The Dometic CFX3 Mega Thread

[Dometic]

well had a Dometic cfx3 75dz about 3 weeks, currently seriously considering returning it. It will not maintain correct temperature while on 12v (actually tells me it is receiving 13.7v)l. We use it as a backup in our RV as well as in the back of my truck, we arrived back last night to find it still receiving 13.7v but sat at 70 degrees. $1400 waste of money right now. (works fine on 120v which is hardly the point)

@michlong - Sending you a private message so I can get you connected up with our CFX3 product manager to help get your issues resolved

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[Wol_Rus]

Any updates on when the slides will ship, or if there's anywhere that has them on hand?

I recently received my CFX3 55IM, but it's jammed up in the truck on top of drawers. Was unaware of the slider delay which will be crucial to have it for an upcoming 2 week trip in two weeks.

 

[Shortpencils]

I was going to sell my ARB's to buy the same fridge you have but it seems that a lot of you guys are having issues with the CFX3's, It's a shame because it is a beautiful fridge,

hope you get it sorted soon.

I recently picked up the 55im while REI was offering 20% off. The fridge was DOA. Once I got through Dometic’s phone tree I spoke with a very nice lady and a technician, which ultimately led to me returning the fridge to REI. Fast forward a week, I received a replacement 55im from REI. This one was a reboxed return with a note inside from the previous purchaser stating that the fridge started making noise after a week and suffered from wide temperature fluctuations. Of course REI bears the blame for reselling used, defective items.

I really want to like the brand, but I’ve been in possession of two faulty Dometics in a week and a half... I’m gun shy. It is a beautiful fridge. I hope my experience is not the norm.

Paul

 

[67cj5]

I recently picked up the 55im while REI was offering 20% off. The fridge was DOA. Once I got through Dometic’s phone tree I spoke with a very nice lady and a technician, which ultimately led to me returning the fridge to REI. Fast forward a week, I received a replacement 55im from REI. This one was a reboxed return with a note inside from the previous purchaser stating that the fridge started making noise after a week and suffered from wide temperature fluctuations. Of course REI bears the blame for reselling used, defective items.

I really want to like the brand, but I’ve been in possession of two faulty Dometics in a week and a half... I’m gun shy. It is a beautiful fridge. I hope my experience is not the norm.

Paul

Sorry to hear that, I don't know why so many of you guys are having these trouble, I saw this happen with a metal detector 3 or 4 years ago and it has all but destroyed the company and the backlash has turned many away from the hobby, and I can see this going the same way. There was no need to bring out this new model because the previous one was a good product, And The previous models used the Secop/Danfos Compressor, Now I hear that these new models have dometics new own compressor fitted, Someone in their design department needs to realize that "If" it ain't broke then don't fix it, And their stupidity is driving me away from the brand, They ought to stick to designing the basic fridge and leave the Compressor designing down to people like Secop/Danfos who actually make compressors for at leased 85% of the worlds Fridges, Needless to say I have bought my last Dometic fridge because of this fiasco,

Two weeks ago I got sold a brand new Dometic fridge and then I found out that it was a model that was no longer made before it even arrived and the final straw was when the courier turned up with it standing the wrong way up so I refused delivery of it and got a refund,

I have had my ARB 50Qt running 24/7 since early march 2016 and I am playing with the 80Qt version at the moment, I love the Tough design and that it was made purely for Off Road Use In Australia.

I would get a refund if I was you and look elsewhere,

Good luck and I hope it all pans out for you.

 

[Dometic]

Any updates on when the slides will ship, or if there's anywhere that has them on hand?

I recently received my CFX3 55IM, but it's jammed up in the truck on top of drawers. Was unaware of the slider delay which will be crucial to have it for an upcoming 2 week trip in two weeks.

Unfortunately, no update on sliders. They are currently slated for late July. Like many, our supply chains have been heavily impacted by the pandemic. We're all looking forward to when things will start to ease on the supply chain front.

