The Dometic CFX3 Mega Thread

Dometic

Supporting Sponsor / Approved Vendor
Could I get the hole spacing for the mounting holes on the bottom of the CFX 75? I imagine the fridge is designed to be turned upsidedown for me to measure it myself...

Yes - you can measure it and then flip it back. If you notice any cooling issues unplug and let it sit for at least 24 hours in the usual orientation and it should be good again.

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Dometic

Supporting Sponsor / Approved Vendor
So, it is ok to turn over the cooler to get measurements even though the manual says maximum angle is 30*?

Thanks!

It's not uncommon for shippers to stand the cooler on end when delivering it. If it arrives in this orientation you'll want to leave it sitting for a day or so that the refrigerant can redistribute/settle, otherwise it won't cool properly. The same would apply if you flip it over to measure.

All the above said you should be able to tilt it, put a block under it so you can measure the spacing. You wouldn't need to fully flip it over for measuring using this method.

DOMETIC
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shop.dometic.com

Use promo code Expedition20 for $25 off your order of $75+
 

Stabwell

Member
Glad to see the CFX3 app works better than the CFX app. Never understood why they made the CFX connect with Wifi. That's ridiculous. The CFX app hasn't worked in months, and has always been spotty at best. Now that the CFX3 is out, I imagine the CFX app will be abandoned.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
I have just read the specs on the whole CFX3 range and the power draw across most of the range seems to vary from average to extremely high, I don't understand why Dometic are making their larger fridges so power hungry, compared to their earlier models,

I Own a lot of Dometic products and I have 2 Dometic fridges, Last week I ordered another fridge which I sent back, due to it not being what I needed,

I tested One of the new comers on the market and it chewed more power than my House fridge freezer but the new Dometic 95DZ according to the specs uses way more power than any fridge I have ever seen, Surely these figures can not be that high ??
 

john61ct

Adventurer
The peak power draw is irrelevant.

The overall system design means their duty cycling to maintain the food-safe temperatures vary widely.

You need to test for Ah per 24hrs equally loaded, same temperature differential etc
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
The peak power draw is irrelevant.

The overall system design means their duty cycling to maintain the food-safe temperatures vary widely.

You need to test for Ah per 24hrs equally loaded, same temperature differential etc
Yes I know, I am not new to testing fridge freezers, I usually test fridges over weeks and months at a time, But I am talking about Dometic's Own Quoted Figures, When they ( Dometic ) Quote 3.29Kwh as the 24 hour duty cycle for a fridge that is cause for concern, My household domestic fridge freezer uses lest than a 3rd of that amount of power, I have seen elsewhere on the forum where some folks are having troubles powering these new CFX3 75 and 95 fridges, That quoted 3.29Kwh is 3.4 X the amount of power that my 78L Freezer uses when max'd out and 4.7 X the amount of power it takes to run my freezer at -12*c,

Surely Dometic's own Quoted figures must be wrong, No Fridge on earth should be chewing 3290w per 24 hours. ??
 
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john61ct

Adventurer
Well this **is** America!

In New Zealand and Australia, so I assume also true for Europe

their regulators have kept pushing and pushing manufacturers to bring consumption down

while here business interests captured and largely de-fanged the agencies decades ago.

As a result now in those countries there are **mains** powered (230Vac) home appliances that consume less electricity than ARB and Engel DC portable fridges, even after taking into account the losses from having to add an inverter!

Sad. . .
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Well this **is** America!

In New Zealand and Australia, so I assume also true for Europe

their regulators have kept pushing and pushing manufacturers to bring consumption down

while here business interests captured and largely de-fanged the agencies decades ago.

As a result now in those countries there are **mains** powered (230Vac) home appliances that consume less electricity than ARB and Engel DC portable fridges, even after taking into account the losses from having to add an inverter!

Sad. . .
Yep.,, I stopped using the house fridge 2 years ago and used the 47L, That saved a fair bit of power in that time.
 

