Dometic Fridge orange flashing light?

banksey88 said:
Hope so mate, thanks for your help. I’m sure the power stayed on before though when the engine was on! Worrying but hopefully just the gremlin!

Back to the fridge orange light issue now.
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I think that a solid orange light means the thermostat has failed, which would sound right if it isn’t chilling.
if so it’s a warranty job.
Turn everything off, unplug from mains, have a cup of tea and a biscuit then go look again but before you turn the fridge on or plug mains in go to the control panel on the power unit and have a look at the leisure battery voltage to check it is charged (should be about 12.5v or close).
you aren’t running the engine whilst connected to hook up are you?
 
Nigel W said:
I think that a solid orange light means the thermostat has failed, which would sound right if it isn’t chilling.
if so it’s a warranty job.
Turn everything off, unplug from mains, have a cup of tea and a biscuit then go look again but before you turn the fridge on or plug mains in go to the control panel on the power unit and have a look at the leisure battery voltage to check it is charged (should be about 12.5v or close).
you aren’t running the engine whilst connected to hook up are you?
Click to expand...
Yeh I saw that, but it’s a flashing orange so I’m unsure. I’m going to try what you said, how do i check the voltage if I don’t start the engine? I only seem to get the LED’s when I start the engine.

No never ran the engine connected to hook up.
 
Nigel W said:
I’m guessing you have the Sargent system as you mentioned a EC50 control panel, if so I suggest you read this and all will be revealed!
Click to expand...
Yes that’s correct and makes sense with the voltages. The leisure battery voltage was above 12.5V when I left it off for abit but still the orange light flashing. Left it on hook up over night so will see if the fridge is cold in the morning.

I’m very confused what time Sargent unit is doing. When disconnected from hook up, I turned the Sargent unit off (red toggle switch) and turned the MCB’s off, all of the 12V stuff was still powered up! Is that correct? It’s like the Sargent unit isolates nothing. I also pulled the fuse for the fridge as well, but the fridge remained powered up.

I wish they supplied me with a wiring diagram so I can work out what’s going on!

-
 
banksey88 said:
Yes that’s correct and makes sense with the voltages. The leisure battery voltage was above 12.5V when I left it off for abit but still the orange light flashing. Left it on hook up over night so will see if the fridge is cold in the morning.

I’m very confused what time Sargent unit is doing. When disconnected from hook up, I turned the Sargent unit off (red toggle switch) and turned the MCB’s off, all of the 12V stuff was still powered up! Is that correct? It’s like the Sargent unit isolates nothing. I also pulled the fuse for the fridge as well, but the fridge remained powered up.

I wish they supplied me with a wiring diagram so I can work out what’s going on!
Click to expand...
Ok I will try to explain in as few words as possible. The Sargent box had two different sides to it one is the mains supply when on hook up which provides mcb’s to the 240v sockets and the charger. The second is the 12v supply from the leisure battery to the internal lights, sink water pump and any cig sockets the installer has provided. To charge the leisure battery when on hook up it has an inbuilt charger which is turned on/off by the red switch.
This box is also fitted to caravans and motorhomes which have a different type of fridge (3way) and the fuse you pulled is for that type of fridge, not yours which is a compressor so it is not connected and redundant.
The 12v side will keep working, when turned on/off by the ec50 controller whilst the engine is off but when the engine is running a signal is sent to the box to disable the 12v side (except the fridge which is permanently connected and always live no matter what).
The fridge is connected to the leisure battery and is independent.
The Sterling box is to charge the leisure battery from the engine, it has no other purpose and I would leave it well alone and not touch it.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Nigel, that’s has explained all my concerns and understand what that is doing now. Sounds like mine is working correctly and how you explained it.

No don’t fancy touching the Sterling box, could end up with more problems!
 
He folks, first post so go easy on me!

I had exactly the same issue with the red flashing light. no matter what I did to the fuse box and such, I couldn’t simply “unplug” the fridge, which is what the manual says is needed to try to resolve the issue.

In the end I simply unplugged from the mains and disconnected the positive lead to the leisure battery. The stopped the power going to the fridge. I connected the battery again and boom, issue resolved.
Hope this helps
 
banksey88 said:
Hi,

I got my first van conversion yesterday and been trying to get the fridge (Dometic CRE0050) working today.

I seem to have a continuous orange flashing light (see photo) which I can’t get rid of and have left it for a few hours using the leisure battery, but still got the orange flashing light and the fridge still wasn’t cold.

I’ve tonight plugged the van into the electric hook up so will see how that goes, but initially it didn’t give any difference to when the leisure battery was feeding it.