DOMETIC
mobile living made easy
shop.dometic.com
Use promo code Expedition20 for $25 off your order of $75+

 

[michlong]

So we have a conclusion about my dometic fridge. I will be returning to the supplier since the unit is defective. Both Dometic and the supplier have been helpful. I would have had a replacement but there are none available.

thanks

 

[Nelson_Cine]

@Dometic I came across this thread looking for answers for my CFX3-35. I bought it in April and it seemed fine running on 12v. I used it to drive across Canada to get back home to Toronto. I noticed that it seemed to not keep a constant temp and I found myself setting the temperature lower ( 2C compared to 4C) to keep things cold. After getting home the fridge has been plugged into AC and doing fine. I used it yesterday in my Jeep for a day trip and when the vehicle was off the temperature in the fridge started rising. Once the jeep was running the temps started to come down again. When I got home I tried to trouble shoot and found that when the jeep was off the fridge would run for a little bit and then shut off, when the compressor would start up again it would try but then fail. And then just repeat and fail each time. I'm not sure what to do, it was fine when I got it and worked on my trip across the country. But now that summer is here this is really quite a problem. I'm glad I tested it before going camping. I'm not getting any low voltage warnings or anything. Please help. Thanks!

 

[Charles R]

My personal experience with my Dometic CFX28 Is that it seems to have a “soft” shut-off cycle. Or it may be better described as an “energy conservation" cycle. By that I mean that it appears to run with shortened compressor time when it senses that the voltage is near the cut-off level. I had this issue when running my fridge with the rear power outlet.

While I never measured it, my guess was that there was a simple voltage drop through the very thin OEM wires that ran to that socket. While everything worked perfect while running, it wasn’t long after engine shut off before the compressor would start to short cycle and the temp would fluctuate. My temp solution was to lower the cut-off setting on the fridge. That worked well enough that I left it like that for 3 years! Haha!

 

[Nelson_Cine]

My personal experience with my Dometic CFX28 Is that it seems to have a “soft” shut-off cycle. Or it may be better described as an “energy conservation" cycle. By that I mean that it appears to run with shortened compressor time when it senses that the voltage is near the cut-off level. I had this issue when running my fridge with the rear power outlet.

While I never measured it, my guess was that there was a simple voltage drop through the very thin OEM wires that ran to that socket. While everything worked perfect while running, it wasn’t long after engine shut off before the compressor would start to short cycle and the temp would fluctuate. My temp solution was to lower the cut-off setting on the fridge. That worked well enough that I left it like that for 3 years! Haha!

That's an interesting observation, I tried again and it seems to working again. It's been in the Jeep since yesterday and when I checked this morning it's still at the right temp. I've used both the rear outlet and the console outlet and haven't had a problem in the past. Right now I'm using the console outlet.

I measured both outlets plus my battery and it was only reading 12.6, which I believe is a little low? So I also put the battery on a charger for a few hours last night just to top up the battery.

I'm going on a road trip today for about 7hours of driving. I'll keep the fridge in there and see how it does for the next few days. Hopefully it was just a weird fluke.

 

[michlong]

So we have a conclusion about my dometic fridge. I will be returning to the supplier since the unit is defective. Both Dometic and the supplier have been helpful. I would have had a replacement but there are none available.

thanks

Well dometic found a replacement at another supplier - not had chance to test it out yet - will let you al know what conclusion I come to


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[67cj5]

One thing that no one realizes is that these fridges behave like living breathing things, IE.

Pack it one way and you will see it's temperature drop several degrees below the desired setting, Pack it again and it will drop to the desired setting, Repack it again and it's run cycle will double and it's OFF cycle will be short, Pack it again and it's run cycle will be short and it's off Cycle will be long,

Some short Run cycles can chew more Ah and some Long Run Cycles can chew less Ah, Then the internal temps can mess around with the Temp at the bottom can drop below the set Temp and at the top of the basket the temp can be warmer than the desired temp, Repack the fridge again and the Temp in the bottom will match what you have the fridge set too and the Temp at the top of the basket will match what you have the fridge too,

Then comes the power draw Pack the fridge and let it settle for 24 hours and start the test and it will chew 9.527Ah over a 24 hour period then another day you will repack it on another day and do the same set up as before and then the fridge will chew 14.5Ah, Go through the whole set up again 3 weeks later and it might chew 23Ah,

All of this I have seen happen in matching Ambient Temps with 6 different fridges, Don't panic thinking there is something wrong right away because even with all the multiple repackings listed above No fridge will mimic how it behaved on a prior date unless it has been left packed as it was on the previous test, These fridge are Automatic and they adjust them selves accordingly, Disturb the contents and it will behave different every time, And your house fridge does exactly the same,

The Fridges Temp readout will always remain constant but if you go adding a thermometer sensor from another thermometer you will see the internal temp rise and fall all over the place this does not mean the fridge can not hold it's Temp setting, Remember Fridges live and breath and they adjust them selves all the time which is why one hour you will see the fridge do a 17 minute and 8 second Run Cycle and undisturbed 3 hours later you will see it do a 16m 49s run cycle and the next time it runs it will do a 17m 35second run cycle and just as the run cycle keep changing so does the OFF Cycle getting longer or shorter with each cycle,