Riptyd64

New member
Just received and installed my new Dometic CFX3 IM. Place in the back of my 2008 Jeep Wrangler JKU. Plugged into cigarette lighter via included cable. Filled refrigerator with 24 chilled bottles of water and went for a drive.
2.5 hours later temperatures in fridge does not want to get below 37 degrees F. Parked Jeep overnight and apparently the power shut off the fridge at 12.2 volts (medium setting)
Started the Jeep, no problem fridge turned back on automatically and displayed a temperature of 39 degrees within about 15 minutes. Still unable to get fridge below 37 after several hours.
Jeep is parked in driveway on slight grade outside temp 70 degrees. Am I doing something wrong?
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Just received and installed my new Dometic CFX3 IM. Place in the back of my 2008 Jeep Wrangler JKU. Plugged into cigarette lighter via included cable. Filled refrigerator with 24 chilled bottles of water and went for a drive.
2.5 hours later temperatures in fridge does not want to get below 37 degrees F. Parked Jeep overnight and apparently the power shut off the fridge at 12.2 volts (medium setting)
Started the Jeep, no problem fridge turned back on automatically and displayed a temperature of 39 degrees within about 15 minutes. Still unable to get fridge below 37 after several hours.
Jeep is parked in driveway on slight grade outside temp 70 degrees. Am I doing something wrong?
Try running it on AC power over night because any of these fridges will take quite a while to drop down to a low temp also if it has a boost mode then run that for a few hours,

Like all fridges they don't like being filled up with a whole load of items all around room temp, IE If you had it 2/3 full and it was running at your set temp and then you filled it right up with room temp Items it can take a few hours to bring the new contents down to match the temp of the stuff that was already in there, Not only that it also has the cool down the warmer Air that got in there while you had the lid open, EVEN a house fridge or freezer can take up to 12 or 24 hours + to bring the contents down to match the other goods that were already in there.

They are very fast at cooling when they are empty or when they have just a couple of things in there but if you cool it right down and then add a heap of stuff in there it can take a long while to bring it down to the desired temp even more so if you are trying to take it down from room temp down top -12*c or-18*c /0*f ,,, Ok.

Hope that helps, (y)

EDIT:- Also note that anything you put in there that is in plastic containers with Air Gaps in them will make a fridge cycle "ON" longer and it will run more on and off cycles per 24 hours, But fill it up with Cans of Coke or Beer and it will Cycle On for about the same amount of time maybe less but It's OFF Cycle will be longer Sometimes up to 2 or 3 hours because the metal Can's hold the Cold a lot longer which will reduce the amount of On and Off Cycles it does per 24 hours, Because all Metals conduct the Cold.

HOT TIP, If you drink Soda's Coke or Dr Pepper or Beer, Place a layer of Cans in the Bottom and they will hold the Cold longer making the fridge use less power, I have tested a lot of fridges for months at a time and one of them has been running over 2 years non stop and the Layer of Cans can save you up to 40%+ of the normal power draw, Ok, Good Luck. and give it a go and see what happens.
 
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u00mem9

New member
Just received my new CFX3 75DZ to replace a CFX40. Love the size but I have a problem. I had my CFX40 plugged into the in-vehicle AC inverter that was powered when the vehicle was running. It was also plugged into my 12v regulated supply from my solar / battery system (isolated from the vehicle). That worked flawlessly. When the vehicle was running, it would draw from the inverter, and when the vehicle was shutoff, it would switch to the solar battery.

I plugged the new CFX3 75DZ in the same way, and when the AC is powered, I am seeing voltage back at the 12 plug even when it's not plugged into anything. ~6.8v. I fear someone screwed up the power schematics and this unit isn't going to be able to be used in that dual supply fashion without some external work on my side :(
 

FJR Colorado

Explorer
Just received my new CFX3 75DZ to replace a CFX40. Love the size but I have a problem. I had my CFX40 plugged into the in-vehicle AC inverter that was powered when the vehicle was running. It was also plugged into my 12v regulated supply from my solar / battery system (isolated from the vehicle). That worked flawlessly. When the vehicle was running, it would draw from the inverter, and when the vehicle was shutoff, it would switch to the solar battery.

I plugged the new CFX3 75DZ in the same way, and when the AC is powered, I am seeing voltage back at the 12 plug even when it's not plugged into anything. ~6.8v. I fear someone screwed up the power schematics and this unit isn't going to be able to be used in that dual supply fashion without some external work on my side :(

If it helps, I can confirm that the CFX3 75DZ does indeed shunt to AC power when present on mine.
 

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