Troubleshooting Norcold 6162 Frig

[bradyfehr]

My frig was working great, went away for 3 weeks and upon return - nothing! It has 120v. I thought it might be the power board so bought new one, still nada. don't care about the gas side, trailer is parked.

Seems that all is left is the thermistor and the Eye board.

Any ideas?

[enblethen]

We are really guessing until the OP determines whether he has 12 volts DC to the refer.

[dougrainer]

Eyebrow connectors do NOT come loose IF you have never messed with it. Doug

[agesilaus]

Oh if the eyebrow (The lights inside above the thing) do not come on ...
Pull eyebrow out and find the big multi-pin connector. Unplug and replug several times.
Then go outside find the control board (mine was o
n the left) and do the same thing several times.. Try again.

Yeah on my new board I was ready to send it back but I tried to push that ribbon cable into the connector, one last time, and got it to go in a little further, then it worked. I can't say push hard since you can't push hard on that floppy cable but push firmly anyway

[wa8yxm]

There is also a heat element.. To test.
Locate the heater.. find the wires to it and parallel an indicator (small light bulb or AC volt meter) I won't go into how to do that.

Fire the sucker up
Light come on meter show 120 Odds are the element is toast Resistance measurement of the element is diagnostic.

NO light/voltage. Control board or bad connection or blown fuse or bad cord/socket (plug in a lamp or drop light to test) or .. Well long list.

Oh if the eyebrow (The lights inside above the thing) do not come on ...
Pull eyebrow out and find the big multi-pin connector. Unplug and replug several times.
Then go outside find the control board (mine was on the left) and do the same thing several times.. Try again.

Finally.. ON MY Dometic there was a terminal board (no electronics just a fuse or two and wires) dead center bottom outside RIGHT UNDER THE BLASTED DRIP TUBE.

This tube is supposed to go out a vent hole so it drip, drip, drips on the ground. NOT left inside to drip,drip,drip on that board but .. well.. (I fixed it twice)

[dougrainer]

If you insist on replacing parts, you will end up with a lot of money spent and still no operation.
1. Your Model has a HI HUMIDITY switch, usually between the Lower and upper Freezer doors. THAT switch usually corrodes out after a number of years. It has a ON with Humidity heat strip ON and ON with the Humidity strip OFF. with a MIDDLE stop. IF that switch corrodes out and the UP or Down does NOT send the 12 volt signal, the Refer appears DEAD. MOST common fault on Old this type model Norcold. You bypass or replace the switch.
2. Until you get a Volt meter and verify that you DO have 12 volts on the back side 12 volt input wire, you are spinning your wheels. If NO 12 volt on that wire, you have a 12 volt fuse at the fuse panel for the RV bad.
3. HAVING 120 AT THE REAR RECEPTACLE MEANS NOTHING. The refer controls operate from the 12 volts of the RV. Doug

[agesilaus]

enblethen wrote:
No lights would indicate no 12 volt DC. 12 volt DC is used for all the controls.
See page 9-10
Manual
There should be fuse on circuit board.

It does a glass cartridge fuse there is also a thermal breaker on the stack. And if it's 120V problem you need to check the main panel breaker too. I have a model 821 tho.

[enblethen]

No lights would indicate no 12 volt DC. 12 volt DC is used for all the controls.
See page 9-10
Manual
There should be fuse on circuit board.

[agesilaus]

You test for 12V at the board that you say you replaced, at the plug that goes into it. My eyebrow board had a display it just would not change settings. Search the iRV2 forums, I had a fairly complete troubleshooting guide but I got banned for mentioning Florida's Concealed Weapons program, and no I'm not kidding so I cannot look there.
But don't keep working on this the Navy way, replace parts until it works.

It might be here: Troubleshooting

[bradyfehr]

no light on eye board. 120v outlet works but everything on frig is dead. Don't know where to test for12v. don't know how to test thermistor or even if that part matters

[enblethen]

Does your eyebrow light up?
Do you have 12 volts DC to back of refer?
Quit throwing parts at it!

[bradyfehr]

Thanks guys but the manual is of no use because I'm not getting anything. I need to be able to troubleshoot at the board level. Already replaced the power board, guess I'll just replace the eye board and thermistor.

I was hoping to be able to find a way to test the power board to see if both the new and old are good and the Thermistor. I'm a poor person so buying boards takes food off my plate, lol

[Old-Biscuit]

Operational Requirements starts at pg 15

[agesilaus]

There are two circuit boards, the one outside inside the access panel and the second one, the eyebrow panel on the front of the fridge where the controls are. I put up a trouble shooting step by step but I'll have to try to find it.

We ended up replacing the eyebrow on ours.

[enblethen]

Does it have 12 volts DC?
Does the eye brow light up?