Help w/ two Problems Please !

[Maui]

I have a new to me 94 Dodge Class B leisure travel wide body.

Problem 1) Onan 2800 microlite starts fine but 1min 45 sec later sputters and quits. Will not restart and orange light won't light on start switch like it does on first start. Checked fuel bowl after incident and it has fuel in there. I just changed the oil and fuel filter BTW. I thought it was fuel but now thinking it is electrical. Something heats up and quits after 1min 45 sec. If I let it cool for 10 min it fires right up but same thing. Could it be low oil sensor? Where is it??

Problem 2) Demetic 2310 12volt/120 volt and propane refrigerator rear coils get hot on the back of the unit with propane and shore power but not on 12 volt. The small freezer section gets cool but never frozen after running for two days. Bottom of frig doesn't get cold at all.

Help Please guys and thanks in advance!

[Bruceper]

https://www.cumminsonan.com/www/pdf/...s/981-0506.pdf Your Onan manual. It's pretty extensive which is nice.

I can't find the exact issue you are describing, but from reading other sites it sounds like a heat issue. Specifically other sites mentioned that the heat sensor is not receiving it's required message so it's shutting itself down to prevent damage. Perhaps the manual can tell you how to troubleshoot that.

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/operating/rm2310.pdf Dometic 2310 Manual. I know nothing about 2 or 3 way fridges other than mine is broke and I will probably replace it with a 120v unit.

[Maui]

Thanks Bruce! I'm thinking of going to a house current frig too. Not as complicated and cools really fast in minutes. I'm thinking solar panel, charge controller and inverter to run the wall plugs which run the frig. How were you thinking of hooking it up?

[skagitstan]

Might want to think about a 12V compressor fridge (or 12/120) to avoid the inverter inefficiencies running a 120 only unit.

Stan

[booster]

Originally Posted by skagitstan

Might want to think about a 12V compressor fridge (or 12/120) to avoid the inverter inefficiencies running a 120 only unit.

Stan

X2 - especially if you get one of the highly efficient Danfoss compressor models. The 110v home frigs tend to be very inefficient by comparison, and the inverter makes it even worse.

[Maui]

Originally Posted by skagitstan

Might want to think about a 12V compressor fridge (or 12/120) to avoid the inverter inefficiencies running a 120 only unit.

Stan

I haven't heard of the inefficiencies of the 120 volt units. Would u mind explaining that for me? Thanks

[skagitstan]

You will need a battery along with your solar panel(s) and controller. The battery is what really stores the energy to power your fridge. You can't just depend on the controller's output. It is there to optimize extracting the solar for charging the battery.

The main inefficiency is the inverter you propose. Typically, they run in the mid to upper 80% range to convert your battery's 12VDC to 120VAC. That means maybe 15% of battery energy being used to run the fridge is really just being converted into waste heat.

With solar system use, you really need to minimize wasted energy. You can't get sunlight any time you wish, and it would be a bad thing for the battery to go flat at night just because you wasted energy when you didn't need to. Won't do your food too much good.

A 12V fridge runs the compressor directly from 12V, so you avoid the wasted energy. Also, as booster says, you can get very efficient 12V fridges.

Stan

[Bruceper]

Originally Posted by Maui

Thanks Bruce! I'm thinking of going to a house current frig too. Not as complicated and cools really fast in minutes. I'm thinking solar panel, charge controller and inverter to run the wall plugs which run the frig. How were you thinking of hooking it up?

To be honest it was simply going to be a take out and replace idea. There is a plugin available in the microwave compartment above the fridge compartment where I would likely plug it in.

However, finding something that would fit properly is a challenge. Most of the compact refrigerators are narrower than the stock Dometic unit. They are also taller or shorter as well. I haven't given enough thought or research into how it would be stabilized and how the gaps would be filled to still look good.

Another issue is keeping it closed during driving. I don't really want to put holes in the unit so some other mechanism needs to be devised while still looking decent.

For me, and for now, I only go to parks where I have power, so I'm not concerned about 12volt use.

It's also a cost issue. A compact fridge is $100-200. Not really expensive at all.

One of the inefficiencies people are talking about is losses during the conversion from 12 volts to 120 volts. There will always be loss be stepping up or down a voltage or current which means more drain on the batteries. While the loss may seem insignificant, it adds up when you consider that battery energy is finite.

Another inefficiency would be power consumption to cooling. However an Energy Star fridge is better at not wasting power than an unrated fridge. This power is wasted and converted to heat, which is an issue in a small class B. An exhaust fan may need to be utilized to get rid of the excess heat.

[Maui]

Bruce And Stan thanks for the info. Never even thought of that before. So what you are saying, it's better to find a 12volt fridge and run a solar panel to a charge controller straight to the house battery by passing a inverter because the inverter is robbing power.
The only thing is....right now I have no power to any of my power wall sockets unless I use shore power or generator (is that how yours is too?) With a inverter all my wall plugs would now work just using the house battery, being charged by the solar panel. So I can plug in a cheap dorm type refrigerator that's 110volt and be done with the 3way that I have now that's not cooling. I only camp out one night at a time so i'm not looking for long term boondocking.
I'm also missing the frig latch. What seems to be missing in this picture?

[Maui]

Dog gone it..sorry about the pictures. Can these be rotated n "go advanced" tab?

[Maui]

As you know I just bought this RV. Seems nothing works! Playing with hotwater heater today. Turn on propane, Fiip interior switch on with red light, run outside I hear and see the burn light and roar! Then 5 seconds later it shuts off......it auto relights in a few seconds and i'm happy again but 5 seconds later it shuts off again!! Getting frustrated here guys! Frig gets hot on coils but inside is not cold, Generator starts but shuts off 1min 45 sec later.....now water heater only stays on 5 seconds....Help!!!! LOL

[eric1514]

Make sure you have water in the water heater tank. It may be shutting off to protect it self from overheating.

Eric

[Maui]

Thanks Eric I'll look into that. Ummmm how would I confirm that? I found the tank but no sight glass etc. Disconnect the pipe and see if water comes out of hot side?

[obgraham]

Is it the standard RV water heater? Undo the drain plug on the outside and the water should gush out. Put "rv water heater drain" into Google and you'll see several pictures show up. It's also possible you have it in bypass mode, with no water in it.