ARB fridge stopped working off battery???

[TexasTJ]

My ARB fridge has been wired into the battery on my LR3 three for Four years with the ARB wording kit and a 100watt solar to keep the battery topped. Yesterday I went to put beer in it and it was off. Not like it had tripped the sensor but like it had no power. When I got home I plugged into the house power outlet and it started fine. Then I put the adapter on the auto plug and hooked it up to the vehicles cigarette lighter and with the vehicle running it turned on. I checked the power supply to the plugs that is directly connected to the battery and it has power. Yeah the fridge will still not turn on from this one location. Any ideas? I’m to the point I’m thinking about pull all the wires to the plug out in buying new news and starting over.

 

[WOODY2]

Sounds like it's in the chord? Check the fuse.

 

[TexasTJ]

Because I have no idea how this meter works and Electrician left it at my house a couple years ago and never came back for it. I’ll check it again tomorrow ? i’ve always just use one of the cheap little red lights before. @Verkstad and advice on with. Setting to use?

 

[TexasTJ]

Sounds like you have a few YouTubes to watch...
You have something new to learn.

Anyway on that meter the squiggly line next to ”V” indicates ranges in volts AC.
The other ”V” adjacent to straight and dashed line indicates ranges volts DC.
I will skip the rest of this lesson except to say the three yellow ranges under ”A”, Dont use those until you have better understanding of basic electricity and how to measure it.

thank you I will just stick with my little red LED pin from now on ?. ARB seems to think need a new wiring kit so I guess I will start there.
.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Throwing parts at something is unlikely to help you. You have power at the end of the cord, so a wiring kit is NOT your problem. Isn’t there a fuse in the power panel in the back of the fridge? I don’t recall exactly. This community will generally help you figure this out.

 

[NatersXJ6]

It is hard to tell from your photo, but you are testing power in the socket? The place where you would plug in a cig lighter?

You need next to divide and conquer.

Unplug the DC cord from the back of the fridge. Plug the cord into the cig outlet and check for power where that cord plugs into the fridge (on the female half of the plug) molded into the cord.

If that is dead, check the fuse inside the cig-plug portion of the cord. The male end unscrews, and a little glass tube fuse is in there. Probably bad.

Then report back. Or send me a PM and I’ll talk you through this on the phone. This should take 3-5 min to diagnose.

 

[TexasTJ]

@NatersXJ6 Thank you! So I checked power at the back of the female connector and still am getting 12 volts. How Were with some work I checked the leads there the connect into the plug and found that when the Fridge is pugged in the volts then Drop to 2.8. (I didn't get a photo of that) So I guess their is a draw some place in the wiring.

 

[86scotty]

Or the DC side of your fridge controller is dead. You said it worked on AC, correct?

 

[TexasTJ]

@86scotty yes it dose work on DC and it work with the cigarette lighter adapter pugged into the factory AC 12v lighter well. Just not on the ARB Wiring harness that is tied to the Battery.
this last photo is with the cable pugged into the Fridge.

 

[Herbie]

yes it dose work on DC and it work with the cigarette lighter adapter pugged into the factory AC 12v lighter well.

If the fridge works on AC and some DC source, this would indicate that the fridge itself is fine.

Just not on the ARB Wiring harness that is tied to the Battery.

This plus the first thing would point to the ARB wiring harness, or the battery it is connected to, as the problem. In your last photo, 2.8v would tend to indicate that either you aren't getting full voltage, or that the load of the fridge is such that the voltage is sagging over the length of the wiring harness. I would verify what voltage you get at the spot the ARB harness connects to the battery (with and without the fridge plugged into that harness.) If you get full voltage at the battery under both conditions, then the harness is definitely the issue. If the direct-on-battery voltage sags to the same low voltage, then you may have a battery problem.

Do you have ready access to the entire ARB wiring harness? (Or is some of it tucked inside something where you cannot inspect it?) No matter the results from the above test, I would start inspecting the harness (and in particular the connectors at both ends) for wear, fraying, or intermittent connectivity as a lot of wiring problems can make the battery look bad.

EDIT: More thorough tests...

 

[NatersXJ6]

Where are you grounding? Did you say what type of vehicle? Check that your grounds are clean and then do a resistance test of your ARB wire in place. Might need a friend for extra set of hands.

On edit... I’m guessing TJ is the vehicle. You can probably resistance test the whole harness with just about any multimeter with regular length leads and a friend to help hold them.

 

[TexasTJ]

@Herbie I will Check the output at the battery ask you suggested.
@NatersXJ6 The Truck is a Land Rover LR3 and it is grounded to the Battery as per ARB's in house Harness. However I did try to ground it to a Chassis ground in the back of the truck last night as a test and it sill did not power up. The Fridge has worked flawlessly for years.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Have you checked the fuse holder in the inline harness? I’m betting you find a corroded fuse in there.

 

[WOODY2]

Well it sounds as though the cause is not the expensive piece in the equation, thank goodness. Methodic investigation will yield the root cause I'm sure.

 

[TexasTJ]

I think i have tracked it to the well.