wadingthroughlife

Actually! Thanks to AtlantaCamper for the help via PM. I decided to just tap into the 12v connection to the overhead lights, since it was available. Thanks all!

Hi All, I am replacing the 3-way with a 2-way, but there’s still a 12v connection question I have on the new one for lights, board, and the fan it has. I’m asking because there is a white and black wire coming down from the area above the fridge to the 12v cigarette plug? that had also connected into a molex plug of the old one aside from the 12v positive and negative that came from the front of the truck. Black from above was into the red from the truck battery. White was into a separate molex with the other white from the truck with the red. I’m not sure if I should or could tie those in to this new fridge. Or connect up to a different 12v supply while I have the chance. The fridge manual says not to run other outlets or appliances off the fridge. Old pic on top, new below Thanks so much to everyone for the help.

Ouch! I definitely intend to install solo. I'm hoping the toughest part is physically removing the old and then shimming and trimming the new one in. Thanks for all the help, all. I'll post about the install. I think I still owe a general posting about the rig too.

Thanks yall. The deed is done. Want to keep this thing capable for boondocking and slightly modernize with less finicky controls. Going with the Dometic 2 way.

Yippie, haha. Cooling unit or total replacement? It's 2x the cost to replace, but is that genuinely worth it? The Dometic 2-way (not sure 12v is really needed for our use) RM2351RB1f is about $1250 to the door presently at Camping World, but it seems no door panels are available (Could harvest from the old fridge for similar aesthetic). I'm also not sure how well the gas connection on a new fridge is going to line up, and there will be some minor shimming and trimming to do, since it's slightly smaller. https://www.campingworld.com/dometic-americana-3-cu.-ft.-two-way-absorption-compact-refrigerator-right-hinge-108156.html The cooling unit is about $600 with shipping/core/tax etc. I should probably do both heating elements too, as they seem to fall apart in repair videos I've seen. (Add $70 each for both the 12v and 120v) ~$750 I'm a little intimidated at replacing the unit, mainly getting all the bits back in the right place. https://atcoamerica.com/products/cooling/#catalog If both were the same price, what would all here do?

Well, it seems like maybe nothing is cold to be honest. Things seemed to be going the right way under my assumption the gas was doing the trick, but I did have the ice blocks in the fridge to speed things up still. I want to say last night it got down to mid 50s but back to 60 this morning. Does neither AC or Gas cooling lead toward thinking it’s the cooling unit?

So I used an infrared thermometer and it was definitely warm on the boiler (maybe 95f as it’s insulated) and heating element (135f ish) but the fridge was a meager 68f, probably from the help of the ice blocks. It’d been running all day long on 120v shore. Between checking it before bed last night at 60, went totally back to 80f overnight. I guess I thought the element would totally die not fizzle as was mentioned. I can lightly hear the system working from the back, but I wouldn’t really call it the death gurgle sound I’ve read about. I’m getting right at 120v at the fridge outlet, but I haven’t pulled the elements loose to check their connectivity. The board is also kind of nestled under a pretty inconvenient looking spot to check voltage there too. Here’s hoping the LP gas chills it overnight to prove it actually works overall. The temp on the insulated boiler stack is presently about 150f and close to 290 at the pilot light cover after a couple hours of running on gas. The whole system is running much hotter back there on gas than it was on shore.

Can you tell from this diagram if the heater is one unit or two separate? There are 4 wires. I just haven’t been able to take off the shroud and pull the elements. I do have proper voltage to the outlets box, but it was a little confusing on what to pull to check the continuity of the elements. Also, it seems like maybe, if this is possible, that I have an RM2400, not the 10? The manual says 2400 and I’m not sure where on the unit other than the face plate that matches, to check.

The 2410 manual I've found online indicated: AC Heating Element: Amperage1.3 Ohm Resis. +/— 10% 92.3 Wattage160 AC COMPONENTS HEATING ELEMENT To check a heating element, remove the heater leads from the terminal block and measure for proper resistance across the two leads. You should obtain the following readings, plus or minus 10% RM2410: 92 I dont see anything in the diagrams showing a separate 12v vs 120v heating element though. I need to physically look again, but alas at lunch at work.

I see the confusion - sorry. I'm not super concerned with the 12v portion, but rather the 120 when plugged to shore. I noticed the fridge not cooling when plugged in to our shore outlet at home to pre-chill the fridge ahead of our weekend trip. I wiggled the switch and thought it started working, as it got down to 60 degrees and I felt warmth on the boiler stack. However, this morning it was back to 80 degrees. I'll test the ohms on the heat element as WME initially mentioned, but is that still looking for 40-100ohms if it's the 120v element? Is the 12v heater element obviously different than the 120v element in the boiler stack?

So is there a separate 12v heater vs AC heater? Or is the 12v one WME and Linda listed for the 3way vs 2way fridge? I’ll try to locate a manual too. I’ll do more troubleshooting tonight too. Thanks y’all.

