Ironman 4x4 Buyer Beware
- Thread starter D Chapman
- Start date
Buy any insurance available to you during transit just in case it's not a warranty issue. And before you start the whole process be sure to piss off the people you bought it from.
Fo real?
What happened?
ARB & Engel used to be the same fridge essentially unless that has changed.
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Funny. Just this weekend I was at friend's place and they had just got a new Yeti 65. It was full of Coors Light.
Then they gave me shit about drinking $10/6pk beer.
I installed the fridge in my truck a little over a week ago. Ordered from AB and had it the next day. I ran about 8ft of 10ga wire from my aux fuse box next to my battery and hard wired the fridge. I left it running in my truck all week and on Wednesday of last week I noticed the display way off (I thought the whole fridge was off). I jiggled the connector on the back of the fridge and it came back on. This connector is a super tight fit, so it didn't work itself loose. On Thursday night I was driving up to Vermont to go camping and the whole way up the display would cut on and off. Jiggling the connector would not always make it work. Sometimes unplugging it would take care of it, some times it wouldn't. Since I was driving up at night I noticed the interior light was on when I opened the fridge, so I know it still had power. It seemed to be staying cool, so I didn't mess with it after that. Over the course of the weekend I noticed the compressor still runs and everything seems to be working other that the display intermittently. I'm guessing its just a loose connection.
This is ARB's response
In my opinion, 8 ft of 10ga wire should be more than adequate for a circuit that utilises a 15A fuse, but maybe I'm wrong. I also have the issue when the compressor isn't running, so the current draw should be next to nothing.
I'm definitely happy that they are telling me how to (hopefully) fix it myself vs having to ship it to them to fix. Its ARB, so I'm sure this will all be taken care of without a hitch.
For real, I bet I wouldn't have any display issues with the Yeti that I just sold.
The average draw of a fridge is relatively small, but a pump turn-on current spike may drop the voltage below whatever the brain box considers reasonable. I had intermittent issues with the fridge before I ran the wires straight to the battery (10ga IIRC).
Pete may be rite. 10 guage may seem sufficient for a constant run but it's the initial start up of the compressor that may cause shit to go cattywampus. Not to mention 8' is a decent length. Not sure what the amp draw is but it may be to much for the 10g wire.
The amp draw can't be more than 15A since there is a 15A fuse for the circuit and the fuse isn't blowing. My auxiliary fuse box is right next to the battery with very large (free with every PDI) cables, so that is definitely getting enough power.
Based on a quick google search, 10ga wire should be good up to around 20ft or less.
For shits and giggles I may measure the voltage drop at compressor startup before I take it apart.
Based on a quick google search, 10ga wire should be good up to around 20ft or less.
For shits and giggles I may measure the voltage drop at compressor startup before I take it apart.
you may need something like a scope, or a very fast-acting DMM.
I don't think there's an in-rush current more than 15A, but in general a slow-blow fuse can take a quite high current spike - definitely above the rated capacity - without blowing.
In any case - from this calculator, you should only have about .4 V of a drop across 20 ft of 10ga wire at 10A current. So I wouldn't quite buy ARB's response.
I don't think there's an in-rush current more than 15A, but in general a slow-blow fuse can take a quite high current spike - definitely above the rated capacity - without blowing.
In any case - from this calculator, you should only have about .4 V of a drop across 20 ft of 10ga wire at 10A current. So I wouldn't quite buy ARB's response.
That depends upon the quality of the wire. The crap they sell at parts stores is not good, and rarely meets it's own specifications. Good enough for small stuff in a vehicle, but not good enough for important things. I always make sure to use quality wire, and then drop a gauge just to ensure long-term reliability and compatibility with upgrades.
I'd still check inside like ARB suggested, though.
Cheers,
Kennith
If it is power surge. A capacitor would take care of that, but I cant imagine that it be necessary for a fridge. Sounds to me like something is loose.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12015DDC/T-Spec-Capacitor.html
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12015DDC/T-Spec-Capacitor.html
What wire do you recommend?
I think installing larger wire would be more cost effective.
A capacitor is great for sucking up voltage spikes when a coil discharges a spike when it gets turned off. This spike is usually ac current and gets taken to ground via the 3rd leg of the capacitor. Any dc current gets stored in the capacitor and they discharge at a very controlled rate. So they get used in clock circuits a lot.
I think the general idea being laid out by the gallery of usual suspects here is that the voltage is dropping to a level that the control unit in the fridge don't like and causing it to get stupid till jymmie reboots it. That's only going to be fixed by a better voltage source.
But I guess if that capacitor would use the stored voltage to keep the voltage high when the load comes on it would work. Not sure that's how it's meant to be used though.
I think the general idea being laid out by the gallery of usual suspects here is that the voltage is dropping to a level that the control unit in the fridge don't like and causing it to get stupid till jymmie reboots it. That's only going to be fixed by a better voltage source.
But I guess if that capacitor would use the stored voltage to keep the voltage high when the load comes on it would work. Not sure that's how it's meant to be used though.
Yes - that's what the multi-Farad capacitors are used for, primarily by the ricers running kilowatt-sized subwoofer amps. Larger-gauge wire is by far simpler solution, although I am not convinced this is a problem.
WTF…you need to run a 8 gauge wire to run a fridge…So according to that logic my truck should have burned to the ground in a electrical fire years ago
2 radio's (ICOM 2720, Motorola CDM 1250)
Laptop power supply
Fridge (Ironman 50L, working flawlessly)
15' of 8 gauge, that breakouts to 12 gauge to feed everything
2 radio's (ICOM 2720, Motorola CDM 1250)
Laptop power supply
Fridge (Ironman 50L, working flawlessly)
15' of 8 gauge, that breakouts to 12 gauge to feed everything
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Maybe I worded it poorly in my previous post, 'rebooting' it doesn't work every time. I shut the lid once and the display turned back on. Moving the connector on the back of the fridge seems to have the greatest effect.