Norcold Runs Often

[dosmena]

It was the 3.6 cubic foot Norcold. I think the model 41. It would power up for a two to three seconds then shut down. It cycled constantly. I replaced it with Isotherm Cruise 130.

[LenS]

Klompen - At the start of your trip did you pack it cold (40F) or were the contents closer to room temp.??


Really it looks like your refrig is performing as designed.


The spc for a NC751BB is 3.6a at "12" volts. 3.6a x 24hrs means a 86 a-h used per day. Your 200a battery can supply 100a of usable amps (50% of rating). So you should expect at 72F ambient 100/86 = 1.16 days of use ...or 28 hours of use to drain your battery (id: 12.9v down to ~12.1 volts).


To get down to only a 2.2a draw like you referenced would require something like a Isotherm CR-130 that costs $1,300.


Another comment you made was bought the refrig compressor turning on for 1 minute and off for 7. The refrig on/off cycle should be say 10 minutes on say 20 minutes off or something like that. 1minute-7minute implies to me that the compressor is stalling (low battery voltage), overload protection shutting system off for 7 minutes to cool down from the stall and then the refrig trying to turn on again but failing. Again normal on/off cycle is much longer. My refrig (different brand) cycle is 3 minutes on then 10 minutes off.

[dosmena]

I kept the fridge on all the time. Plugged in at home. It was installed when I bought the van in 2005.

[Merton]

I have two Norcold refrigerators in my SMB, one an upright and one a top loader that I use as a freezer. My problem has been that at first the top loader fan would come on but each time it's compressor would try to kick in it would fail. At that time the other fridge worked perfectly. I solved this initial problem by directly connecting a dedicated wire from the top loader to the main house battery terminal. Now my top loader works perfectly and my upright which is wired to an outlet away from the battery is having the same problem: the fan runs constantly and each time the compressor tries to start it fails. My house battery is fully charged with 12.7-13 V. Is this a wiring problem? Should I run another dedicated wire from the upright diectly to the battery terminal? Should I look at upping my battery capacity (I have two golf cart batteries with 400 amps capacity)? The two fridges work perfectly when I am plugged in to external 30 amps sources at RV parks or when I am running the engine and alternator. Any electricians out there? I think the Norcold fridges are not the problem. It's the wiring or the battery source? I think!

[86Scotty]

I have had this problem. You simply need to run a direct wire from your battery/fuse block to each fridge and fuse them properly for the wire. I have done 10 gauge wire with a 20 amp fuse (I think, can verify if needed) on many fridges and gotten this problem to go away. Same as you, the problem never happens when on shore power or running the van.

Oh, BTW, if you have two golf cart batteries you have a 200 amp hour battery bank. The GC batteries are 200 amps apiece but only 6 volts, making one 12v 200 amp hour battery when used together. Still, should be plenty for a day or two of running both fridges if your batteries are strong.