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Post Info TOPIC: WAECO CF40 fridge dead on 12V, good on 240


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WAECO CF40 fridge dead on 12V, good on 240


Hi, new member here, (obviously).

I chose this forum because there seems be some Waeco fridge expertise about and Im in a bit of a pickle.

 

Its 3-1/2 years old and has been running fine through all sorts of voltages from 11.5V to 14.4V. Very robust. But the fridge died when I disconnected the battery (I forgot to turn it off first). On 12V it is completely dead, no lights. Fuse is fine.

 

When connected to 240V (through an inverter) it works!

 

Ive had it apart and while connected to the battery (at 13.1V) I can trace 13.1V at the wires going into the power supply PCB board. That is the heavier PCB next to the compressor under the Danfoss cover.

 

The only thing I can think of is replace the 9A poly Fuse from Way-cold. Except they threw me off when they said it cures blinking red light syndrome. I dont get blinking red light, I get lights out.

 

Any ideas? Maybe a new poly fuse is the way to go, Im not an electronics expert but have soldered a board before.

 

 

cheers



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Need to know which model it is Vera or Verb. Picture of the circuit board & compressor module would be helpful for starters.



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D.L.Bishop


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G'day Crusa, I run 2 x CF50's in the back of my Dual Cab..one as fridge and other as freezer....one is the model that shows temperature and the other shows the progressive led lights..both will work on 240V without a Waeco inverter..the earlier models could not work unless connected thru the Waeco inverter.. inverter....I had one of those too....on 240V what shows on your led light display?....
I reckon I've had every Waeco quirky thing happen to them both over the past few years...I have correct wiring etc so no drop off of voltage etc a cause of many Waeco problems..and all connections are now by Anderson plug so no fall outs on rough roads...

Do you have the Waeco battery monitor switch set to 'Low'...as both of mine are...otherwise fridge will cut out on 12V usage when voltage drops a tad..most annoying when travelling...Waeco recommend to set to 'Low'. rather than 'High'.....think it can drop to something like 10.7V before auto cut out on 'Low'..

Your knowns:...it works on 240V..does that mean it works on all temperatures or freezing?...when they freeze only its the Thermistor needs replacing...very common problem with all Waeco's..too common...I've had two go and had to be replaced...

Every time my Waeco connected to my 12V 110Amp/H Thumber, and set on fridge temp 2C, light disappears, it is always a problem with the battery voltage, because when I then connect to 240V never a problem..back to showing 2C temp....then when I charge, full charge, trickle, slow charge, with 3 stage charger, the Thumper battery my Waeco will work again....on both 12V and 240V....quite often my Thumper appears to be charged sufficiently as it has a V display, however when charged all works again..on 12V and 240V...I believe that will be your problem, lack of actual voltage supply.. even though you say 13.1V showing..if your Waeco had previously been working O.K. I guess we can discount your wiring being insufficient capacity..
I've never had a fuse go so don't know if it will still work on 240V and not 12V......
Do you have an auxillary battery 12V starter..?..if so connect the cig lighter connection to that to see if it works on 12V....

I know this all sounds garbled and probably is to anyone who has never had to suffer the quirkiness of Waeco CF 40 & 50's....

Tell us more..Hoo Roo




-- Edited by Goldfinger on Friday 3rd of February 2017 06:30:33 PM



-- Edited by Goldfinger on Friday 3rd of February 2017 06:36:18 PM

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If its the model with a separate 240V ac power supply. Then this is the circuit & a picture of the Polly switch. It should test at .1 ohm when cold & have 12V on the feed to the compressor when on 12V dc. If the polly fuse is ok then it could be a faulty relay along side it. Be aware that powersupply when powered by 240V ac puts out 27V DC to the compressor.



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D.L.Bishop


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Thanks for the replies so far.

The main PCB looks like this one:

005MAINPCBASIl.jpg

I think this makes my fridge a VerB. The 12V wire bypass it, it appears to be solely for the 240V circuit, which works fine.

Don't have a pic of my compressor board but looks like this one I found on the net:

attachment.php?attachmentid=15180&d=1398

 

It's late now, but I'll try measuring the ohms on the polyfuse tomorrow. Space is tight with the wires still attached.

cheers



-- Edited by crusa on Saturday 4th of February 2017 12:00:55 AM

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G'day Goldfinger,
We run ours on a boat, which we live on, not on the road, but the hairs grey (last I looked) and we're nomadic, so there's that.
When I discovered I've killed the fridge (when replacing the house battery) I headed into town to buy 240V cord to see if it still works from the inverter, which it does. Which is heartening, it could be fixable by moi. But we haven't been using the fridge on 240V. Prefer not to use it on 240V, its inefficient, the inverter is noisier than the fridge and we like sleeping at night!

