fridge not drawing power. wtf

ok. ive got a red arc smart solinoid fitted. havent had a drama running a waeco and an engel fridge off it for 3 years.but now the waeco wont even turn on when plugged in and the engel shows its got power but isnt working.

the battery is showing 12.6v and the red light on the solinoid is on.

any electrical people got an idea??

issue is probably more to do with the fridge itself, does the fridge work when connected to 230v?

First I'd check the fridge's fuse.

Second, I'd unplug the fridge from its current setup and plug it into the lighter socket in the cabin (after testing that it works) while the engine is running.

both fridges work when plugged into the wall.

old.tony

both fridges work when plugged into the in cab ciggy lighter which runs off the main battery.

the red light on the solinoid is now off....

Obviously some issue with the solenoid. Aren't they supposed to only pass power when the voltage is over 13.2V, indicating the alternator is on and has charged the main battery a certain amount?

driving it out to work tonight so both batteries will be fully charged when i get back in the morning. i'll throw the meter on it then and let you know.

old.tony you might be on to something with the 13.2v.

cheers

after driving it to work the battery showed 13.1v but after sitting there for 9hrs was only reading 12.7v. there was nothing drawing power except the little red light on the solinoid.

i spoke to and electrician at work and he said to check the water levels butits a sealed battery.. can battery shops top these up with a special tool? or could it need to be replaced?

Sealed batteries are sealed, end of story. You open it and it's toast because you can't close it again (generally). There may be some people out there with a knack or know some trick but it's been my experience that the process of unsealing them damages them.

When you start the car and let it idle (without headlights or even the radio on) for ten minutes, what is the voltage on your starter battery?

firstly power the blue overide wire if the solenoid clicks then it confirms the red light & operation is still functional.
Is there power at the power outlets from the acc battery? are these outlets fused??

are the plugs themselves still operational??
sometimes it the most simplest things that breakdown & go overlooked.

old tony
did what ya said and this is the readings. running 14.55v
turned off 13.1v

Ok so I've got a 80ltr waeco, and when I plug it into the 12v socket it won't turn on untill I go around and start the car up. It's like it won't turn on untill it know it's receiving a charge. Turn the car off again and it stays on and works normal from then on.
Is this how their ment too be? What happens when I plug it into a dual battery that's not receiving charge cause it's full?

Brad your fridge has a setting for low voltage cutout
What's it set on
Mine has 3 settings and I have it on the lowest setting all the time

Wow, you really shouldn't write posts after night shift, I just read my previous post and thought WTF! I don't know how you under stood it Sparra lol.

blue boy said:

old tony
did what ya said and this is the readings. running 14.55v
turned off 13.1v

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the charge figure, but 13.1V is lower than an isolator's cut-off point.

Do you have an aux battery, or do you just run the fridge straight from the output of the isolator?

I'd put an aux somewhere. Anything but a gel. Even an old top-em-up cheapy 50Ah would be better than nothing. It will at least keep you out of trouble for a little while and the charge coming from the alternator won't kill it like it'd kill the gel - 14.55V hitting a gel will make bubbles form in the silicate and it's bye-bye gel battery after that.