Refrigerator not working

[dabearman85]

Hello all. I recently bought a crossroads paradise pointe and it has a Dometic RM2852 fridge in it. When I put the fridge in auto I hear no clicking but eventually it tries to switch over to propane, which I do not have propane bottles at the moment. So eventually the check light comes on. I have 120vac at the input line coming in but have yet to check anything else. Any clue why it's not working off of 120vac

 

[DonTom]

Hello all. I recently bought a crossroads paradise pointe and it has a Dometic RM2852 fridge in it. When I put the fridge in auto I hear no clicking but eventually it tries to switch over to propane, which I do not have propane bottles at the moment. So eventually the check light comes on. I have 120vac at the input line coming in but have yet to check anything else. Any clue why it's not working off of 120vac

Welcome.

Check where the fridge plugs in. Remove the fridge door on the outside of the RV and see if you have your 120 VAC on the outlet there.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[dabearman85]

Welcome.

Check where the fridge plugs in. Remove the fridge door on the outside of the RV and see if you have your 120 VAC on the outlet there.

-Don- Reno, NV

I do have the 120. All the lights work on the fridge just not getting it to start up.

 

[ferfer]

A absorption fridge requires 12VDC for the circuit board. When on 120VAC your converter/charger converts 120V to 12V for coach 12V systems. It does appear converter working since the fridge eyebrow appears to be working. Confirmation of converter is the 12VDC ceiling lights work when on 120V?

The lack of 120V could be fridge unplugged. Less likely to be on GFCI but worth resetting. If you have 50amp coach you have 2 30amp breakers. Reset them.

Let us know. Jennifer

 

[ferfer]

I do have the 120. All the lights work on the fridge just not getting it to start up.

The fridge lights are 12VDC, not 120VAC.

 

[dabearman85]

A absorption fridge requires 12VDC for the circuit board. When on 120VAC your converter/charger converts 120V to 12V for coach 12V systems. It does appear converter working since the fridge eyebrow appears to be working. Confirmation of converter is the 12VDC ceiling lights work when on 120V?

The lack of 120V could be fridge unplugged. Less likely to be on GFCI but worth resetting. If you have 50amp coach you have 2 30amp breakers. Reset them.

Let us know. Jennifer

Ceiling lights are working. Actually everything in the entire camper is working except for the fridge. I know the breakers are good but I'll try resetting them. I have tried resetting the button on the back side and it was not tripped. I have a sneaky suspicion it's my control board but trying to weed things out.

 

[DonTom]

I do have the 120.

At the fridge outlet that the cord plugs into from the refrigerator that is (usually) no more than one foot long?

I am not asking if the rig has 120 VAC, I am asking about ONLY the refrigerator and nothing else. You must open the OUTSIDE little refrigerator door on the outside of the rig to see. It's behind the fridge on the outside. The fridge plugs into its own outlet behind that door.

BTW, if your "check" lights are working, you must have the 12 VDC there. And the fridge light is also 12 VDC. So if that stuff is working you have your 12VDC.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[dabearman85]

At the fridge outlet that the cord plugs into from the refrigerator that is (usually) no more than one foot long?

I am not asking if the rig has 120 VAC, I am asking about ONLY the refrigerator and nothing else. You must open the OUTSIDE little refrigerator door on the outside of the rig to see. It's behind the fridge on the outside. The fridge plugs into its own outlet behind that door.

BTW, if your "check" lights are working, you must have the 12 VDC there. And the fridge light is also 12 VDC. So if that stuff is working you have your 12VDC.

-Don- Reno, NV

Correct. The eyebrow works fine. It is plugged in . Sorry I should have been more informative with what I meant.

 

[DonTom]

Correct. The eyebrow works fine. It is plugged in . Sorry I should have been more informative with what I meant.

Next step will be to see if the relay on the control board is energized.

But first check the fuse on the fridge control board.

Turn all power off if you remove the control board. Take a photo of the wiring before you remove anything. Check the back of the board for burnt traces (happened to me once--same fridge model) . If that relay doesn't click in, you're then stuck on propane operation (without the propane in your case).

