Refrigerator Cooling Fan

[Wayfinder]

6 minutes ago, mossemi said:

Have you opened the 6" round hatch plate in the cabinet above the microwave and checked the switch wiring?

Mossey

I did months ago when I was troubleshooting that fan.  The wire going up to the switch provides no voltage at all and the switch itself seems to be working fine. Not sure when it comes from. Was not looking forward to pulling out the fridge just for that.  I may run all new wires to power on/off the new Beech Lane twin fans. We'll see.

Edited July 29, 2024 by Wayfinder

[Wayfinder]

@jd1923 and @Ronbrink did a great job laying out what they did to tie in the new Beech Lane fans.  I just wasn't "getting it" at first what @jd1923 had done, since we seem to have the same fridge setup.  Even with pictures in color I was not "seeing it".  LOL. Now I get it thanks to Mike adding my own picture back to me.  Nice!

I've just ordered my Beech Lane and will be attempting the same setup.

Thanks again, and again, and again, to everyone participating.  We need to get together someday and talk in person. Maybe a non-rally technical gathering.  

Heck, we could even do a Zoom call or something like that someday.  That would be fun too.

Edited July 29, 2024 by Wayfinder

[mossemi]

8 hours ago, Wayfinder said:

Now I get it thanks to Mike adding my own picture back to me.

Don’t take my word for any electrical source in your Ollie, be sure to verify your own voltage source!

Mossey

[Wayfinder]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:17 AM, mossemi said:

Have you opened the 6" round hatch plate in the cabinet above the microwave and checked the switch wiring?

Mossey

Yeah, I checked the switch and the wire going to the switch. Switch seems to work fine. No power from the inbound wire. 

I should check again to ensure I checked correctly. Sounds like someone else had the same issue. 

This full time job of mine has got to go away. It's cutting I to my fun time. 

Edited August 3, 2024 by Wayfinder

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, Wayfinder said:

Yeah, I checked the switch and the wire going to the switch. Switch seems to work fine. No power from the inbound wire.

Often toggle switches terminate the ground and will NOT show 12VDC. I never tested mine, since when it was ON there was no power to the fan even when bypassing the thermal switch. I ran new wires. I used the main switch to connect ground to the new Beech Lane fan circuit.

i suggest new wires everywhere. I cut off all the old blue and red 20 AWG wires and replaced with automotive grade 14 AWG wiring. Pics above and I’ll keep an eye here for any questions as you progress with your mod.

Edited August 3, 2024 by jd1923

[Wayfinder]

I have not installed the Beach Lane Twin fans yet, but I did just verify they work and noted how much they use per manual setting, at least indoors with ambient temps around 75 degrees. There are impressively quiet, even at 100%. And they move some serious air.  Make a nice decorative wooden enclosure and they'd be better than any desktop fan you could buy.  Would keep you cool at night for sure!  Hmmmm!

• Speed  - Watts Used
• 50%  -  0.6w
• 60%  -  1.2w
• 70%  -  2.05w
• 80%  -  3.2w
• 90%  -  4.6w
• 100% - 6.6w

Edited August 14, 2024 by Wayfinder

[Wayfinder]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:17 AM, mossemi said:

Have you opened the 6" round hatch plate in the cabinet above the microwave and checked the switch wiring?

Mossey

Yes, that's how I tested the switch. 

 

 

[Wayfinder]

For now, I have a problem my Domestic. It will not go to level 5 on the eyebrow board. I can only set it to #4. It seems like the lights sort of flicker when trying #5. The check like does not go on, but there's a quick flicker. 

Has anyone seen this behavior?  I've not found much on the Internet about that. So #4 setting really cannot keep temperatures down to proper level if the inside of the camper gets warm. The fridge will hover around 45 to 48 degrees when camper is warm but if camper is cool, say 77 degrees, then fridge will maintain 35 and freezer around 7 degrees. 

This behavior is on all three power settings, propane, AC, and DC. 

Could this be a board issue?  

 

[jd1923]

12 hours ago, Wayfinder said:

Could this be a board issue?

Given you cannot get the #5 position to stay on after selecting it, can only be the board. We usually run ours in the #4 position, saving #5 for when we might need it. Did you work the new fan installation? 

[Wayfinder]

14 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Given you cannot get the #5 position to stay on after selecting it, can only be the board. We usually run ours in the #4 position, saving #5 for when we might need it. Did you work the new fan installation? 

Not yet for the new fan but have a quick work around for the existing fan when needed. 

[Geronimo John]

On 8/3/2024 at 10:03 AM, Wayfinder said:

No power from the inbound wire. (At the existing switch)

Suggest jumping a wire from one of the other switche input terminal.  The Beech Lane does not pull much power.  

[Galway Girl]

Added a cooling fan following many other installations in our 3 way Norcold.

Fan mounted by bolting onto a shall sheet of screen door panel from Home Depot.
Air flows up from the heat chamber around back side of the panel and forced out vent slots by fans.
Unit held in place with high temp furnace aluminum tape.
Used high temp race for wires down to the bottom chamber where the control is mounted and wired into +12 / GND.

Hope this helps anyone else doing a similar mounting process.

Pix 1: Upper Vent area:  

Fans wouldn't fit directly onto vent cover due to space, so I chose to mount it at an angle that blows the hot air directly out the vents (which are slanted that direction). 

 

Wiring in the controller to the +12 and GND took a bit of cable splicing and re-building.
In hindsight, if I'd had 3-way cable crimp connectors it would have been easier to wire in the controller.

 

Craig - Hull 505

[Wayfinder]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:17 AM, mossemi said:

Have you opened the 6" round hatch plate in the cabinet above the microwave and checked the switch wiring?

Mossey

I did.  It's deader than a door nail. Would likely need to pull the fridge out to find the break or re-wire to alternate location.  Motivation low.