Community Forums

Gadget Man · 08-10-2014, 05:06 PM

I am considering replacing my Norcold with a residential fridge. There is a romex line under the Norcold that is powered by the inverter, so this should make the electrical connection easy. Then it occurred to me...my Intellitec EMS unit sheds power to the fridge second in line after the water heater, during a high demand for power. A residential fridge would not be plugged into the same outlet as the Norcold, so power to it would not be dropped.

Have any of you with residential retrofits done anything to address this, or have you simply allowed the fridge to be excluded from the shedding process?

Craig

chuckftboy · 08-10-2014, 06:42 PM

Your inverter shouldn't be controlled by the EMS so as long as your new fridge is on the inverter you will be fine.

Gadget Man · 08-10-2014, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckftboy

Your inverter shouldn't be controlled by the EMS so as long as your new fridge is on the inverter you will be fine.

True, the inverter is not controlled by the EMS, but the only time the fridge will be on inverter power is when there is no shore power, in which case the EMS won't even be involved. The outlet I spoke of is powered by shore power when hooked up, and inverter power when boondocking or traveling.

Craig

Winepress · 08-10-2014, 07:02 PM

Does your current unit have an ice maker? If so, that's the circuit you want. Otherwise, you might have to run a separate line that is not controlled by the EMS. You want a circuit coming from the inverter only.

Try and live up to your dogs opinion of you.

Dr4Film · 08-10-2014, 07:14 PM

Fleetwood has done some strange things with its EMS Power Shedding System. I really don't understand their logic but I'm not a Fleetwood engineer.

My Intellitec EMS System in my Monaco Windsor has the following shedding order:

Water Heater
Rear A/C
Washer/Dryer
Front A/C

I would remove the Fridge from the shedding circuit and replace it with something that isn't so critical.

It's just a matter of moving a couple of wires around.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

1mainiac · 08-10-2014, 07:27 PM

You can also change the shed order by changing the jumpers on the board itself. I have never in my career seen a EMS that would shed the fridge.

Gadget Man · 08-10-2014, 07:50 PM

My Intellitec EMS sheds in the below order.

I never thought it was odd that the water heater and fridge were at the top of the list, since they are both dual fuel. When the EMS sheds the Norcold, the Norcold automatically switches over to LP. I have several friends with similar FW coaches and they have the same shedding order.

When the EMS does shed, it is only when when on 30A service and even then it is only for a few minutes, such as when the DW fires up the microwave or her hair dryer with the A/C running.

At this point I am leaning towards excluding a retrofit fridge from the shedding process, I was just interested in what folks with similar setups have done.

Craig

1mainiac · 08-10-2014, 08:11 PM

here is a pic of the low voltage connections and a chart for the shed order based on jumper position. Check your jumper positions and it will tel you the shed order and you can decide if you want to change the jumpers and change the order or if you need to rewire to not use that circuit on your new fridge you can change all of this in the main power box.

1mainiac · 08-10-2014, 08:22 PM

Loads 1 thru 4 are actual load sheds as they cut off power to the circuit. Loads 5 and 6 are control relays often wired to the A/C compressor if you have a Dometic roof mount A/C and look at the wiring you will see 6 wires 2 yellow wires 2 blue wires and a red and black wire. If the 2 yellow wire are wired to the normally open side of the number 5 or 6 shed when the unit sheds that it will simply shut off the compressor and not shut off power to the entire unit like sheds 1 thru 4 do.

Dr4Film · 08-10-2014, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig P.

My Intellitec EMS sheds in the below order.

I never thought it was odd that the water heater and fridge were at the top of the list, since they are both dual fuel. When the EMS sheds the Norcold, the Norcold automatically switches over to LP. I have several friends with similar FW coaches and they have the same shedding order.

When the EMS does shed, it is only when when on 30A service and even then it is only for a few minutes, such as when the DW fires up the microwave or her hair dryer with the A/C running.

At this point I am leaning towards excluding a retrofit fridge from the shedding process, I was just interested in what folks with similar setups have done.

Craig

If I were in your situation, I would put the water heater first followed with the Rear A/C, then the Front A/C and lastly the fridge.

Or bypass the relay for the fridge from the shedding circuit completely.

Chances are you will never reach the fourth position when hooked to 30 amp service.

You may reach it if hooked to 15 or 20 amp service and not paying attention to what is running.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Gadget Man · 08-10-2014, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1mainiac

here is a pic of the low voltage connections and a chart for the shed order based on jumper position. Check your jumper positions and it will tel you the shed order and you can decide if you want to change the jumpers and change the order or if you need to rewire to not use that circuit on your new fridge you can change all of this in the main power box.

Thanks. Are these jumpers on the back of the EMS display or somewhere else?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr4Film

If I were in your situation, I would put the water heater first followed with the Rear A/C, then the Front A/C and lastly the fridge.

Good idea, thanks Richard.

Winepress · 08-10-2014, 09:33 PM

If I read your post correctly you are considering splicing into a romex line coming out of the inverter. If so, your EMS is not a factor as it only applies to shore power coming in, unless I'm missing something.

Try and live up to your dogs opinion of you.

akeyzoo · 08-10-2014, 09:44 PM

I run my residential off the inverter outlet like the OP describes and my fridge no longer sheds as expected. I don't sweat it.

Chris

mchero · 08-12-2014, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1mainiac

You can also change the shed order by changing the jumpers on the board itself. I have never in my career seen a EMS that would shed the fridge.

Must have been a short career! LOL

My Dometic has two plugs on the backside, Fridge & Icemaker on one plug, Water despenser solenoid on the other plug.

The fridge/icemaker plug is on a circuit that can be shed by power MgMt.
Drink despenser goeds into inverter driven outlet.