Furrion 12 volt side by side 16 cu ft. Refrigerator quit working

[Rick R]

Today while my wife and I were sitting in our 2022 Reflection 315RLTS the fridge chimed and shut down. Dashes for both freezer and fridge. No interior lights on either side. A thread on this site said to disconnect all power then cycle back on. I disconnected from shore power, disconnected battery and solar wires. After being off for 20 minutes or so I hooked it up again and initially couldn’t get the refrigerator to turn back on. After being powered up for 20 minutes or so it finally came back to life. We reset the temps on both sides and everything seemed to work fine, cooling as it should. My wife checked temps an hour ago (8:00 pm) and found it not working, so we hauled out all our coolers and emptied the refrigerator. Tomorrow I will attempt to pull the refrigerator out from its cubby to see what I can see. Does anyone have an idea on what to be checking for? We are full timers and fortunately we are parked next to our shop so we have 50 amp service and have a small (now empty)beer fridge we are putting non beer items into it.

[howson]

Rick R -- does your '22 have a Furrion Battery Monitor? I'm curious if it will display the actual 12V system reading (not percentage, voltage). The reason I ask is the manual for the refrigerator states the "---" means it had switched to "Low Power Mode".

Did you also try the "Long Press" of the Function button for 5 seconds to try and force cycle the modes?

[Rick R]

I don’t have a battery monitor but I just used my multimeter at the battery and it read 13.52 volts. The long press on the function switch was not successful. I have now disconnected all power (shore, solar and battery) and will re-attach everything in a few minutes.
Thank you for the suggestions.

[howson]

I don’t have a battery monitor but I just used my multimeter at the battery and it read 13.52 volts. The long press on the function switch was not successful. I have now disconnected all power (shore, solar and battery) and will re-attach everything in a few minutes.
Thank you for the suggestions.

If you do end up pulling the refrigerator, compare the voltage shown at the battery to the voltage measured at the back of the refrigerator where power is connected from the trailer wiring to the refrigerator wiring. The manual gives a specific criteria for the allowable voltage drop. (I think it was .3 or .4V difference.)

I'd also be curious to know the gauge of wire used on the trailer side. (Undersized wiring can cause weird failures.)

[Rick R]

I just reconnected all and the refrigerator is now back on. Interior lights work and it appears to be cooling down. 🤞

[howson]

I just reconnected all and the refrigerator is now back on. Interior lights work and it appears to be cooling down. 🤞

That's good...but it's not good that the refrigerator seems to have a mind of it's own. Food's too expensive to "hope" the darn thing will work as expected.

I'd be checking the wire size and doing the voltage check if it was mine. (But I'm also well known for not leaving well enough alone...so...weigh my .02 accordingly!)

Howard

[Rick R]

Yes Howard .3 to .4 voltage drop is correct. I’ll be doing more looking today. Refrigerator shut down again about 15 minutes ago. I’m looking at how best to pull the unit out. I has a wooden strip in front which I have removed. More info as I learn more.

[Rick R]

Refrigerator is out of its cubby. I measured a .39 voltage drop from the battery to the power leads on the back of the fridge. Wiring is 10 ga. If I had my druthers it would be 8 ga. I’ll look at how hard it would be to upsize. Guess I’ll put the refrigerator back in place for now and monitor.

[Rick R]

And it is currently running!

[Rick R]

When I was checking the voltage drop at the refrigerator I found one wire nut was not tight. One side had started to ever so slightly melt and the two wires were not twisted together. I took my lineman pliers and twisted everything good and tight and used new wire nuts. Hopefully problem solved.🤞

[howson]

Rick R -- surprised wire nuts were used. As others have said here, wire nuts are a questionable choice on an RV.

[Rick R]

Yes Howard, I agree wire nuts are not the best solution. I was just so happy to diagnose the problem and get it running again. Do you have any suggestions for a more secure connection? I’m thinking something like an electrical panel bus bar. The wires from the refrigerator are about 14” long and exit the refrigerator near the top back. The 10 ga power supply wires come up from the floor and aren’t much longer than to allow the unit to slide out of the cubby.

[Hogdrv]

Wago easy to use

[Rick R]

Amazon prime, be here Tuesday. Thanks

[TucsonJim]

Rick R I'll bet that loose connection was the root of all your problems. It will likely cause high resistance which will drive the refrigerator to think it's in a low voltage condition. That's another "gotcha" to add to our collective knowledge.

Regarding the wire size. The Furrion installation instructions state the following:

The following is a guideline for wire lengths: ● 15ft or less = 10AWG ● 15ft to 25ft = 8AWG ● 25ft to 40ft = 6AWG

Jim.