Refrigerator light not working

[out of sight]

I don't need a refrigerator light but the wife is bugging me to fix it. I'm too lazy to troubleshoot it, so, does anyone have any easy tips for me? It's a Dometic propane/110v in our 2019 FC 28.

[SeaLevel]

Just had to replace the bulb in ours. It took about a minute to do.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[out of sight]

$20 bucks? Yikes.

I don't think it's my bulb. It looks good.

[SeaLevel]

Originally Posted by out of sight

$20 bucks? Yikes.

I don't think it's my bulb. It looks good.

Mine looked fine too. You get two, so you'd have a spare.

[out of sight]

OK. I'm gonna put 12v across it and see what happens.

The light in the 3-way refrigerator in my last trailer stopped working once. I called Dometic and they gave me some programming instructions and it worked fine after that. I forgot those instructions. If the 12v test doesn't work I'll give them a call.

Thanks.

[SSquared]

Here's a mind-bending piece of information about RV fridge lights.



Under certain conditions, the light is used to *heat* the interior of the fridge.


When you are camping in cool/cold temps, the fridge will stay cold for a long time. Meanwhile, the freezer compartment is warming up. So the light is turned on, it warms the fridge compartment (which is where the thermostat is located), the thermostat kicks the cooling system on, and both compartments cool down.


I got that info from the Dometic service manual for the fridge in our 2013 25FB (model RM3762). In that model, a timer is started when the cooling cycle ends. If 35 minutes go by without a call for cooling, the light is turned on.


The corollary to this is, use the recommended incandescent bulb, not an LED. An LED won't put out enough heat to do the job.


If you never camp in cool weather, this won't matter to you.

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

Best upgrade we did was replace the bulb with LED. So bright an amazing.

[out of sight]

Ok, that helps. I knew there was something strange going on with the freezer when the ice cream started going into a hard soft hard cycle. Thanks for that.

Originally Posted by SSquared

Here's a mind-bending piece of information about RV fridge lights.



Under certain conditions, the light is used to *heat* the interior of the fridge.


When you are camping in cool/cold temps, the fridge will stay cold for a long time. Meanwhile, the freezer compartment is warming up. So the light is turned on, it warms the fridge compartment (which is where the thermostat is located), the thermostat kicks the cooling system on, and both compartments cool down.


I got that info from the Dometic service manual for the fridge in our 2013 25FB (model RM3762). In that model, a timer is started when the cooling cycle ends. If 35 minutes go by without a call for cooling, the light is turned on.


The corollary to this is, use the recommended incandescent bulb, not an LED. An LED won't put out enough heat to do the job.


If you never camp in cool weather, this won't matter to you.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by SSquared

Here's a mind-bending piece of information about RV fridge lights.



Under certain conditions, the light is used to *heat* the interior of the fridge.


When you are camping in cool/cold temps, the fridge will stay cold for a long time. Meanwhile, the freezer compartment is warming up. So the light is turned on, it warms the fridge compartment (which is where the thermostat is located), the thermostat kicks the cooling system on, and both compartments cool down.


I got that info from the Dometic service manual for the fridge in our 2013 25FB (model RM3762). In that model, a timer is started when the cooling cycle ends. If 35 minutes go by without a call for cooling, the light is turned on.


The corollary to this is, use the recommended incandescent bulb, not an LED. An LED won't put out enough heat to do the job.


If you never camp in cool weather, this won't matter to you.

On our reefer you can turn the feature off/on.

Bob
🇺🇸

[JCWDCW]

My old fridges; 2 of them, occasionally don't lightI . It is the switch
Worth a try to try flicking it
Your suggestion to check for voltage at the socket will give you a clue
JCW

[Antique Pedaler]

Originally Posted by SSquared

Here's a mind-bending piece of information about RV fridge lights.



Under certain conditions, the light is used to *heat* the interior of the fridge.


When you are camping in cool/cold temps, the fridge will stay cold for a long time. Meanwhile, the freezer compartment is warming up. So the light is turned on, it warms the fridge compartment (which is where the thermostat is located), the thermostat kicks the cooling system on, and both compartments cool down.



I got that info from the Dometic service manual for the fridge in our 2013 25FB (model RM3762). In that model, a timer is started when the cooling cycle ends. If 35 minutes go by without a call for cooling, the light is turned on.



The corollary to this is, use the recommended incandescent bulb, not an LED. An LED won't put out enough heat to do the job.


If you never camp in cool weather, this won't matter to you.

On the other hand the bulb’s heat melts the fixture over time. I had to replace the light fixture after 10 years. Portions of it were burned black.

To prevent a recurrence I installed an led bulb.

[sburrw]

When you check the positive and negative terminals going to that lightbulb, and the refrigerator switch on the door is working, do you detect 12 Volts? If not, I had the same problem. There is a small automotive fuse that is inside a small black box that you can get to from the refrigerator access door on the side of the airstream. It’s difficult to believe that they would put a fuse in a place that is so hard to reach.
If you do show 12 V at the bulb, replace it.

[aftermath]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

On our reefer you can turn the feature off/on.

Bob
🇺🇸

Thanks SSquared, I did not know about the featured you mentioned. Since the heat produced is needed, I will not replace it with an LED. Besides, the door is closed most of the time and I can see well enough to find things when I need.


I have a 2006 with a RM2662 fridge. My manual says that this "switch" Robert referred to is a "Climate Control" switch. It's function is to act as a defroster under certain high temperature, high humidity events to prevent the formation of water droplets forming inside the fridge. It is not designed to stop the functioning of the fridge that SSquared shared. At least this switch in my unit doesn't do that.

[SnooMc]

SSquared, thanks for the info!

Our fridge light does not come on at all...just an annoyance, we thought.
But it does explain why all the stuff in the freezer thawed out, back in December while we were at my folks' house for the holiday.

[out of sight]

So here's the culprit. Looks perfectly OK but isn't. Anyway I cheaped out and bought two Camco bulbs for $4.50. Only problem is they are 7 watts instead of 10 watts. I will report back when I know if the ice cream in the freezer is melting.

[CDONA]

I've tried replacement bulbs of questionable wattage/amps that fit.
Even an LED that failed in 4 months.
This last bulb replacement, I got it right.
I'm not collecting frost on the fins in the refer side for the first time ever, over two rigs & 16 years. And yes, the bulb socket is showing signs of heat.

[out of sight]

You may be right. But I just placed the order so I'm going to give it a try.

I never thought there would be so much engineering behind a refrigerator bulb.

[Shiny16]

Some the switch is backwards. Check and see if it works when closed.

[RJKSr]

Our fridge light issue wasn't the light turning on, but that it would not turn off. We began to notice the temp in the fridge was getting warm and the temp would not go below 50 degrees (we have a fridge thermometer). Remember your kid's question "how to you know the light in the fridge turns off when you close the door?". We discovered the light remained on. I thought there might be a circuitry problem as the schematic shows that it could be turned on to warm the fridge so that it cycles and continues to cool. But that was not the issue. Turns out the switch contacts were arced closed. I removed it and freed up the fused contacts, smoothed and polished them, and reinstalled. The light bulb and switch worked but draw a substantial amount of current (in order to produce heat when needed). I did not want a re-occurrence of the contact issue and replaced the lamp with an LED which draws much less and is not nearly as hot, but kept the old lamp in case it became necessary for the fridge to operate properly. That was 2 years ago. Still working with the LED lamp just fine.