Refrigerator Ad-On Fan Wiring

JJ50325

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2020
Messages
14
Location
Northern Nevada
Good Afternoon All -
Started a project this afternoon that I thought would be simple. Well - that's what this directions indicated.
Attempting to wire in a refrigerator add-on fan to the back of our unit.
Looked inside of the back and found a VERY small little fan that apparently is supposed to cool the 18cf refrigerator we have in our Solitude 310GK.
The little fan had something like a 22 gauge red and black wire running to it. Foolishly I thought that all I had to do was to wire in the yellow and black wires attached to new fans I am attempting to install to the wires attached to the fan after cutting and spicing.
Well the cutting and splicing was easy.
Went into the coach, turned on the refrigerator, came back outside to the new fan control unit, pushed the 'Manual Button' and nothing happened!! No power to the new fans no nuthin'!!
After looking at the red and black wire that ran into the little factory fan, I wondered if those wires were somehow attached to a temperature sensor and my RV Barn was not warm enough to initiate the sensor to send power to the fan. The wires to the little fan run from 'something' behind 'something else".
I'm thinking, no problem. I will splice the little yellow and red wires that are attached to the new fan to some different 12v power source in back of the refrigerator.
Attached are pictures of the new refrigerator fans and the back of the refrigerator of the coach.
Question is: Can I splice the positive/negative new fan wires to the wires on one of the pictures labeled GND and 12VDC to make this new fan unit operate correctly?

I know there are a bunch of folks out here that are much smarter than I am concerning this stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
J.J.

Our Coach -
2023 Solitude 310GK. (And Yes, we like this coach!!!)
2023 Ford Super Duty Dually.
 

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No offense, but you really need to dig out your VOM and find the correct wire for your usage. Did you just determine the "proper" wires by color?
 
Hey Mr Hoppy -
Actually thanks for reading this and your reply.
Not so sure what 'VOM' stands for, however it must be a manual of some sort.
I did find a paper, inside of a plastic pouch, attached to the back of the refrigerator on the outside.
The paper was the wiring schematic for the 110v/propane refrigerator.
While I was not real sure which fan I was tapping into according to the schematic, all the fans on the schematic indicated they were were 12v and all of those 12v fans wires lead back into 'something' on the diagram that I was hoping was the box in one of the attached pictures.
I'm not an electrician or a Moblie RV Repair person. Just a guy trying to alleviate a problem we encountered last early fall when the temperature was 110 outside and the sun was beating on the side of the coach where the refrigerator was and the poor could not keep up.
if you have any other thoughts on how do help with my wiring dilemma, I would be glad to consider your suggestions.
J.J.
 
VOM = Volt Ohm Meter
I used the wires comeing from the battery to the control board and not wireing after board.
My aux fans however have thier own thermostat.
 
Hey Mr Hoppy -
Actually thanks for reading this and your reply.
Not so sure what 'VOM' stands for, however it must be a manual of some sort.
I did find a paper, inside of a plastic pouch, attached to the back of the refrigerator on the outside.
The paper was the wiring schematic for the 110v/propane refrigerator.
While I was not real sure which fan I was tapping into according to the schematic, all the fans on the schematic indicated they were were 12v and all of those 12v fans wires lead back into 'something' on the diagram that I was hoping was the box in one of the attached pictures.
I'm not an electrician or a Moblie RV Repair person. Just a guy trying to alleviate a problem we encountered last early fall when the temperature was 110 outside and the sun was beating on the side of the coach where the refrigerator was and the poor could not keep up.
if you have any other thoughts on how do help with my wiring dilemma, I would be glad to consider your suggestions.
J.J.
In order to do what you're wanting to do, you kind of need to understand, somewhat anyway, how to read the schematic for the frig. That will tell you where you need to plug into for the fans to work the way you want. And, honestly, if you're going to mess with electricity, you need a multi-meter so you don't inadvertently electrocute yourself. :)
 
The lower right wires attached to your fridge controls is where I spliced in aux fans.
You factory fan is temperature controlled by a sensor on the fins of the cooling unit. That sensor will have some kind of current rating. Your additional fans 'may' overload it. Maybe not. You will need to investigate it and determine it's current rating.
 
