

| Subject: | Dometic Fridge Electronic Ignition not working - resolved |
| From: | Dennis |
| Date: | Tue, 27 Sep 2005 00:17:14 -0400 |
The original problem posed in this thread was my fridge LED, turning on, but not blinking, and no audible spark igniting the propane burner. I just finished pulling/replacing the fridge and here are my comments/methodology: 1. Pulling the fridge is a pretty simple job. 2. For a 15 year old van, there was surprisingly little crap on the diffusers or behind the fridge. 3. Pulling the insulation behind, there was definite surface rust along the lower and rear seams. I cleaned these up as best I could and sprayed the entire panel with Rust Check, a liquid rust treatment similar to Krown. 4. After cleaning the combustion chamber, orifices, spark unit, setting the spark unit gap, and blasting everything with 120 PSI air, I reconnected the fridge in the van. The problem was not resolved. 5. Checking voltages at the van side of the fridge's wiring harness, I had 13.5 volts on two of the leads (with the van off) and a good ground, showing zero resistance to the negative battery terminal. 6. Putting the fridge back on my bench, I figured the spark unit itself might be at fault. I pulled the positive wire off the terminal at the propane push switch, leaving it connected to the spark unit. I also pulled the black (control?) wire to the LED from the spark unit. When applying 12 volts (from a 6 amp battery charger) to the postive wire and grounding to the spark unit negative terminal, suddenly it was sparking like mad. 7. Tracing the power path back to the wiring harness, it was clear that all the connections were good. Plugging the fridge harness back into the van, it was now working perfectly. Once the dometic was reinstalled, the unit fired right up. None of the connections seemed corroded, and all the connectors looked good. So other than reseating the spark units terminals, I really did nothing...and I have no idea why it's working now. It was either a flaky spark unit (we'll have to wait and see) or a simple connection issue. What is also not apparent is how the spark unit senses flame and stops sending voltage. The spark unit has constant power, ground and one control wire to the LED. The LED's other lead goes to ground. Anyone know how the spark unit is stopped when the burner is lit?
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