Fridge not Chilling

Martin Jeans

New Member
Hi,
I need a bit of a helping hand on this one. I've got a dual battery system wired up with the 2nd battery running only a CF-50 Waeco fridge and a tiny interior light. When the car is not turned on there is 12.9V at the plug directly over the fridge. However the fridge is turned on it will go into a fault mode indicating low Voltage. I assumed that this would have been enough voltage to keep it running, When it has 14.2V on through it, it doesn't miss a beat. When the car is running it works very well. When it is connected to 240V it works very well. I thought it may have been voltage drop and then that the compressor was stuffed but i'm a bit lost now. Any Waeco owners have the same problem i'd love to know.
Cheers
 

Split pin

Active Member
How big is the wiring? is a low amperage wire or a high amperage wire? I had the same problem with mine but I found out that the wiring was to light. So I up graded to 15amp cable and problem solved.
 

frosty

4x4 Earth Contributer
There is a little red switch near the plug inlets. It gives you 3 power options. High, med and low protection. The low setting will switch the off at 10.5 volts. the high protection setting switches off at near 13 volts, or something like that. Set the switch to low. And there is a normal use and emergency switch as well. Make sure it is on "normal".

This is off the top of my pickled head so I'll double check tonight on my CF-50. I assume they are the same setup??
 
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Split pin

Active Member
There is a little red switch near the plug inlets. It gives you 3 power options. High , low and something else protection. The low setting will switch the off at 10.5 volts. the high protection setting switches off at near 13 volts, or something like that. Set the switch to low.

This is off the top of my pickled head so I'll double check tonight on my CF-50. I assume they are the same setup??

Frosty
Yep your right I also have mine set at the lowest protection setting as well.
 

Grey Ghost

5th Annual Victorian Gathering member
As a thought how healthy is the 2nd battery? Is it holding charge properly? Maybe time to get a new/better/bigger one?
 

joffa

Member
Hi Martin, all the replies above are spot on mate. You need a minimum of 6 mm thick wire and set your battery protection switch on medium and try that, if that doesn't change it try it on the low setting. I have 2 Waecos, a 50 litre in the 4b and a 35 litre in my truck and was getting the same issues with the error lights on both. Also will pay you to check your batteries mate as waceos are very sensetive to voltage drops. Hope this helps.
Cheers
 

bmurray2250

4x4 Earth Contributer
It sounds like the wire isn't big enough to carry the current there for getting a large voltage drop. You should find the wire is getting warm. Run large wiring and a good earth back to the battery if possible. The fuse connector could be resistive. Use a multi-meter and check to earth across both sides of the fuse. 12.8 - 13.4v is normal battery range.
 

Blue Dog

New Member
Hi

Yeah check the wires and outlet for a start.

I had a problem with my 60 it would be ok on 240 and was good when the car was running but would not run the compressor when the engine was not running.
It would kick the compressor in and out and the fault light would flash and it would not keep going and would not cool, I went through the wires and fuses and charge checks even dumped in a bigbig battery and heavy duty alternator and it still would not work.
It was some diode or something in the fridge it had a faulty one and had that fixed under warranty and has been fine the last two years.
So if you are still under warranty maybe get it checked out too.
 

Brisey

Member
I had a similar problem with mine. Being an electrician I didn't want any volt drop issues so when I installed my outlets in the back of the jeep I used industrial 30 amp cable so definately no volt drop there. I ended up finding the plug on the waeco cable where it plugs into the fridge was dodgy & not making proper contact. I chopped the plug off & soldered it directly into the fridge & have not had any more problems

Cheers

Bri
 
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