Refrigerator..... driving me nuts

[rvwanderer11]

When I turn on the fridge, I hear a click, which is a normal sound.....
Fridge works great..  BUT
when I connect shore power sometimes I'll hear the same click you hear when you first turn it on. 
Then it continues every 3 or 4 seconds.  If open the door, the light is turning on and off.
If you switch to gas,  you hear the burner start, 3 seconds later it stops, then starts and stops  non stop.

This may stop on its own and start up again 8 hours later. 
IFyou unplug shore power it stops.  When you reconnect, about 3 or 4 minutes later it starts again.

Last night it started about 11pm.  I turned on the light to check it and it stopped clicking.  Turned off the light and a minute later it started again.  Turned on the light and it stopped.  So I turned on the porch light  , clicking stopped and all was well.
This morning turned off the light and all is well.  Wife turned on coffee pot  and it started clicking again.
When you open the back of the fridge there is a box inch deep and about  5 x 7 in size it appears clicking is coming from that box. 

anyone have any ideas????

 

[Gizmo100]

I know very little about the fridge other if they are not working right they could be dangerous.

That said if you would list details about your rig and type of fridge it will help the smarter people when they check in.

 

[grashley]

STRANGE!!

Please tell us the make and model of the fridge so we can give better answers.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

How to make a signature for your RV so we can serve you better.

1. Click "Profile" button towards the top of the screen.

2. Scroll down a ways and select "Modify Profile"

3. Select Forum Profile

4. Fill it out and click on "Change profile".


It helps if we know more about your RV. Sometimes a person who has the same rig has had the same problem.

Is the refrigerator a Norcold and, if so, has the recall been done on it?  The recall box may be failing.

 

[RickNC-WO]

If it is a Dometic it may be the re-ignitor module. You need to provide some information about the fridge.

 

[CincyGus]

Sounds like an electrical short to me. A connection that is partially connected and working sometimes and sometimes not. Maybe a little extra draw of juice in the camper (coffee pot) is causing it to go into this working, not enough, working dance it's doing. Weird with the lights making it stop too. This 5x7 box you describe, can you get a picture of it and post?

Thinking you need a friend who is good with a electrical meter to come visit and check out voltages, verify connections are solid and see what the deal is.

 

[wackymac]

House battery not charging?

 

[rvwanderer11]

The RV is on a storage lot. when I get back there I will take pix, get model numbers, put the ohmmeter on it and see what I get.
unfortunately there is NO shore power on the lot so I can't duplicate the problem there.  MAYBE if I start the generator i'll have the same problem,not
sure. but I will try.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

If shore power causes a different operation than battery, I suspect you have a 12v problem with the 12v converter, the unit that converts 120vac shore power to 12vdc for lighting and control boards (as in the fridge).  Either the 12v is intermittent, or way out of spec (high or low) such that the fridge circuit board cannot function properly.  Start checking the 12v system while plugged to shore power.  First step might be to turn off the circuit breaker that feeds 120v power to the converter, which basically puts the 12v system back in battery mode even though shore power is connected. See what happens.

 

[rvwanderer11]

I had a tech look at the fridge, he decided the problem was with the control board.....  by turning on and off lights etc the minute voltage drop affected the board.
we'll see when I get a new board.  He quoted almost $400 for a board plus labor.  I found it for $169.  just a few plugs ,and ground I think I'll put it in myself. 

 

[sightseers]

check your house battery.

it sounds like the refrigerator is wigging out because the circuit board controller getting low power (12 volt power) at times.

if you unplug the A/C power.... I'll bet you find the D/C power goes away very quickly because the house battery is bad.

 

[John From Detroit]

One recommendation on the control board if you have not yet ordered.

A Company named Dinosaur boards makes replacement boards for many RV products (like my furnace) VERY VERY VERY well made boards. far better than OEM.

 

[ziplock]

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