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jramlester · 07-28-2010, 06:59 AM

Dad has a 2000 Ford Jayco Eagle with a Norcold fridge. The last two times we camped the Fridge displayed these codes about 2 days after hooking up and the house battery was nearly completely drained. He was plugged in to 30 amp service the whole weekend. He fired up the engine and the codes cleared and they also cleared when we hooked up a charger to the house battery. While he is plugged in does the fridge pull from the battery or the 30 amp services or both? I thought while you are plugged in your house battery would be charged? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

RV Wizard · 07-29-2010, 03:20 AM

If the dc voltage from the batteries gets to low (as it sounds) the controls of the refrigerator cannot continue to operate. It sound like your dad has a problem with the converter charging the battery bank. Have him check the circuit breakers and the fuses. If he has 120 vac feeding the charger but does not get 13.6 - 14.2 vdc out then the charger is bad and needs to be replaced.

Gary RVRoamer · 07-29-2010, 03:06 PM

Mike (RV Wizard) is right on, as usual. Your dad's converter/cahrger has failed and his batteries go dead. The fridge circuit board needs 12v, so it quits as the batteries go dead. Ditto for the furnace and water heater in propane mode - they all require 12v to operate, even when shore power is connected. Lights too.

jramlester · 07-30-2010, 07:57 AM

Thanks Guys!! Will check the converter/charger out and see if that is where the problem is. Sounds like you hit it on the nose, I thought this might of been the problem but the green light on the converter was lit up.

jramlester · 08-02-2010, 02:59 PM

Checked converter and it is working but not sending any power to the battery? Any suggestions, Please!!

JC2 · 08-02-2010, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jramlester

Checked converter and it is working but not sending any power to the battery? Any suggestions, Please!!

Give these people a call with the make/model # of your current converter and the y will fix you right up.. We had the junky Magnatek and replaced it with the equivalent sized Progressive Dynamics form this company.

BestConverter - Converters, Inverters, Electrical Supplies, Electronics

jramlester · 08-02-2010, 05:26 PM

The converter appears to function properly. I'm getting the juice from the converter out to the fuse block but it's not getting any juice to the battery. Pulled all the fuses and all are good.

RV Wizard · 08-03-2010, 03:15 AM

Be sure to check the ground side of things. What is the voltage out of the converter? What is the voltage at the battery bank? Is there a disconnect that is not closed, in between them? Make sure all connections are good, clean and tight.

jramlester · 08-03-2010, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Wizard

Be sure to check the ground side of things. What is the voltage out of the converter? What is the voltage at the battery bank? Is there a disconnect that is not closed, in between them? Make sure all connections are good, clean and tight.

With the battery removed from the coach and the coach plugged into shore power would the converter power the accesories that require 12Volt or does the baterry need to be connected?

RV Wizard · 08-04-2010, 02:55 AM

The converter should put out "12 vdc" (actually 13.8 - 14.2 vdc) but in real application there should always be a battery in place.

jramlester · 08-30-2010, 11:42 AM

Ok here it is in a nut shell. After about 3 days on or off shore power coach battery dies. Checked the converter and and it is putting out 14 vdc as it should. I checked every fuse I could locate and all are fine. I pulled the relay in the Low voltage box and when 12 volts were applied to the tynes it clicked. Now I was told that means it's working propery. When the relay is plugged in and you plug into shore power there is no click. I truely enjoy working problems out but I am stumped. Grounds look dingy but good and battery cables are starting to green but look good also. Should I pull all the grounds and clean and also replace the battery cables or am I missing something else? Thanks, Dad says if this keeps up its off to the RV show this winter!!

Ray,IN · 08-30-2010, 11:01 PM

I would clean all 12VDC connections, then re-connect and spray with protective coating. Has the house battery tested out OK? A bad/failed battery can cause a myriad of problems. "Green" connections mean battery acid/fumes leaking out and corroding things. I have seen battery connections that appear good, but when removed, have a black coating inside, which is sorta like a varnish that prevents a good connection.
I don't know the year of your Dad's RV, but battery cables can and do fail internally, usually resulting in high resistance, sometimes high enough to mimic a low battery.

tapiper · 05-20-2016, 03:05 PM

This thread is old but perhaps a different answer can help someone and maybe save some cash. I have a 9 month old Norcold 2118 gas/electric fridge that had started giving me the "lo-DC" code, seemingly out of nowhere. Switching from electric to gas had no effect. Checked the battery - good. So I pulled out the manual for the power control unit (Progressive Dynamics) and started reading, hoping to find where to make voltage measurments. Then I read the section about their Charge Wizard and noticed they have a "Storage Mode" which the panel drops into if the battery hasn't had significant drainage in 30 hours, lowering the output voltage to 13.2. Bingo! By resetting the controller to "Normal Mode", the voltage went back to 13.6 and the "lo DC" indicator went off. At some point in the future the charge status will changge and the unit will return to automatic modeand I will have to reset it again, but for now it's fixed. You're welcome.

RV Wizard · 05-22-2016, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tapiper

This thread is old but perhaps a different answer can help someone and maybe save some cash. I have a 9 month old Norcold 2118 gas/electric fridge that had started giving me the "lo-DC" code, seemingly out of nowhere. Switching from electric to gas had no effect. Checked the battery - good. So I pulled out the manual for the power control unit (Progressive Dynamics) and started reading, hoping to find where to make voltage measurments. Then I read the section about their Charge Wizard and noticed they have a "Storage Mode" which the panel drops into if the battery hasn't had significant drainage in 30 hours, lowering the output voltage to 13.2. Bingo! By resetting the controller to "Normal Mode", the voltage went back to 13.6 and the "lo DC" indicator went off. At some point in the future the charge status will changge and the unit will return to automatic modeand I will have to reset it again, but for now it's fixed. You're welcome.

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