Furrion Side by side fridge

[Kyleroth11]

Good morning,

We have a 2022 Reflection 367BHS and are full timing in it. We are currently stationary in central Indiana (with no other place to stay) and our Furrion Arctic fridge stopped working on Friday. We have power to all our other appliances in the kitchen, battery is not connected as we are connected to power, and none of the circuits are tripped.

Saturday night the fridge came on after we reset it and ran for a few hours, then shut off again. The past two mornings when we wake up, it is constantly turning on and off for about an hour. I pulled it off the way and stripped the wires back and reconnected them and now it’s not cooling and the lights flicker inside when you open the door.

Could use some tips if anyone has them! Everyone is shut down for the holidays.

Thanks,
Kyle

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Kyle,

Welcome to our Grand Design owners technical forum.

In your description, I wonder why you would have the RV battery disconnected? The battery should always be connected and is the stable source of 12V power. The converter (battery charger) comes on and off to charge the battery but may produce power fluctuations if it is the only source of 12V to the trailer.

Rob

[Kyleroth11]

Rob,

Thanks for getting back! I’ll give the battery a try. The battery disconnect switch has been off since we moved in since we haven’t moved it since we set it up. I’m back behind the fridge right now and the compressor is turning on and off a lot instead of running consistently to cool the fridge/freezer.

I’ll hook up the battery now and see if we notice a difference! Thanks!

[Kyleroth11]

Rob,

Thanks for getting back! I’ll give the battery a try. The battery disconnect switch has been off since we moved in since we haven’t moved it since we set it up. I’m back behind the fridge right now and the compressor is turning on and off a lot instead of running consistently to cool the fridge/freezer.

I’ll hook up the battery now and see if we notice a difference! Thanks!

ps: we had our RV dealer set up our rig, and they said were the ones who had the battery disconnect switch turned off

[Cate&Rob]

If your battery switch has been turned off for a long time, the battery may be very dead. There are parasitic loads that draw directly from the battery. I am not surprised that your dealer would tell you to leave the battery switch turned off . . . this “lack of understanding” is fairly widespread.

Unfortunately, from your further investigation, it sounds like the problem is within the fridge.

Rob

[Kyleroth11]

Rob,

Knock on wood, but it’s been running for a solid 20 minutes now, since I turned on the battery. My panel shows full battery power still. I’ll report back but thank you!

[Jlawles2]

Unfortunately the converter cannot adapt fast enough for the current rush and the battery acts as a reserve to supply the needed current for the short duration until the converter can respond. Another use for the battery is to help "smooth" the ripple from converting the AC to DC (you need something like an oscilloscope to see them due to speed). This ripple alone is enough to cause some control circuits to have minor issues.

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Kyle,

I hope this continues to solve the fridge problem!

WRT your battery . . . the panel gauge is likely just showing converter output voltage. The best measure of battery condition is to disconnect it and do a “load test”. You can buy your own tester or take the battery to any battery sales outlet to have it tested.

Rob

[Kyleroth11]

Rob,

The fridge is fixed. Thanks again!