12v power while it is running and see what happens when you re-connect the 12v.