It's always been wired directly to the deep cycle batteries /solar panel system (with a 10A fuse of course) and only as a fridge, at 1 or 2 (this one has a temp gauge). The past 2 weeks the batteries had been dying and the fridge was struggling early mornings before dawn. Installed the new battery yesterday, coinciding with me blowing the fridge. We have it set to Lo too.

Usually the house batteries never drop below 12.4V at night, (so solar coming in) while powering the WAECO, which seems to be a pretty efficient fridge. I've been rough with this last set of batteries though, the computer running combined with overcast days got to them, and too lazy to haul out the genny to save them.

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Just so we know what we are looking at, as there is several versions of Waeco CF40 fridges all quite diferent. Some pictures of what apears to be yours. One is the compressor module that is on the side of the compressor. Pict of your board you posted & what it does, & a picture of the back side of it. The picture you posted of the net is the 240V ac to 25V DC board (its one of my pictures I recognise it)WAECO  DANFOSS CONTROLER..JPGWAECO CF40 PCB.jpgWAECO CF-40AC.7.jpg



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D.L.Bishop


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I have a Waeco CF40 the same as yours.
If I disconnect it from 240 without turning it off using the fridge's On/Off switch (which is an electronic switch, not a physical one) first, then it will not run on 12V. I have to plug it back into 240V, ensure it is on, then turn it off using the ON/Off switch. Unplug the 240,plug it into 12V and it works fine.
I think it also does this in the reverse situation (ie going from 12V to 240V),although I can't actually remember this happening because after the first occurrence I was always careful to switch it off at the fridge's switch first.
It appears that there is an electronic change-over that has to operate before the system can swap from one supply to the other.
I do hope this isn't your problem, because if it is, you have been chasing a non-existent fault. It's actually one of those "Undocumented features" of the WAECO system.

Cheers

C00P

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Coop, tried that trick after reading your post. Didnt work, but thanks.



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Hi DeBe,

Thanks for your help so far. I have pried the fridge apart again, and have a couple pics. The module board is different to the pic I post from the net. I don't recognise a polyfuse, apart from a black round one, label #A on the pic. If that is the polyfuse, it measures 3.5 Ohms.  Is that the problem? 3.5 instead of 0.1 ohm?  There's a voltage difference between it and the white wire of 5V.

I measured a glass fuse (B) too, is 1 ohm. Don't see any sign of breaking. 

 

module.jpg

 

And here is a pic of the side of the module for reference (with the board pulled away).

module-end.jpg

 

cheers

crusa



-- Edited by crusa on Sunday 5th of February 2017 10:34:23 AM

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This is why pictures are important as theres  several variations in the Waeco CF40 fridges. First we need to prove that module is ok on 12v. Feed 12V DC where shown & bridge C & T. The compressor should run. These modules are close to $300. What you have been checking is the 240V AC part of the compressor controller. Since it runs fine on 240V leave that side alone.DANFOSS CONTROLER.JPG



-- Edited by DeBe on Sunday 5th of February 2017 01:31:20 PM



-- Edited by DeBe on Sunday 5th of February 2017 01:33:31 PM



-- Edited by DeBe on Sunday 5th of February 2017 01:34:45 PM

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D.L.Bishop


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DeBe,

I performed test as you instructed, bridging the C & T etc, and the compressor worked!

Is that good news?



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Yes you can put the compressor module back together. Can you post a picture of the display & buttons as theres more than one type?. Will post some more tests soon.



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D.L.Bishop


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I am assuming this is the same interface board in your fridge. Donot have any mains voltage connected at all, as this board would have mains voltage on it. Only use 12V DC for further testing. There is a 3 terminal 5V regulator shown , test for 12V on one side if there is, there should be 5V on the other side, the center pin is Neg.WAECO CF-40AC. PCB.jpg



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D.L.Bishop


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 DeBe,

Do you mean I plug it into 12V and test the 5V regulator? Well, 0 zero volts both sides. No electrons seem to reach this board.

Pics of what I have:

 

pcb.jpgbutton-mod.jpg

 

buttons.jpg



-- Edited by crusa on Sunday 5th of February 2017 06:10:20 PM

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The thin Red & Black wire feed 12V from compressor module down to the interface PCB. There has to be a problem with these wires. No 12V to the board means no 5V, means no display.WAECO CF40 INTERFACE PCB.jpgWAECO CF40 COMPRESSOR CONTROL.A.jpg



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D.L.Bishop


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I'll have to check it tomorrow, looks like we're close to finding it. Thanks mate.

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Its sorted. Its when I noticed on testing the red wire and the 12V main wires, the multi tester showed -ve voltages, eventhough red probe to red wire, black to black.

When I cut off the cig lighter plug 3-1/2 years and spliced in additional wire I spliced in the black stripe wire the wrong way. Which caused me to connect the fridge the wrong polarity when I replaced batteries last week.

Swapped them on the battery terminals this morning and bingo, fridge works, on 12V. I shoulda thought of that first! 

Thanks DeBe anyway. 



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Good to see you got it sorted. Surprised it didn't blow a fuse. Thanks for the nice detailed pictures of the Inerface board.



-- Edited by DeBe on Monday 6th of February 2017 12:54:47 PM

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D.L.Bishop


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Hello All. My name is Cameron, I am only 35 so am probably a bit young to be on here but I have been reading your posts regarding Waeco fridges to which.I have my own problem and I wonder if anyone can solve it.

I have a CF50 that runs on 240v fine but put the 12v in and nothing. Not even the light inside the fridge works. I have cut the plug off of the original 12v cord years ago and use a round hella/narva plug as they seem to be a solid connection. Plus every thing on the family farm has the same type of plug so you stick with the norm of course.

SO the fridge was working fine until the temp sensor stopped working. Had that repaired and then it ran for a fair while and then the current error has started.

I have the 101n0500 board which when you disconnect the 12v side from the board has 12v at the connectors. When you reconnect the connectors to the board and measure the voltage on the terminals connected to the board it drops to 3v

The light does not work when on 12v but it does work on 240v so it's not like it has a blown globe.


It appears that I have a fault on the board but I can't see what is wrong with it. Nothing appears to be burnt nor does it smell. People have spoken about this fuse thing but I can't even see where this is on the board.

Can anyone help??



-- Edited by Noremac01 on Monday 27th of February 2017 09:07:27 PM

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101NO500 DANFOSS.JPGCheck this protection device for short circuit.



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D.L.Bishop


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Hi DeBe.

If I put my ohm tester across that device it has an open circuit. I read somewhere in a previous post that when they fail they go short circuit but putting the tester across it didn't show that to be the case.

If I was to cut it out of the circuit I suppose the fridge will start to run.

That will at least prove if that is the fault anyway.

What do you think.?

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Don't cut it out if it doesn't show as a short. Check across the 12v in put terminals on the board for a short circuit. Also when you replaced the plug on the end of the 12v lead, did you put a fuse in the lead? as there was one in the original plug.

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D.L.Bishop


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Never put a fuse as the original plug with the fuse it the biggest cause of problems. Their is a fuse at the battery thats enough.

I will put the tester across the terminals in the next hour or so and let you know what happens.

Cheers

Cameron

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Hi DeBEe

So have only just checked the board on the input terminals for a short to which their isn't. Well not that my tester shows up anyway. As I said previously if not connected to the board I have 12 volt at the connectors, connect it to the board and I only have 3 volts.

Even if I switch the emergency override button the compressor wont start nor does the internal light come on, but bang it on 240 and no dramas light works as well.

Normally something on a circuit board looks cooked but this one doesn't have any dark spots or anything. Smells good as well.

On taking the photos I noticed that 1 pin does not have any solder on it its connected to one of the yellow coils but it must be how it is as it doesn't look like it has dripped out.

Might be time for a new board hmm

 

 

1.jpg

3.jpg

Tester I'm using

2.jpg



-- Edited by Noremac01 on Thursday 2nd of March 2017 08:54:50 PM

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That pin is soldered on the other side that you cant see & is part of the 240V ac side. If theres no short showing then there must be a poor conection some where else on the 12V feed causing a huge voltage drop. Otherwise with that mutch voltage drop there would be very hot wires. The 12v lead socket on the end of the fridge is also a weak point, as the spring conector on the lead can be loose.

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D.L.Bishop


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I have tried it on 2 separate leads on 2 separate vehicles. When I plug the fires fridge in which is a cxf40 (what ever the new model is) no dramas.

 

When my fridge was in the car sometimes it would be on in the morning and other times it wasn't. This rules out the cord and its connector.

 

I didn't want to do it but it looks like I'm going to have to spend $300 bucks for a new board. Which is hard when you can buy a new one for $700 buckscry



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Before you rush of & spend $300, feed 12v to the DC power terminals on the module & bridge C & T. If the compressor runs then that board is good.DANFOSS CONTROLER.JPG



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D.L.Bishop


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DeBe I want to thank you. I have followed this post as I have a CF 40 which I am sure I wired up wrong polarity. I tried it after that with a 12 volt lead from a cigarette plug to no avail, 240 volt system okay. I then followed your tips and did the test for 12 volt bridging the C & T points with the compressor running. After closing up and before contemplating taking it to a service centre, I tried it again on the same lead I had previously had. This time the unit fired up on the 12 volt supply, and has so far come down to -5 degrees. Question, could the test steps ie removing feed wires and bridging have reset something

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Theres a possibility you have corrected a poor connection by removing & reconnecting wires during testing. But good to see you have it running again.

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