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Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:38 pm

hi all....i'm hoping someone can help me. i have looked at, i think every topic on this, but i can't really find the answer or pics. this is how mine is laid out and i'm wondering if there is anything wrong? my frig does not work, yet i've tested the wiring and everything seems to be getting a reading. can anyone help?

all readings checked out

not sure if wiring is correct. should blue be to blue and black be to white? it would make sense that it should be that way.

there is nothing connected to the blue which i am puzzled by

can anyone please help? it's no biggy if i can't get it to work, but it would be nice to know why it won't.

thanks
t

Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:59 pm

I don't know if this will help or not...

A PO of our bus had drawn this in a spare manual. Let me ask some questions about your fridge. How long did you run it before you decided it wasn't working? Did you have it hooked to shore power? The reason I ask is because they don't cool well off of battery power and, if you haven't ran it in a while, it can take hours (up to 24) for it to get cold. This type of fridge makes no sound when running as it simply uses a heating element to boil ammonia. Good luck!

Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:07 pm

Does the heating element get warm? (feel the tube coming from the top of the grey cylinder), if it does you need to turn your fridge upside down for a few days.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:10 pm

thanks, i have that write up as well. i'm running it on shore power. the heating element doesn't seem to be heating at all. all 3 fuses r good as well.

yesterday i played around w/ it for a while. the battery meter was working, but the refrigerator light wasn't. i put the timer on for a while and then hit the refrig on switch. the light came on so i turned the thermostat and then nothing worked. the light went out and the battery meter stopped working. i don't understand why if i'm getting readings on all the wiring. all the wiring looks real good and nothing smells burnt. it's very puzzling.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:17 pm

ok, totally weird....now my battery meter works, but the refrig light is still not on.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:17 pm

hey i just got one just like it working but the fridge light never went on the bulb was broken but everything still worked also my wiring is a lil diffrent but il send you some pics t/m and you can compare and as far as the heating element my fridge gets frost on the inside but that never gets hot just something to think about

Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:38 pm

Just a shot in the dark here but behind the panel, are there black strips of tape adhered to the inside of the body panel? I think these are to prevent the wiring and solder joints from contacting the metal body. On mine the tape strips had fallen off and the previous owner disconnected the fridge and removed the fuse in the panel presumably because it was shorting out. I replaced the tape strips with some cloth tape and voila, the fridge works perfectly. As mentioned above, it can take a number of hours to cool down but if the fins are warm at least you know it's working.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:36 pm

usafny wrote: ...i put the timer on for a while and then hit the refrig on switch. the light came on so i turned the thermostat and then nothing worked. the light went out and the battery meter stopped working. i don't understand why if i'm getting readings on all the wiring. all the wiring looks real good and nothing smells burnt. it's very puzzling.

I had this same problem and it turned out to be the fuse inside the power converter under the seat (I know you said all the fuses were good but I'd give that one another look). When you turn the timer it connects the circuit to your spare battery (supposed to allow current from the power converter to the battery to charge it, but electrons will flow both ways) and then the fridge light will come on. I'm thinking your spare battery was almost dead and that's why your lights went out and your battery meter stopped working shortly after. Then after you allowed it to sit for a while the battery has a little residual charge that makes the meter move a bit but not enough to run the fridge.

Another way to test this would be to fully charge your aux battery and then run the fridge, even while the charger is connected should work too.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:00 pm

woohoo....it finally works. a friend came over and helped and after testing everything again the only problem was the red wire going into the converter really had to be plugged into the blue. weird, but the heating element got hot and the frig got cold just after 30min. the refrig light works and the battery meter. luv it.

so all the wiring is correct in the other pics except the red needs to go to the blue in this pic.

hope these pics help others in the future.
thanks for the responses. much appreciated
t

Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:09 am

Yeah I was tooling with mine when I got my bus..They do work but you need to let it sit for hours.!!! Once you get it running on a regular basis, get the battery charger relay so you can charge both batterys at the same time. Helps alot when driving long distance. I have the double relay and a 20W solar panel mounted to keep my whiskey cold...oh yeah and my butter, eggs. etc haha! If you need any more help I have all the original manuals for the Dometic fridge. I can scan them for you if you would like a copy. I also have a problem. Mine stopped charging on the shore power cord. the battery meter does not read..I think i messed up a fuse or something..Best to just rewire the whole thing. The fridge will work great if you put a little cold pack inthe very bottom just to lower the temp.

Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:24 pm

Thanks for the photos , i have finally managed to sort out my 79 Westy fridge using the guide and it's now working :D

Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:21 pm

This thread is just what I needed . Thanks!!

Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:56 am

Hi, The battery meter on my control panel is not working because the resistor between the meter and the battery condition switch is not there anymore. Does anyone know what kind of resistor was used there?

Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:19 pm

RuiterO - there was originally a zener diode, not a resistor between the meter and the switch. The zener serves to "subtract" approx. 10V from the battery voltage so that the meter will only see voltages in the range of 0-5V for a battery voltage range of 10-15V.

The diode you need is a 1N4740A, available from onlinecomponents.com as well as other sources. You MUST NOT use any other kind of diode, and it MUST be installed in the correct direction or you will ruin your meter. The end marked with a band must be soldered to the switch terminal. A schematic of your panel may be found here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/1978westymanual/32.jpg
The diode is shown located between switch E4 & meter G.

Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:12 am

Wow, unbelievable you know all this. Thanks very much.