Typical Dometic RM2454 Refrigerator Cooling Issues - Thermistor and Fan troubleshooting

[Wayfinder]

Well, I had to use what I had on-hand to confirm the fan functionality and I verified the thermistor.  The fan has never worked and I've confirmed that... no 12v power is arriving to the fan push-button switch inside the camper.  I'm not really wanting to pull out the refrigerator just to find the broken 12v wire.  I'm afraid I'll brake something more important.  That's one issue.

I did confirm the inside switch and the fan itself do actually work. To verify the fan, I used an old USB cable to plug into a 9v source and a USB-C power block (AC) from an Amazon Fire TV stick. At first, I used a 9v battery to verify the fan worked, and it did (yay).  I have never seen the fan spin before, ever!

Now I'm thinking of finding another 12v source, or more likely, if I can use the 120v AC plug for a 12v block, instead of pulling out the entire fridge. I could run new wires from the fan. Something red-necky like that.

How "destructive" is it to pull out the fridge in an Elite II?  All the vent stack tape looks pretty tight in there, and the fridge seems super tight on the sides.  Doesn't look fun to redo.

Like others have mentioned in these forums, the Dometic fridges don't do well above 90 degree temperatures.

I did move the thermistor (sensor) inside the fridge up a bit to the very top, and it was not on the last cooling fin, but the second to the last fin.  I did not see any mention the placement of the thermistor mentioned in any of the RM2454 manuals.

The coils look pretty clean behind the fridge too.

One Note: The #5 lamp (light) of the temperature indicators, (aka the eye brow), on the front of the Dometic usually will not light up anymore.  Mean anything?  I did tap it once and it came on for a bit.  I figure maybe it's faulty too.

Has anyone switched out the mother board using the "Dinosaur" boards or only the Dometic OEM?

Otherwise, the fridge pretty much cools the same on AC, DC, and Propane.  Just not keeping up with the outside temps.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

[jd1923]

29 minutes ago, Wayfinder said:

Otherwise, the fridge pretty much cools the same on AC, DC, and Propane.  Just not keeping up with the outside temps.

That's why I took the recommendation of others to replace the OEM fan with a larger dual fan setup. You could change out the thermal switch screwed into the top RHS of the condenser. Given your fan works this is likely the issue. Note all the comments here.

It's worth the $80 plus tax and a few hours and YES, run new wires to the switch or wire without the toggle switch on the lights panel. The Beech Lane fan product it very nice. I just purchased and installed a second one to cool the streetside bed basement area where I'm installing a 3KW inverter.

 

Edited July 28 by jd1923

[Wayfinder]

Thanks JD.  I had lost track of that threads altogether.  I'm going to have re re-read that a few times to understand where the 12v power really came from.  There's a lot there.

I like that dual fan setup.