Community Forums

Banana · 08-09-2011, 04:13 PM

Hi everyone,
I have a problem with my Norcold refrigerator in my 1978 Revcon coach...when plugged into AC, it will show ac on the display on frig, but after 2 or 3 days the display blinks and will say Lo DC. If hubby puts the charger on the engine battery, the frig will run fine, showing AC on display for 2 or 3 more days. It keeps draining the engine battery.

Here are my questions:
1) What's happening, why is the frig running the engine battery down?
2) Why isn't the frig running off the coach batteries?
3) Why isn't it running off AC when the coach is plugged into an outlet?
4) The batteries, all of them - 2 for coach and 1 for engine, are 4 years old, are they too old?
I sure would appreciate any help...

Gary RVRoamer · 08-09-2011, 08:32 PM

An RV fridge always uses some DC - it's controller circuit board, interior light, and any display or indicator lights is 12v powered. Even when it is using 120vac shore power for the heater, it still needs DC for everything else.

Check to make sure your interior light is going off when you close the door - I've seen a couple that did not.

Hard to say why it is running off the engine battery - somebody must have swapped a wire at some point in the past. You are just going to have to start at the back of the fridge (outside0 and see where the 12v supply wire comes from. Or simply run a new wire from the house12v fuse panel or house battery direct to the fridge +12v terminal.

Four years may well be too old, but it depends on the brand and type of battery and how well they have been maintained. When was thelast time you checked the cells for water level and topped up as needed with distilled water? Or cleaned battery terminals?

Skier66 · 09-11-2011, 12:48 PM

You must have some miswiring problem, the refrigerator should not be connected to the engine battery. I used to own a 1982 Revcon, (and a 1977 prior to that) and it had a 3 way refrigerator, with a 110 V AND a 12 Volt heater. The 12 volt heater ran off the coach batteries, and it took quite a bit of power. It only ran on 12 volts when the engine was running, and it was sensed via a relay. The relay was energized with the ingnition line. The electronics should also run on coach batteries but are energized through a separately fused line, not the one that powered the 12 volt heating element.

4 years is old age for a typical coach battery, especially if it is allowed to become discharged by just sitting idle for weeks or months at a time.

Good luck in your search for an answer.

CM