The Dometic CFX3 Mega Thread

[Chris1977]

Over a lot of conversations, we've heard a lot of questions related to fridge use and energy consumption; in particular, how long can you run a fridge without ending up in a "no-start" situation.

There are a lot of factors involved in determining this: type of battery or batteries, condition of the charging system, wiring to the fridge, how often you open the fridge, actual electrical consumption that the fridge requires, etc. While we may not be able to determine the condition of your wiring or charging system, we can help with info on what the CFX3 line of fridges consumes power-wise.

View attachment 564355

In the above graph, we've measured each of our CFX3 models running at typical fridge (39 degrees F) and freezer temperatures (5 degrees F) and how external ambient temp impacts energy consumption. Given that the hottest temps will be in the day, you can rest assured that power consumption at night will be much lower regardless of what temp you set.

While the above graph will help you decide what CFX3 you might be interested in and how your power system will support, you'll also have access to our updated app. Not only does it help you control and monitoring everything on your cooler, it even tracks power consumption. You'll quickly get a feel of how it works with your battery, batteries, or a stand-alone power source like our PLB-40.

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Do you have a similar graph for the cfx355im with the icemaker on and in maintenance mode (after the initial power spike to make ice, and then the following maintenance power mode to keep the ice frozen in the trays) ?

The Dometic website specs say the power usage should be 1.2 amps per hour at 4 degrees celsius internal fridge temperature, icemaker on (in maintenance mode) ambient temperature 32 degrees celsius.

However, our new cfx355im has power usage of 2-2.25 amps per hour at 4 degrees celsius internal fridge temperature, icemaker on in maintenance mode (fridge has been on and closed for 4 days so we assume it is in this mode), ambient temperature 24 degrees celsius.

It drained our plb40 from 100% to 10% in one period of 16 hours. Is this expected ? It is nearly double the published power usage at a much lower ambient temperature.

Also, how many hours after turning the icemaker on will it go into maintenance mode ?

Thankyou

 

[67cj5]

Do you have a similar graph for the cfx355im with the icemaker on and in maintenance mode (after the initial power spike to make ice, and then the following maintenance power mode to keep the ice frozen in the trays) ?

The Dometic website specs say the power usage should be 1.2 amps per hour at 4 degrees celsius internal fridge temperature, icemaker on (in maintenance mode) ambient temperature 32 degrees celsius.

However, our new cfx355im has power usage of 2-2.25 amps per hour at 4 degrees celsius internal fridge temperature, icemaker on in maintenance mode (fridge has been on and closed for 4 days so we assume it is in this mode), ambient temperature 24 degrees celsius.

It drained our plb40 from 100% to 10% in one period of 16 hours. Is this expected ? It is nearly double the published power usage at a much lower ambient temperature.

Also, how many hours after turning the icemaker on will it go into maintenance mode ?

Thankyou

Yeah that is Normal, 90% of the PLB 40 is 36Ah or 460.8Wh, So your numbers are correct, In fridge mode at 4*c that is a Crazy amount of power draw, using my 47L fridge at the same temps it will use less than 18Ah to 20Ah per 24 hours, Ever since Dometic stopped using the Danfos Secop compressors their power draw is up to Double of what the older CFX models were,

Oh and I use 2x PLB40's to power my ARB Blue and Gray Fridges, even the bigger 78L with the bigger compressor will run for 16+ hours @ 80% when set to -12 to -16*c So your fridge is chewing a lot of power for that temperature range.

Hope that helps.

 

[Chris1977]

Yeah that is Normal, 90% of the PLB 40 is 36Ah or 460.8Wh, So your numbers are correct, In fridge mode at 4*c that is a Crazy amount of power draw, using my 47L fridge at the same temps it will use less than 18Ah to 20Ah per 24 hours, Ever since Dometic stopped using the Danfos Secop compressors their power draw is up to Double of what the older CFX models were,

Oh and I use 2x PLB40's to power my ARB Blue and Gray Fridges, even the bigger 78L with the bigger compressor will run for 16+ hours @ 80% when set to -12 to -16*c So your fridge is chewing a lot of power for that temperature range.

Hope that helps.

Thankyou It seems like the power usage specs Dometic publishes (1.2 amps per hour, fridge at 4 celsius, ice maker on in maintenance mode, ambient temp 32 celsius) is approx half of the actual power draw of 2.25 amps per hour, at much lower ambient temp of 24 celsius. I wonder if the published specs are simply a misprint and should read 2.2 amps phr instead of 1.2 amps phr, or whether there is something wrong with our cfx355im ?

 

[67cj5]

Thankyou It seems like the power usage specs Dometic publishes (1.2 amps per hour, fridge at 4 celsius, ice maker on in maintenance mode, ambient temp 32 celsius) is approx half of the actual power draw of 2.25 amps per hour, at much lower ambient temp of 24 celsius. I wonder if the published specs are simply a misprint and should read 2.2 amps phr instead of 1.2 amps phr, or whether there is something wrong with our cfx355im ?

At 4*c @24*c ambient temp my fridge uses between 0.53 to about 0.750Ah, Mostly around 0.64Ah depending how it's load and how often it is opened, When left closed it will use as little 0.46Ah at those temps.