Hey All -
Volt Meter - Yes I do have them and know how to use them. Just didn't think to dig one of them out for an easy project. Foolish Me :)!!!
Late yesterday, I did dig one of the volt meters out and tested the wires indicated in one of the first pictures I posted. As posted above those wires have a 12v supply when there is power to the refrigerator and will be tapping into one of the lines after a trip to a store to purchase some splicer stuff.
Thanks for all the comments. They are all appreciated.
Merry Christmas to you-all and a Happy New Year.
J.J.
 
The lower right wires attached to your fridge controls is where I spliced in aux fans.
You factory fan is temperature controlled by a sensor on the fins of the cooling unit. That sensor will have some kind of current rating. Your additional fans 'may' overload it. Maybe not. You will need to investigate it and determine it's current rating.
Hi Scott,
I'm in the process of adding a replacement fan(s) to the rear coil assembly due to failure.
My understaning was that sensor you referring to, is a cooling fin thermistor that triggers the fan to start when the temperature gets too hot in the coil area.
That may be why the OP is not seeing it start. Not hot enough ?

IDK if that feed wire had a current rating that can be overloaded, but you bring up a good point. What would be the max wattage fan that can be supported by the original thermistor circuit and can the rating be determined by tracing to a fuse in that circuit ?

Michael
 
I think you would have to see what thermister is there and with the part number you could google and get the current spec.
They are very small and I doubt any numbers would be visible.
It is basically a gate circuit that opens 12v to fan when temps rise above the preset setting.
Maybe Norcold would know ?
I'll have to call or check online.
Another idea would be to check power draw from old fan and stay close to that draw.
 
Good Afternoon All -
Started a project this afternoon that I thought would be simple. Well - that's what this directions indicated.
Attempting to wire in a refrigerator add-on fan to the back of our unit.
Looked inside of the back and found a VERY small little fan that apparently is supposed to cool the 18cf refrigerator we have in our Solitude 310GK.
The little fan had something like a 22 gauge red and black wire running to it. Foolishly I thought that all I had to do was to wire in the yellow and black wires attached to new fans I am attempting to install to the wires attached to the fan after cutting and spicing.
Well the cutting and splicing was easy.
Went into the coach, turned on the refrigerator, came back outside to the new fan control unit, pushed the 'Manual Button' and nothing happened!! No power to the new fans no nuthin'!!
After looking at the red and black wire that ran into the little factory fan, I wondered if those wires were somehow attached to a temperature sensor and my RV Barn was not warm enough to initiate the sensor to send power to the fan. The wires to the little fan run from 'something' behind 'something else".
I'm thinking, no problem. I will splice the little yellow and red wires that are attached to the new fan to some different 12v power source in back of the refrigerator.
Attached are pictures of the new refrigerator fans and the back of the refrigerator of the coach.
Question is: Can I splice the positive/negative new fan wires to the wires on one of the pictures labeled GND and 12VDC to make this new fan unit operate correctly?

I know there are a bunch of folks out here that are much smarter than I am concerning this stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
J.J.

Our Coach -
2023 Solitude 310GK. (And Yes, we like this coach!!!)
2023 Ford Super Duty Dually.
You can splice onto the main source wires that feed your refrigerator pos & neg. Those fans don’t use enough watts to cause a issue with your refrigerator. I added the fans you are talking about to might RV as well they definitely helped keep the temp cooler.
rv’s use many different colors of wire to run components and no rhyme or reason why. You must use an VOM to verify you are correctly connected to pos &neg when you connect something to the RV. In addition add a proper fuse in front of any device you add to your RV, sized for the wire you are running. Fires in RV are not a joke, please be careful when adding electrical devices to an RV. Remember when you add your fans to the refrigerator source power they are Hot all the time, unless the battery bank is off, or you add a switch to your new fan circuit.
 

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