RM8501 refrigerator not working on AC
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Forum Name: I need HELP!!!
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=15459
Printed Date: 11 May 2024 at 6:38am
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Topic: RM8501 refrigerator not working on AC
Posted By: Bungee
Subject: RM8501 refrigerator not working on AC
Date Posted: 05 Sep 2022 at 4:55pm
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Good day, Just got back from a 2 week trip and everything worked perfectly. Got home and plugged into shore power and still all good. Plugged in a portable shop vac and cleaned things up and noticed the next day that the refrigerator was alarming that AC was not working. Switched to propane, all good. Switched to battery, all good. hmm. Read the manual and it says check the breaker and fuse and make sure "mains power" is correct. Did all that. Even plugged the refrigerator directly into an extension cord and that still didn't work. looked for a tripped GFCI and the only one that I have wasn't tripped. All outlets have power. Followed the wiring thru the two service vent panels and everything looks good. The power at the receptacle is 120 VAC and it goes into the polyswitch along with all the other connections. I looked for an inline fuse and didn't wee anything. The manual doesn't say anything about a fuse either. The manual does say that if the heater element is bad, it would give a different error light sequence. Anyone have a similar experience? Anything left to check? any recommendations. I am thinking it is the polyswitch but that is just a guess. Thanks  ------------- 2020 r-pod 191 2019 Honda Ridgeline |
Replies:
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 05 Sep 2022 at 6:57pm
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When mine died, everything died. No propane, battery, or AC. This might help: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/1606205/Dometic-Rm-8-Series.html#manual - http://www.manualslib.com/manual/1606205/Dometic-Rm-8-Series.html#manual ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2022 at 3:15am
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You could try to determine if the ac heating element has failed.
With the fridge disconnected from both 12vdc and 120vac see if you can trace the 2 wires to the 120V element. According to the schematic they are brown and connect to terminals x102 on the control board. Disconnect them and measure the resistance. Should be around 1 ohm I think. If it shows open then the element is bad. Otherwise it's probably the circuit board, which is exorbitant to replace unless you can find someone with a good one from a fridge they're replacing. Good luck! ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: Rpod-Couple
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2022 at 9:11pm
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I agree with offgrid’s procedure however the element resistance will be much higher than 1 ohm. At 1 ohm and 120V the fridge heating element will pull 120 amps! It should be around 120 ohms which is 1 amp at 120V which results in 120 watts which matches the specs in the manual. The manual mentions there is a fuse on the circuit board that can be changed but it doesn’t provide any picture or details. I expect it looks like a small glass tube about 1 inch long with silver end caps in a snap-in holder (guess on my part.) If you find it, pull it out and ohm it out. Fuse should be less than 20 ohms. ------------- Steve & Elaine 2021 R-pod 2023 VW Atlas Cross Sport |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 09 Sep 2022 at 11:29am
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Whups your right, I was checking the power consumption, which is about 120 watts and would draw about 1 amp, so 120 ohms. Fuse should be less than an ohm typically, if it's good. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: Bungee
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2022 at 5:25pm
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Hi, thank you both. Here is the latest. I was easily able to measure the DC heating element (green outlined connector) and that was 1 ohm. The AC element (the one that could be an issue) is not going to be easy to measure (yellow outline). The connector for the AC element is baffling as to how it gets removed. I do not see any clips and it almost looks like the wires are pressed in. Any ideas? ------------- 2020 r-pod 191 2019 Honda Ridgeline |
Posted By: Bungee
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2022 at 5:29pm
------------- 2020 r-pod 191 2019 Honda Ridgeline |
Posted By: funks
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2022 at 10:03am
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Like Stephen everything died on my refrigerator so I had to replace it. I noticed that you are in California. I am located in Pioneer, Ca and I still have my RM8501. If you are close to my location and want to pick it up you are welcome to it. You might want it for parts. John
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Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2022 at 10:32am
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The circled area shows wires going into a connector. Is the connector something that can be removed? To me, it looks like the top connector in the picture is partially unplugged. That might be the explanation of why it isn't working. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: Bungee
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2022 at 2:49pm
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John, clearly I am interested an about an hour + away. I will contact you offline. On the connector that I was asking about, It may look loose but it is by no means loose. I have tugged on it, squeezed it, picked at it, etc. I took a break from it hoping I would find inspiration today  Again, thanks for the assistance ------------- 2020 r-pod 191 2019 Honda Ridgeline |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2022 at 3:33pm
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Have you tried lining it up with the socket and pushing it in? It looks like the two short tabs on the top should be engaging slots on the socket and the plug should slide in deeper into the socket. John, would you take a picture of yours for comparison? I may be all wet, but to me, it looks like it is partially unplugged. Of course, I no longer have mine to check. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: Bungee
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2022 at 1:26pm
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After picking up the refrigerator from John, I ran a couple experiments. first I confirmed that the connectors are press fit and the wires are impaled (for lack of a better word) into the connectors. It was a lot better visualizing this on a bench rather than on my Rpod. I measured my AC heating element. It was open so I replaced it with the 110 Ohm spare. AC still giving an error as before. I replaced the Dometic control box with the spare. Could not get anything to light up. I confirmed 12vdc to the unit but that is about it. disappointed but continued on. I reinstalled the original controller and again, not working on AC mode. Connected an extension cord directly to the fridge and still not working in AC mode (as always the warning triangle lights up and blinks). I have to "assume" I guess that the controller failed on AC mode and took out the heating element. Double failures seem odd but I suppose it could happen. I really want to thank John for allowing me to run this experiment. He is a great guy and we really enjoyed meeting him and seeing what improvement he did to his Rpod. Side note, these control units are not repairable. the PC boards are potted  ------------- 2020 r-pod 191 2019 Honda Ridgeline |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2022 at 2:40pm
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It's hard to imagine that a control board failure would take out a heating element. All it is is a resistor, it either has 120Vac to it or not. Could your old heating element have developed been the first failure, creating a ground fault which then damaged the relay in the control board? If you haven't already, you might want to check that the 120V heater isn't shorted to ground now. Depending on how much more time you want to spend on this, it looks from the manual that there is a service mode where you can manually toggle through activating the various operating modes, including manually energizing the ac heating element relay. Possibly you could do that with 120V and the heating element disconnected and see if the relay contacts close or not using an ohmmeter. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: jlferris
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2023 at 4:39am
Does your RM8501 have a control unit that looks like this? Do you know if it is still good? Mine is bad and I'm finding it difficult to get a replacement for under $1000.
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Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2023 at 6:17am
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For not much more, you can get a new refrigerator. That is what I did. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: Bungee
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2023 at 8:09am
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Hi, I found the same thing, very hard to find and very expensive. I have yet to travel down the road of shopping for a new fridge but that is the way I plan on going as I imagine buying a Dometic controller would have limited return options (not sure, just assuming) if something goes sideways. If you do happen to buy a new one (fridge or controller), it would be kind to let us know what you found. John got his fridge off of Amazon and it looked comparable. Sorry for the general bad news but this is what I experienced. I wish you better luck. ------------- 2020 r-pod 191 2019 Honda Ridgeline |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2023 at 12:28pm
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We replaced our Dometic RM8501 when it was just over 10 years old. Purchased the same from FR back in September 2020 for a price of $ 1150 complete which also included shipping. The changout would have been much easier with a second person to help. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |