waeco 80litre constantly running

Submitted: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 16:43

ThreadID: 78420 Views:10595 Replies:5 FollowUps:8

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patrolmann

Hi guys,
I have an 80 lt Waece with the digital temp gauge and once it gets down to the temp it shuts off and on every 2 minutes constantly. You can hear the compressor start up and see the slight shudder in the fridge as it does. This takes only 8 hours to flatten a 110 AH battery when running at - 10 with frozen food.
Am I right in thinking this is not right. I had it fixed a couple of years ago and I'm sure it did not do this before I had it worked on.
I am thinking of sending it in for a service but don't want another huge bill.
Any ideas
cheers
Patrolman

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Reply By: Spade Newsom - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 17:37

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 17:37

Waiting eagerly for replies here myself Patrolman. My CF80 is an older model with no built in AC. Mine cycles every couple of minutes also even when full and needs to be on five of seven lights to be cold enough in the fridge section and also to keep stuff frozen in the freezer section.
I get much better than 8 hours though. On 120ah I will go for about 36 hours or more in very favourable conditions.
My switch is on low and emergency is off. Only started getting poor results recently.

Maybe you could advise what you mean by flatten ie how many volts left in the battery. My Waeco will work well below 12V. Have you tried it on a different battery or connected very close to the battery.

The main issue though is why is it constantly cycling which I believe can happen if voltage drop is really bad. Why else it might happen if it stays closed and volts is not an issue? I don't know.

AnswerID: 416423

Follow Up By: obee1212 - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:16

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:16

My mate had this problem and when he went to the shop to see about it they showed him the switch that overrides the thermostat. The over ride is there to get the most out of a short time of running. It stops the thermostat from cycling during that time

owen

FollowupID: 686542

Follow Up By: obee1212 - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:17

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:17

whoops this was supposed to be a reply to the first not a followup.

owen

FollowupID: 686543

Follow Up By: Alloy c/t - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 20:22

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 20:22

Spade , having the 3 position switch on low does nothig except control the compressor speed / cooling power ,, L=2000rpm , Normal =2500rpm , High =3000rpm and putting it on Turbo = 3500rpm .
The Danfoss BD50 compressor was designed to actually run on 24volts but will run happily on 12volts+ , anything under a full 12v and the 80 starts to play up.

FollowupID: 686572

Reply By: exploreaus - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:31

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:31

HI,

I had this problem once before - in my case it was the battery.

If the battery charge is to low - the compressor works but there is not enough power to cool the fridge, therefore, the compressor starts again etc.

It could be that your battery is not holding a charge - could need replacing.

Cheers Paul

AnswerID: 416430

Reply By: Allan B, Sunshine Coast, - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:45

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 18:45

Patrolman, you have a fridge and you have a battery. Why suspect the fridge and not the battery? Historically, which is shorter lived?

I suggest you get your battery tested, probably for free, before sending the fridge in for service.

Cheers
Allan

Member
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AnswerID: 416432

Follow Up By: patrolmann - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 20:04

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 20:04

Thnks for all the replies guys,
The reason I think it might be the fridge is that it does the same thing on 240v as on 12 volt. Even pluged into mains power it recycles every 2 minutes or so. I will swap the batteries over abd see how that goes
Thanks guys
Patrolman

FollowupID: 686567

Reply By: Alloy c/t - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 20:09

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 20:09

Flatten the 110 ah battery in 8 hrs , !!!! is normal BUT , The 80 lt Waeco chews thru power at an average of 64amp hrs per 24hrs , ergo a 110 battery will be as good as flat , check you wireing for voltage drop and have the battery checked for a dead cell , give the compressor area and fan a good blow out with a low pressure compressor , dust and muck has a habit of building up stopping performance.

AnswerID: 416451

Follow Up By: Spade Newsom - Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 12:03

Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 12:03

Good idea. Haven't cleaned the fans for years.

Through a 24V rectifier I am still cycling every couple of minutes. It never used to do this so will give the fans a go.

FollowupID: 686637

Follow Up By: chisel - Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 12:34

Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 12:34

Flat in 24 hrs (used 64 AH) would be normal. It shouldn't flatten a healthy, fully-charged 110AH battery in 8hrs (although depends on definition of flatten).

FollowupID: 686646

Follow Up By: patrolmann - Friday, May 14, 2010 at 16:31

Friday, May 14, 2010 at 16:31

Thanks guys,
By flatten the battery i mean it is low enough in volts to have the red light flashing warning of low voltage on the fridge.
Simply by starting the engine it stops flashing as its pumping energy back in.
I have noticed the fans are very dusty and this may help to clean them. Also noticed someone has joined the wires from the original battery side over to the second battery which will be giving me a volt drop as well.
Ill rewire it straight back to the fridge as well and see if that helps any as well.
cheers
Patrolman

FollowupID: 686803

Follow Up By: Alloy c/t - Friday, May 14, 2010 at 18:33

Friday, May 14, 2010 at 18:33

Waeco red light flash=
1 flash= low voltage
2 flash= fan overload
3 flash= motor failed to start
4 flash= low motor voltage
5 flash = blocked vent.
You can determine what you will ,but the basic problem allways comes back to low voltage.

FollowupID: 686811

Reply By: Darrin - Friday, May 14, 2010 at 21:18

Friday, May 14, 2010 at 21:18

If your fridge is getting down to set point (-10) before it plays up it may well be the thermistat that is faulty & cutting the compressor back in to early. Most fridges have a preset differential of 2 deg. Eg compressor cuts out at -10 & cuts back in at -8.

AnswerID: 416713