My new ( used ) Dometic cf- 18.

[Garrettwolf]

I recently purchased a Dometic cf-18 used It seems to work well, I have plugged in to my jumper battery. It is working as far as I can  tell. Does any have any information on this, like maintenance, up keep, preventitive maintenance?

 

[SternWake]

I recently purchased a Dometic cf-18 used It seems to work well, I have plugged in to my jumper battery. It is working as far as I can  tell. Does any have any information on this, like maintenance, up keep, preventitive maintenance?

That jumper pack only has a 12AH AGM battery.  They are not a great battery.

https://www.amazon.com/D5744-Sealed...=UTF8&qid=1478418177&sr=8-5&keywords=ub+12120

In 75 F, it can likely power the fridge for a few hours at most.

Make sure the cooling unit vents are not obstructed, run it from a bigger battery, and save he jumper pack for its intended use, jumping a vehicle whose battery is overdepleted.

Recharge the jumperpack for several days and save it for actually jumpstarting. They are not a great substitute house battery, not even close.

The Ciggy plug will eventually fail and perhaps cause your food to spoil.
  Junky connector when new, worsens quickly with use.

The remedy is cutting off the ciggy plug and wiring to house battery fuse block.

 

[wagoneer]

I have the very same unit and having had several i routinely cut the plug and hardwire them , small enough to fit in the truck cab handy and reliable, keep the vents clear.

 

[djkeev]

They are pretty simple straight forward machines.

As mentioned, keep the air vents clear and watch the cigarette plug for over heating.

I have a dometic and a truck fridge, they both are wonderful devices! You will NOT be disappointed having it.
No slushy ice mess where your meats are dripping water and blood juices are in with your ice. Where everything you pull out must be dried before use.

Here is the owners manual........

http://www.dometic.com/QBankFiles3/...rtable-Refrigerators-Freezers-Manual_5532.pdf

Enjoy!
Dave

 

[Garrettwolf]

Thank you and everyone for the great advice,  I want to be clear, I was only testing the unit, not planning on running it from the jumper. I just purchased it , rather cheaply from Craigslist and needed to test it. It seems to work as it should.  

So hard wiring it in is better ?  I am new to this and don't have a van as of yet, but when I do where does it hard wire in at?  I plan on getting solar, the harbour freight ones for now and a couple of deep cycle batteries.  Does it wire to that or the actual vehicle battery? 

I have so many questions lol. Sorry, 

Again thank you all. 

Wolf 






That jumper pack only has a 12AH AGM battery.  They are not a great battery.

https://www.amazon.com/D5744-Sealed...=UTF8&qid=1478418177&sr=8-5&keywords=ub+12120

In 75 F, it can likely power the fridge for a few hours at most.

Make sure the cooling unit vents are not obstructed, run it from a bigger battery, and save he jumper pack for its intended use, jumping a vehicle whose battery is overdepleted.

Recharge the jumperpack for several days and save it for actually jumpstarting. They are not a great substitute house battery, not even close.

The Ciggy plug will eventually fail and perhaps cause your food to spoil.
  Junky connector when new, worsens quickly with use.

The remedy is cutting off the ciggy plug and wiring to house battery fuse block.

 

[SternWake]

Please do some more research before buying anything more.

The Harbor freight solar panels are not a good value at all.

The ciggy plug has two wires a (+) and a (-) The spring loaded tip is the (+) and part which touches the sides of the receptacle is the (-).

There are some very basics here that you need to understand before you start cutting cords. I'd even hold off on cutting the cord until you realize how simple it really is and have developed some very basic skills in wiring of DC items.

 

[Almost There]

The ciggy plug has two wires a (+) and a (-)  The spring loaded tip is the (+) and part which touches the sides of the receptacle is the (-).

There are some very basics here that you need to understand before you start cutting cords.  I'd even hold off on cutting the cord until you realize how simple it really is and have developed some very basic skills in wiring of DC items.

Thank you for this. I suspected as much based on my wiring in the Marinco outlets in the van but needed it confirmed.

I know how much you detest ciggie type outlets and plugs but I have an emergency situation going on and need to replace the plug unit that came with my fridge. Until I settle in one spot this winter so I can order something like an Anderson pole set up for it, I have to be able to run on the 12V replacement I have in stock. Hard wiring is not always practical as I need to be have the two units still portable.

I can't be dragging a 120v extension cord down the highway....

 

[SternWake]

Understood the need for portability.

On a friends ARB chest cooler, I installed 45 am anderson powerpoles on the original cord so that when he hooks it to the powerpack i made he can bypass the ciggy plugs and receptacle, but when he lends it out he can still put the original plug back together and allow the use of a ciggy plug/ receptacle in another vehicle.

Please use a multimeter and make sure which of the 2 wires corresponds to the (+) tip. usually one wire will have a stripe or ridges on it, and most of the time this wire is the (+), but not always, so one needs to be sure.

Put the Multimeter to OHMS and stick one lead on the spring loaded nipple tip and then the other lead to both wires and see which wire causes multimeter to go from 1 to 0.

one can also open the ciggy plug and just look which wire goes where.

If one wants the most reliable ciggy plug/ receptacle:

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-Volt-Socket/dp/B004XIWF12

These are several orders of magnitude better than the ciggy plugs which come on most devices, but this type of spring loaded connection itself is inherently inferior. But the blue seas version at least will be good enough for a portable fridge and not be able to wiggle loose intermittently at the worst possible time.

Please wire 12v ciggy receptacles with wire no thinner than 12AWG, when it is to power a fridge. This might seem like overkill for 5 amps max. It is not, as voltage drop is a huge problem, and spoiled food eaten unknowingly can be even more.

The anderson powerpoles in the 15 and 30 amp flavor are easy enough to assemble, the 45's require more skills.

Those wanting to employ many of them in place of Ciggy plugs, need to makes sure the wiring is fused properly, and will likely benefit from the Anderson specialized crimper with is about 40$

 

[wagoneer]

Step away from the wallet,,, slowly

 

[Mobilesport]

Thank you for this. I suspected as mucyou have one layin around.h based on my wiring in the Marinco outlets in the van but needed it confirmed.

I know how much you detest ciggie type outlets and plugs but I have an emergency situation going on and need to replace the plug unit that came with my fridge. Until I settle in one spot this winter so I can order something like an Anderson pole set up for it, I have to be able to run on the 12V replacement I have in stock. Hard wiring is not always practical as I need to be have the two units still portable.

I can't be dragging a 120v extension cord down the highway....

A second extension cord could solve your problem if you have one layin around.
Just leave one cord hardwired and unplug it from the fridge when needed