The best way to get a good average power draw and temperature average is when you pack the fridge leave an Air gap all the way round the edge and leave a Gap in the middle front to back with a side opening fridge or Left to Right across the middle with a Fridge like the ARB's and the Engels and the New End Opening CFX3 models,

DON'T waste your time trying to test your fridge beyond a basic power draw and to see what it does at different Temp setting, Once you have done that forget doing anymore testing, I started testing 4x4 fridges 4 years ago and I have been doing it ever since and all of the above has happened every time, You will never get 2 tests to match unless you leave the fridge and contents undisturbed,

Just enjoy your fridges for what they are and don't put your self through such torment,

Good Luck and have fun,

 

[Seth_sd]

Edit: The issue I am experiencing seems to be with my own 12V socket wiring issues and not related to Dometic issues after further investigation.

I’m on a trip right now and experiencing temp fluctuations on 12v. Plug it into AC and all is good but that’s not gonna help me when I’m on the road. I have a brand new 100ah AGM house battery. I have the fridge set to the low battery protection. Anecdotally, I’d say at around 12.2 or 12.1 volts the compressor starts running in short cycles and the temp slowly rises.

I’m really bummed because I’m headed out to WhiteRim Road in Canyonlands, currently in Colorado and debating taking ice because I can’t fit another Cooler in my 4Runner.

I definitely would hold off buying one of these until this issue is fixed. Clearly there is a common problem we are experiencing. To be totally transparent I have not called Dometic because I’m on the road for another week.

 

[67cj5]

I’m on a trip right now and experiencing temp fluctuations on 12v. Plug it into AC and all is good but that’s not gonna help me when I’m on the road. I have a brand new 100ah AGM house battery. I have the fridge set to the low battery protection. Anecdotally, I’d say at around 12.2 or 12.1 volts the compressor starts running in short cycles and the temp slowly rises.

I’m really bummed because I’m headed out to WhiteRim Road in Canyonlands, currently in Colorado and debating taking ice because I can’t fit another Cooler in my 4Runner.

I definitely would hold off buying one of these until this issue is fixed. Clearly there is a common problem we are experiencing. To be totally transparent I have not called Dometic because I’m on the road for another week.

The temps in these fridges can rise and fall up to 6*c +/-, There is also a few things you need to know, Some brands do short on cycles followed by short off cycles, Using a separate Thermometer to check them out Brands like ARB will run for 10 or 20 minutes and then shut off up to 2+ hours and they can rise from anything like 1.5*c to 6*c But the internal thermometer will only show a drop of 1*c, NOTE this is normal for all fridges, Also How a fridge is loaded has a big impact on the run times and the Off Times, Just because a separate thermometer say it's risen by 5*c dose not rally have an impact on how the fridge is cooling or how warm it gets because the fridge is cooling the food and drink and the air Temp inside the fridge Has no real impact on how the fridge is cooling or how cold it gets,

When you are not at the wheel give me a call on here and I will show/tell you how you can check it out to work out what it is doing Ok

Take care and good luck.

 

[Seth_sd]

The temps in these fridges can rise and fall up to 6*c +/-, There is also a few things you need to know, Some brands do short on cycles followed by short off cycles, Using a separate Thermometer to check them out Brands like ARB will run for 10 or 20 minutes and then shut off up to 2+ hours and they can rise from anything like 1.5*c to 6*c But the internal thermometer will only show a drop of 1*c, NOTE this is normal for all fridges, Also How a fridge is loaded has a big impact on the run times and the Off Times, Just because a separate thermometer say it's risen by 5*c dose not rally have an impact on how the fridge is cooling or how warm it gets because the fridge is cooling the food and drink and the air Temp inside the fridge Has no real impact on how the fridge is cooling or how cold it gets,

When you are not at the wheel give me a call on here and I will show/tell you how you can check it out to work out what it is doing Ok

Take care and good luck.

Thank you for the offer of help. I think it’s more than the displayed data being the issue. The food is not cold in the fridge which matches what I’m seeing in the app. I probably should have been more clear that for me it’s not fluctuation. The temp only goes up.

 

[aearles]

Hey @Dometic, curious if you guys have any idea when stock on the CFX3 line should be replenished? I just sold a CFX3 75DZ to downsize to a 35 or 45, only to find out they're backordered everywhere. :-( --Thanks!