 

[Chris1977]

At 4*c @24*c ambient temp my fridge uses between 0.53 to about 0.750Ah, Mostly around 0.64Ah depending how it's load and how often it is opened, When left closed it will use as little 0.46Ah at those temps.

The Dometic cfx355im seems to use around 0.68 amps phr with just the fridge on (icemaker off) at 4 celsius and ambient temp 24 celsius, which is well within the advertised specs. But the power draw with icemaker on is the situation in which the actual power usage is approx double the advertised specs for fridge and icemaker on in maintenance mode.

 

[67cj5]

The Dometic cfx355im seems to use around 0.68 amps phr with just the fridge on (icemaker off) at 4 celsius and ambient temp 24 celsius, which is well within the advertised specs. But the power draw with icemaker on is the situation in which the actual power usage is approx double the advertised specs for fridge and icemaker on in maintenance mode.

Yeah well running the Ice maker is like running it in freezer mode and that can multiply the power draw up to 3X or more on average which is about 2.04Ah or more, It's a handy feature but in reality running a proper Ice machine would use less power and run your fridge at around 2*c and put the Ice cubes in the coldest part of the fridge,

 

[john61ct]

an LFP bank of 8S will deliver 24V nominal

4S is 12V

Only use multiples of 4 for a House bank.

 

[archerwolf]

Do you have a similar graph for the cfx355im with the icemaker on and in maintenance mode (after the initial power spike to make ice, and then the following maintenance power mode to keep the ice frozen in the trays) ?

The Dometic website specs say the power usage should be 1.2 amps per hour at 4 degrees celsius internal fridge temperature, icemaker on (in maintenance mode) ambient temperature 32 degrees celsius.

However, our new cfx355im has power usage of 2-2.25 amps per hour at 4 degrees celsius internal fridge temperature, icemaker on in maintenance mode (fridge has been on and closed for 4 days so we assume it is in this mode), ambient temperature 24 degrees celsius.

It drained our plb40 from 100% to 10% in one period of 16 hours. Is this expected ? It is nearly double the published power usage at a much lower ambient temperature.

Also, how many hours after turning the icemaker on will it go into maintenance mode ?

Thankyou

Is your fridge empty or loaded? An empty fridge will actually draw more Ah to maintain a given temperature.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chris1977]

Is your fridge empty or loaded? An empty fridge will actually draw more Ah to maintain a given temperature.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We tested with the fridge empty and then half full (food already at 3 Celsius transferred from another fridge) but it made little difference (around 5% less power usage) and certainly not enough to account for the power draw being almost double the specs at 8 Celsius lower ambient temp than the specs. We are beginning to wonder if for some reason the icemaker is not going into maintenance mode after it has made the ice, as it is designed to.

 

[Homer57]

I recently bought a CFX3 55IM. So far early impressions are positive (though it was larger in real life than it looked like in picutures--not a negative!)

I am seeing a strange behavior with the temperature setting: when I set the temperature target temp. to 39 degrees, it appears to reset back to 37 degrees when I go check in on the fridge a few hours later (I'm talking about the target setting back to 37 degrees, not the actual temperature, which I understand will fluxuate a bit.) I've tried setting this both through the device directly and through the iPhone app. Either way it appears to accept the setting to 39, and either way it appears to reset back to 37 in a few hours.

This is with the fridge running either on AC or DC, indoors in a 70 degree ambient room.

Thoughts?

Did you ever resolve this issue? I am seeing the same behavior on my CFX3 25. Setpoint set at 39, but switches to 37 degrees after some period of time.

 

[Homer57]

Did you ever resolve this issue? I am seeing the same behavior on my CFX3 25. Setpoint set at 39, but switches to 37 degrees after some period of time.

My current thinking is that the problem lies with the app, so I have turned off Bluetooth on the CFX3 and will test to see if changes to the setpoint stick.

 

[zelseman]

How long should I wait on Dometic Customer Service to respond to the online warranty form before escalating?
My CFX3 95 DZ has only been used a total of 20 days and one side is overcooling and freezing everything when set on 40*F. The big side is fine and works as it should and the compressor comes on like regular. I submitted a warranty claim online and haven't heard anything. This seems like crazy CS for a $1600 fridge.

 

[Dometic]

How long should I wait on Dometic Customer Service to respond to the online warranty form before escalating?
My CFX3 95 DZ has only been used a total of 20 days and one side is overcooling and freezing everything when set on 40*F. The big side is fine and works as it should and the compressor comes on like regular. I submitted a warranty claim online and haven't heard anything. This seems like crazy CS for a $1600 fridge.

When did you submit the warranty claim? I would expect you should here something within a week. If not, PM me all your contact details and I'll get your into to someone in the Dometic team that can escalate for you.

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[Dometic]

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View attachment 712790

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[zelseman]

When did you submit the warranty claim? I would expect you should here something within a week. If not, PM me all your contact details and I'll get your into to someone in the Dometic team that can escalate for you.

DOMETIC
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dometic.com

Received an email after about a week and a warranty claim processed in only a couple of days. I hope our second unit lasts much longer than the first, but the DOMETIC customer service has been top notch! Jon was extremely prompt and professional!