So perhaps MC Enterprises 0173756016MC Heating Element for RM2300/2400 160W-120V Dometic Refrigerators https://a.co/d/7dGndpw

Seeking confirmation on this being the replacement part in case it’s what’s bad. https://www.rvpartscountry.com/MC-Enterprises-Refrigerator-Cooling-Unit-Heater-Element-Use-With-Dometic-Refrigerator-Models-RM2300-RM2400_p_39365.html

Thanks so much! (As usual)

I went back out, after checking it on gas, and swapped back over to electric. I hear it trying to work on the inside of the fridge and inside the exhaust grate as well as feel heat coming off the burner now. Maybe it’s a finicky dial? No cobwebs or bug nests initially visible. I’ll report back in the morning to let y’all know if it’s actually cooling or not.

Hey all, The RM 2400 in our 87 Sunrader doesn’t seem to be working on electric/shore power. The propane option seems to work fine. I’m not entirely sure if it works on 12v or how to check. I’m also not sure how or what to check on the shore power side for the fridge. All other functions seem to work on shore (water pump works faster, rooftop AC unit works..) I think this has been an issue for the last few trips in retrospect. I’d been using frozen gel ice blocks like you’d get in a delivered meal kit to aid in quicker cooking before a trip, then going to 12v in route, and gas when boondocked. I can’t say for sure if it’s been working on shore power for the last few trips. Any help is majorly appreciated, as we’re headed on a trip this weekend where we’ll be plugged in. I can run on gas if needed but I didn’t want to burn it all pre-cooling. Thanks in advance!

Ah, I havent messed with it much lately, honestly. I'm still leaning this way when the spare change falls into my pocket though.

Oh that’s fantastic. Thanks so much! For the flexible panels, is it because of lack of airflow under the panel causing extra heat or the fact they wear out quicker?

Noted! I thought that by being connected through the isolator it topped both battery’s off. Doh.

Dragging this point back up after double checking the isolator wiring. The connection to the converter is from the isolator then to the house battery. In a prior post about replacing the isolator, that’s where we’d landed on connecting it up. This would make for charging both the house and truck battery when plugged into shore, right? I guess I’m still sorting out if and where the isolator fits in with the Renogy unit we are talking about. Is it just done away with? That’d surely leave shore charging to the truck battery out of the picture right? I wish I lived closer to another rig, haha.

This thing is pretty sweet!

Shoot - I'd ordered this for our 87, and it didnt fit. It was too large. Maybe I should try again if yall are having luck.

Sheesh - You've got this sorted out well. I think I need to look up and better understand how the power inflow from shore goes back through the converter to the isolator to both my batteries and how that would look if replacing the isolator with the DC-DC MPPT Combo and one of the AGM's with a Lifepo4. I have to imagine this is done fairly often nowadays. I guess I'm hoping my replacement of the stock converter wasn't a waste and/or also wondering if I need to replace BOTH AMGs with Lithium to avoid and voltage confusion from the new converter. Heck, some of the Lifepo4 cost the same as an Optima anyway I guess.

Well this is a cool unit. His video was helpful. I assume that the unit not kicking on until 13.2 ensures it only charges the house battery when the alternator is running. What about the charge you get from being plugged in to shore running back to this unit? Do you have a PD converter or something else? I would assume I’d leave the switch on the converter to LA unless I intended it to supply the higher Lithium voltage for only lithium batteries, right? Lower charging voltage being better on the Lithium than over voltage on the AGM? I guess I need to read again or get a better understanding on how I’d wire the unit so shore power can charge both batteries still.

Hey yall, I'm considering replacing our 1987 Sunrader's house battery and wanted to get an opinion on replacing it (Optima yellow top AGM) with a Lithium 100ah battery. I'm not sure how this could play out with our truck battery, also an Optima yellow top AGM, and the isolator as well as plugging into 110 to charge at home or a campground. We do have a recently upgraded converter (PD4045KA) that has a switch for Lithium or Lead Acid on it. I'm trying to determine if we can run 2 different types of batteries - AGM for the truck and Lithium for the House with this setup, or if perhaps a DC-DC charger is needed to replace the isolator, something I think I have to do whenever we do get to adding solar. Reasons I'm considering the change: - We have run down the House battery a few times on extended boondocks, and I was seeking security of not ruining an AGM battery by doing this too often. We don't really stay in one spot for more than a couple nights often, and the alternator charges everything back up in route to another spot. - I haven't taken the dive into a solar setup, but this might be step 1. Ideally it could live in the engine bay in place of one of the (2) Optimas, depending on space. Maybe this is just dumb? I assume most folks doing solar and lithium batteries have sorted out alternator charging and isolation with a separate starting battery. Converter documentation regarding the LA/LI switch: https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/power-centers/inteli-power-4000-series/ English version discusses it on page 3 - Still not sure about usage when plugged to shore between 2 types of batteries..