Anyone have any ideas why this isn’t working or what orange light indicates?
View attachment 87844
Click to expand...
Just had same problem on my camper king conversion try turning the fridge on then go in the electrics cupboard and remove the top 30amp fuse in the left hand top fusebox and leave for 10 seconds, refit and check, worked on mine after the second try
 
Exactly the same with mine at busfest.
disconnected power behind fridge left 10 seconds reconnected spade and working normally again
 
Steve morgan said:
Hi
Simple fix
6mm cable to the battery direct
In line 10 amp fuse
Remove the small test cables from the back off the fridge
Job done
Click to expand...
While I'm sure this makes sense to you, it makes no sense to me. Not enough information for someone to go on.
Small test cables from the back off the fridge? My fridge has a whole strip of cables and I'm sure none of them are 'test' cables.
Connect from battery to fridge? Where? Which terminal? If I were to connect a battery positive to the F, D, A, C, P or T terminals I'm pretty sure something would go bang.
The only terminal that should have a battery positive connected to it on my fridge is the upper + terminal.
 
banksey88 said:
Hope so mate, thanks for your help. I’m sure the power stayed on before though when the engine was on! Worrying but hopefully just the gremlin!

Back to the fridge orange light issue now.
Click to expand...
banksey88 said:
Hi,

I got my first van conversion yesterday and been trying to get the fridge (Dometic CRE0050) working today.

I seem to have a continuous orange flashing light (see photo) which I can’t get rid of and have left it for a few hours using the leisure battery, but still got the orange flashing light and the fridge still wasn’t cold.

I’ve tonight plugged the van into the electric hook up so will see how that goes, but initially it didn’t give any difference to when the leisure battery was feeding it.

Anyone have any ideas why this isn’t working or what orange light indicates?
View attachment 87844
Click to expand...
Hello, I'm having this issue! Can I ask if you got it resolved?
 
It sounds like you need to check your battery voltage is good first of all, then disconnect the power feed from the fridge + terminal (or pull the fuse) wait a bit, then reconnect.
If fault persists, next step would be check voltage at the + terminal to ensure there's no voltage drop in the wiring.
 
Grim Reaper said:
It sounds like you need to check your battery voltage is good first of all, then disconnect the power feed from the fridge + terminal (or pull the fuse) wait a bit, then reconnect.
If fault persists, next step would be check voltage at the + terminal to ensure there's no voltage drop in the wiring.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response! I will get my husband to see if he can check this out.
 
I think most Dometic fridges have a voltage sensor that switches the fridge off if it drops beneath a certain value. This is to protect the battery from being discharged too much- it is using the voltage to asses the charge of the battery. Our new cool box has three settings so that if you are powering from the starter battery you can set it to stop at a higher voltage to avoid not being able to start. As our leisure battery degraded over the years in our old van, this definitely happened more frequently - and when it did you saw a small flashing light and the compressor didn't run. Voltage drop in the supply cable will lower the voltage - I assume this is why the manual specifies a much thicker cable than you would otherwise expect and gives a cross section against length graph, which is basically showing voltage drop.
 
banksey88 said:
Hi,

I got my first van conversion yesterday and been trying to get the fridge (Dometic CRE0050) working today.

I seem to have a continuous orange flashing light (see photo) which I can’t get rid of and have left it for a few hours using the leisure battery, but still got the orange flashing light and the fridge still wasn’t cold.

I’ve tonight plugged the van into the electric hook up so will see how that goes, but initially it didn’t give any difference to when the leisure battery was feeding it.

Anyone have any ideas why this isn’t working or what orange light indicates?
View attachment 87844
Click to expand...
Hi,
I have just got a VW camper and have the exact same thing....I have read the string but no further along....did you manage to resolve your issue, cheers. Brian
 
CyclingBrian said:
Hi,
I have just got a VW camper and have the exact same thing....I have read the string but no further along....did you manage to resolve your issue, cheers. Brian
Click to expand...
I had a flashing yellow light on mine. The compressor was kicking in and the leisure battery was fine. Tried to find the fuse to isolate power but couldn't so in the end disconnected the negative cable from the leisure battery for a couple of minutes then reattached and everything has been fine.
 
Beaker67 said:
I had a flashing yellow light on mine. The compressor was kicking in and the leisure battery was fine. Tried to find the fuse to isolate power but couldn't so in the end disconnected the negative cable from the leisure battery for a couple of minutes then reattached and everything has been fine.
Click to expand...
I disconnected both the negative and positive to the leisure battery but still have the issue.
 
Sounds like low voltage, what is voltage at fridge or battery when compressor kicks in.
Is your battery fully charged and is it a good one or has it been allowed to go flat.
 
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