2021 GD 312BHTS - Electrical Question

[bigboystoys]

Here is the problem I’m having.
The RV is equipped with a 100% electric residential Haier refrigerator. ( I did not order it this way it just showed up like this......)

I was out camping a few days ago for 4 night me and on day 3 the fridge stopped working completely. I noticed the freezer was thawing and the lights inside wouldn’t come on.

***** Side note I had 2 x 190 watt solar panels installed by the Travelland dealership where I purchased it from.
The solar panels must be wired direct to battery as they constantly feed power to the batteries regardless what position of the main battery disconnect switch is in.


Here is what I attempted to do in order to resolve this issue of the fridge not working.

#1 - confirmed I was plugged into shore power and power was on.

#2 - turned off the dedicated inverter for the fridge and waited 15 minutes. After waiting 15 minutes I attempted to turn on the fridge by turning on the inverter....normally as soon as you turn the inverter on the fridge will usually start up)
(The green light on the inverter button would come when pressed which indicated there is power to the inverter.

The fridge lights on the front of the fridge door would flash on then abruptly turn off. With an audible click heard. Lights inside the fridge went off immediately.

# 3 - I determined the battery disconnect switch does not shut off as to interrupt power to the fridge. side note the fridge will run regardless of what position the main disconnect switch is in as will everything else inside the trailer if plugged into shore power.- ( Is this normal ) ??

#4 - I attempted to run the fridge off batteries only and it wouldn’t turn on.

#4a) batteries were fully charged as the trailer was plugged into shore power for the entire length of my stay and I had plenty of direct sun to charge the batteries through solar.

#5 the solar panels will charge the batteries if the main disconnect is in the off position



I need to figure out the following

1) why the fridge stopped working - I took video of it not working to show my experience to show the repairing dealer..... I plan on using this trailer for extended stays 7 plus days and need the fridge to be reliable.

Shouldn't all electrical systems in the trailer be able to shut off by the main disconnect ??

Why do all electrical systems work when plugged into shore power and the main disconnect from the batteries is shut off....?

why is the fridge not controlled through the main disconnect..?


Anyone else had issues with their sole electric fridge stop working ?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Redapple63]

First welcome! So sorry about your troubles. The first thing I would de is determine if it is the fridge, wiring,cb, or inverter. With inverter on check voltage using dim )digital voltage meter.

Move the fridge plug to a known working plug. You could run an extension cord if you need to just to get the fridge.

Make sure the circuit breaker is good. Inverter should have its own cb.

Good luck!

 

[SolarPoweredRV]

Here is the problem I’m having.
The RV is equipped with a 100% electric residential Haier refrigerator. ( I did not order it this way it just showed up like this......)

I was out camping a few days ago for 4 night me and on day 3 the fridge stopped working completely. I noticed the freezer was thawing and the lights inside wouldn’t come on.

***** Side note I had 2 x 190 watt solar panels installed by the Travelland dealership where I purchased it from.
The solar panels must be wired direct to battery as they constantly feed power to the batteries regardless what position of the main battery disconnect switch is in.


Here is what I attempted to do in order to resolve this issue of the fridge not working.

#1 - confirmed I was plugged into shore power and power was on.

#2 - turned off the dedicated inverter for the fridge and waited 15 minutes. After waiting 15 minutes I attempted to turn on the fridge by turning on the inverter....normally as soon as you turn the inverter on the fridge will usually start up)
(The green light on the inverter button would come when pressed which indicated there is power to the inverter.

The fridge lights on the front of the fridge door would flash on then abruptly turn off. With an audible click heard. Lights inside the fridge went off immediately.

# 3 - I determined the battery disconnect switch does not shut off as to interrupt power to the fridge. side note the fridge will run regardless of what position the main disconnect switch is in as will everything else inside the trailer if plugged into shore power.- ( Is this normal ) ??

#4 - I attempted to run the fridge off batteries only and it wouldn’t turn on.

#4 a) batteries were fully charged as the trailer was plugged into shore power for the entire length of my stay and I had plenty of direct sun to charge the batteries through solar.

#5 the solar panels will charge the batteries if the main disconnect is in the off position



I need to figure out the following

1) why the fridge stopped working - I took video of it not working to show my experience to show the repairing dealer..... I plan on using this trailer for extended stays 7 plus days and need the fridge to be reliable.

Shouldn't all electrical systems in the trailer be able to shut off by the main disconnect ??

Why do all electrical systems work when plugged into shore power and the main disconnect from the batteries is shut off....?

why is the fridge not controlled through the main disconnect..?


Anyone else had issues with their sole electric fridge stop working ?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

RedApple63 is right, you need to determine if your problem is with the fridge, or the inverter.

As far as your other questions go:

Yes, your Solar panels are connected directly to the battery (through a Solar Charge Controller) and your Battery Disconnect switch will have no effect on your Solar charging your battery(ies).

Let me explain a little bit about how your Converter works and why it will power your coach even though you have the battery disconnected...

The Converter serves two functions, one; it powers all 12v circuits inside your coach; two; it charges up your battery(ies). The Converter is wired directly into the 12v circuits inside the coach (wired into the 12v fuse panel). Because the Converter is connected to the wiring inside your coach you can run all 12v items inside the coach even if you did not have a battery installed. This is why everything works inside the coach even though you have the battery(ies) disconnected.

Getting back to your Fridge issue; I am a little bit concerned about you mentioning the battery disconnect switch in your posting, here is why; If you had your battery disconnected for the four days, then your batteries were not getting any charge from your Converter. If this is true, it will explain all your issues with your fridge. Let me explain what I mean...

Your Inverter supplies 120v power to your refrigerator, the Inverter gets it's power from the batteries and it "inverts" the 12v into 120v for your fridge. If, your batteries were disconnected while you were camping and not being charged by the Converter then your batteries may have actually been dead by your 3th day of camping.

Let me explain how that might have happened. On the first day of camping your batteries were fully charged, however, overnight you were using your Inverter to operate the fridge and by morning the battery was at 60%. During the day, you only had your Solar to charge your batteries and keep your Inverter fed with 12v energy. So, lets say that your battery got recharged to 70% by the end of the day. Now on night two your battery is still strong enough to power your fridge. So, on the morning of day three your battery might be down to 40% and now they do not have enough power to operate your Inverter, therefore your fridge is not working.

It is very possible that if you had your batteries disconnected you simply killed your battery and you don't have enough energy left in the batteries to activate the Inverter. Check the voltage on your batteries to ensure that they are actually fully charged.

 

[IBEW Sparky]

@ bigboystoys
Also check behind the wall in your storage compartment. There might be a small 2 circuit breaker box hidden back there with a tripped breaker.

https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=33996