The default (relay with no juice) is propane operation. The relay being closed means it is on AC operation.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Ray-IN]

Ceiling lights are working. Actually everything in the entire camper is working except for the fridge. I know the breakers are good but I'll try resetting them. I have tried resetting the button on the back side and it was not tripped. I have a sneaky suspicion it's my control board but trying to weed things out.

Switch the control from auto to AC and observe results. Also there should be 2 fuses on the PC board one for 12VDC, one for 120VAC.
This is the Dometic RM2852 service and troubleshooting manual

 

[John From Detroit]

I do have the 120. All the lights work on the fridge just not getting it to start up.

The lights in/on the fridge run on battery power 12 VDC as we call it.

You need to check for 120 at the outlet. also on Dometic Fridges there should be a circuit board. (Really a terminal board with a fuse or two) at the bottom of the outside compartment. Check for 120 volts there use a meter and be aware there are exposed terminals so CAUTION. Check the fuse as well. There is a box on the left with additional fuses.

Finally there is the heat element but if it "Eventually switches to propane" the control board (In that box on the left) is NOT seeing 120 volts so I'm tempted to not bother testing the heat element at this time. The fridge is not detecting 120 if it switches over on Auto.

 

[uchu]

Check for a tripped GFCI outlet. The Dometic fridge in my coach shares the same circuit with the GFCI plug by the bathroom sink, and when it's tripped, the fridge is out of power.

 

[Kirk]

I do have the 120. All the lights work on the fridge just not getting it to start up.

Since your refrigerator attempts to shift to propane it clearly does have 12V power and you verified that the plug has 120V so before you do a lot of other things, check on the power circuit board to see if the 5a fuse is blown.

There is a 3a fuse for the 12V supply and a 5a for the 120V side. If that fuse is blown it may mean that you have a bad heating element. You can download a copy of the service manual and use it to troubleshoot.

 

[garyb1st]

If you can see the back side of the refrigerator look for yellow powder. If you see any, your refrigerator will likely need a new cooling unit. This happens on older gas electric refrigerators. Our Dometic failed after 17 years.

 

[ferfer]

recently bought a crossroads paradise pointe and it has a Dometic RM2852 fridge

Is this the first time you have tried to start the fridge with 120V or is this a new problem? Do you know if worked prior on propane and/or 120V?

FYI Dometic recalled RM2852 fridge for boiler issues. Do not know if your fridge is on the recall list nor if related to your current 120V problem.

two-door refrigerators manufactured between April 1997 through May 2003 (06E-076). The expansion of this recall also includes the same two-door refrigerator models manufactured between June 2003 through September 2006 (08E-032).

Refrigerator Recall

www.dometic.com

Jennifer

 

[DonTom]

One thing that should be mentioned here is how an RV fridge works on 120 VAC.

It is very simple.

It's just 120 VAC going to the heater element. Much like the AC cord going direct to the heater element.

Switching to propane is done by the relay relaxing on the control board. If there is no DC voltage on the relay coil to keep it closed, the relay opens and your then on propane operation. Or if a fuse or trace is open for the 120 VAC to the heating element.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

If there is no DC voltage on the relay coil to keep it closed, the relay opens and your then on propane operation

I think you meant AC voltage. DC voltage is required to be present at all times, regardless of operating mode.

 

[DonTom]

I think you meant AC voltage.

On the relay coil (to energize the relay)?

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Kirk]

On the relay coil (to energize the relay)?

I'm not sure what relay you mean but the schematics in the service documents do not show exactly what the circuits on the printed circuit board are and there are several ways that 120V or the lack of it could be detected. If by relay, I would expect to see 120V on the relay coil so that it is energized when 120V is available as that would be a very simple way of doing it. As I look at images of that circuit board, there are a couple of relays on it so quite likely they do use a relay but since I don't have one to fool with, I'm not certain that is the case. It would be possible to trace the foil paths to be sure.

​

 

[DonTom]

I'm not sure what relay you mean

Whops. I was going by memory which isn't so great in my old age. My Y2K Dometic refrigerator must be an older model as it has a relay on the control board that gets energized for AC operation.

I am now 100 miles away from it so I cannot check.

-Don- Reno, NV