Norcold AC DC

[Kevin]

The DC side of it gave up the ghost but she still works fine when plugged into AC. I can't stomach the cost of a new AC DC fridge.
Can I just get an inverter to run this thing? Any recommendations on brand and size? I only have one house battery so I think I could only run it while the boat is underway and charging.

[Whaler1777]

Check eBay, I paid around $400 for mine, norcold... Its was 2 years old but new in the box...

[Ed Millian]

Hi Kevin

Post a picture.ofthe part you need, I have one out of an older unit that worked fine, compresser shot.

Ed 617-650-0569

[CaptPatrick]

The DC side of it gave up the ghost but she still works fine when plugged into AC. I can't stomach the cost of a new AC DC fridge.
Can I just get an inverter to run this thing? Any recommendations on brand and size? I only have one house battery so I think I could only run it while the boat is underway and charging.

Kevin,

The unit is straight 12vdc with a built in converter to supply 12vdc when it senses 110vac power. If it doesn't detect a 110vac source it then draws straight from the 12vdc source (the battery).

Since your's isn't working on the 12vdc side, that indicates to me that the unit is not detecting a 12vdc source. Make sure of your connections between the battery and the unit to verify that you have a good 12vdc supply to the unit before you buy an external converter. When in doubt, shoot it with Corrosion-X...

Also look for a red breaker on the unit itself, possibly down low near the vent, and make sure it's not tripped.

[Kevin]

I took the power supply apart just a little and ran new 12VDC wires directly to the plug that ties into circuit board. Still no joy. There is no breaker anywhere on this thing. In fact, there is no vent. I am under the impression this is an older model with all the stuff just mounted outside of the case.
I could not find anything on the board that looked serviceable or removable. There are two glass tube fuses on it but they are not removable either. They looked in tact
The model number inside the door is DE351.
Just liberally applied CX to the whole board and will see what happens with it later.

[Ed Millian]

Hi Kevin

The control I have looks the same, I will check out Sun. night and let you know.
Ed.

[Kevin]

Thanks Ed, that is greatly appreciated. I guess the worst case scenario would be just running an inverter. 12V inverted to 110V then back to 12V in the end! I have done worse things before.

[Bruce]

Kevin,
I may have some norcold power supplies when I closed up. I'll look this week in the shop to see if I still have them. If I do you can have them and will be in Islamorada this coming sat and sun at cheeca lodge and will bring with me if I do.

I also may have some left over steyr filters. Again if I do, you can have em.

I'll dig thru the left over boxes and pm you.

Need to ditch all the left over parts anyways. Do you have the steyr service manuals?

Btw that compressor operates on 16vac on the norcold. Without a new power supply with the oscillator for dc, you'll need an inverter.

[Kevin]

Sounds good to me Bruce. I would love to get my hands on spare parts/filters/manuals. As soon as I get the boat back in the water the first thing I am doing is my annual service on the engines and gears.
I do not know what an oscillator is so it is safe to assume I will not be fixing the fridge. At least I have not been shocked yet.

[Ed Millian]

Hi Kevin

Checked out unit mine says its for a de 540 or de 541
part no str6312u-1b 1601 095 20

Has a ground wire
double orange male pin conn
double light blue female conn
double blue male conn smallergauge wires
and a four wire male plug red yellow brown and blk.
and red & blk 12volt feed.

If Bruce dosn't have one let me know, if you think this may work ???.
Ed.

[Kevin]

Thanks for checking Ed. There are several part numbers/models listed on the unit that have interchangeable power supplies. DE 540 is not listed on this one. I appreciate you checking into it for me.

[Kevin]

Thought I would kick the dead horse again.
After giving the CX a couple days to marinate I hooked the battery charger up to the PWC battery I have been using for testing. I thought maybe I should put the smart charger in START mode to push some real amps into this battery. It is probably too small to run the fridge anyways. When I did, the fridge tried to start up but it just was not enough juice, then the little black relay started to open and close audibly on the circuit board.
I am going to throw this fridge back in the boat and see what happens on a real battery. I am starting to suspect it stopped working when I had trouble with my golf cart house battery system which has been replaced. One of the two 6 volt batteries failed and I ended up replacing them with a sears blue top. Been so long I don't remember.
Going to get a good laugh if the only thing broken was the operator.

[CaptPatrick]

Might just be another C-X miricle story...

[In Memory Walter K]

Uncle Vic will be smiling.

[Kevin]

I was hoping so. I thought about UV and that old TV he blasted with CX.

I put it back in the boat. Sometimes when 12V is applied you could hear a distinct click of a relay followed by that noise a compressor makes when it wants to start. While it is trying to start the 12V house multi meter on the panel barely budged. I would think there would be a lot more draw on the battery than what I was seeing. Tried a few more times and the relay did not click anymore. I have not given up yet. I hit the other concealed side of the circuit board with A LOT of CX. Going to let if marinate some more.

[Bruce]

Kevin,
There is a low voltage threshold on those power supplies. A well charged battery is key.

[Kevin]

I could have sworn this thing used to run no problem on battery with out engines running. 12.8 volts at rest. I cant start the engines since I am still working on the bottom. I may borrow my neighbors conventional charger and see if it will run while hooked up to it. My charger and the boat charger are smart chargers, which in my opinion are the dumbest creation. Nothing beats the old school analog selectable amperage chargers. I will try it tomorrow.

[Kevin]

14.4 volts gets relay to click. 14.8 gets compressor to try and do its job but does not fully engage. This is while on 6 amp charger. Alternator voltage regulators don't let the voltage get much higher than that. This thing is officially broken.

[Kevin]

It was the ON OFF switch located inside the fridge. Cleaning it did not work. When you cross jump wire number 3 and 4 together if fires right up. The thermostat is also on the same board and it still works which is great. Unit still automatically switches to back and forth as it should. Runs perfect without charger running as well. 4 amps. I was looking in the wrong place the whole time. Hopefully this helps someone else down the road when working on these dual voltage units.