Nova Kool Refer/ Freezer turns off on shore power

[Mr.Malibu]

My local AS dealer is close to recommending a $4,000 replacement cost for a new Nova Kool Refrigerator and Freezer unit, so I am looking for some advice.

I purchased my 2015 AS Interstate GT used a couple of years ago and had a 300ah lithium ion battery upgrade installed by Master Overland in San Diego.

My AS has a stock Nova Kool 3.2 refrigerator and a 3.2 freezer that work off DC battery and 110v AC. The refrigerator gets too cold sometimes, freezing the food, but my main problem is that on the few occasions when I connect to shore power, the refrigerator and freezer shut off immediately. I have replaced the thermostat on both the refer and freezer, not much change.

I tried to troubleshoot this with nova kool, but they told me I would need to pull the units and this could be problematic as there may be a lack of slack in the wiring. Instead, I brought it to the dealer for an estimate and an evaluation- they are close to recommending a full replacement. I find this hard to believe, that these units can't be trouble shooted and repaired. The dealer service rep is supposed to give me more detail next week.

Any ideas??

[Bruce B]

These units use a small converter to power the 12 volt BD series compressor. They take various different input voltage sources and convert them to the required 12 volts. These converters are referred to as electronic control modules typically and they are a known weak link. Often, they will fail in just the way you describe and simply shut off when supplied with 120 volts ac. In the short run, you can turn off the 120 volt breaker to the refrigerator and just let the units battery charger/converter supply the 12 volt power necessary to run the fridge. Be aware though, this will likely stop working too at some point. If it were me, I’d just remove the fridge and replace the control module. If they got it in at the factory, you can get it out. By the way, I’d never use the 120 volt input again if I were you… The units seem to last forever if you only feed them 12 volts.

[n2916s]

Bruce B raises an excellent point. Most A/C to DC converters produce pretty noisy power and there is some conversion loss.

The DC coming from your battery/converter is a lot cleaner and you are already creating plenty to spare...