ARB cooler

krick3tt · Post by **krick3tt** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:56 am

I am sooo disappointed.

My ARB crapped out on a weekend camping trip to the mountains. Luckily there was a store near and the kids coming up on Sat were able to get us some ice. So now I have a $700 ice chest. I had it plugged into 120 at the house for about 6 hours to get it cold and then shifted it to 24v in the pinz. I have been doing this for as long as I have had it.

No action on the 24v plug so I switched it to the 12v plug, (I have two plugs in the pinz, one for each voltage) worked fine for about 4 hours then sort of sputtered, like the compressor was not going to do it's job then just stopped cycling. I usually set it at 1 and it stays at about 40 deg. Turning the knob all the way to the right got no response at all but the light was still on. The fuse is good but the light is very dim. I just turned it off and the next day (today) we came home.

Any ideas out there? I tried the ARB site but it took me to Austraila, any repair places in US?

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:14 pm

A couple of things to check if it's out of warranty? Open up disconnect the leads to the t-stat and ohm it out with it set to full cool.
If ok check to see if it has a capacitor. to of the biggest problems with standard fridges.

milesdzyn · Post by **milesdzyn** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:43 am

Have you checked to see if it still runs off of 120 AC?

Miles

krick3tt · Post by **krick3tt** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:21 pm

Miles,
Yes it runs great off of the 120v.

milesdzyn · Post by **milesdzyn** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:19 pm

Well you've got the problem isolated to the DC curcuit. Do you have a fuse in the DC auto plug. It is either exposed or inside the tip. If its in the tip Push the tip in and turn to remove the fuse.

Miles

krick3tt · Post by **krick3tt** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:57 pm

OK, now it is down to little items.

Yes, the fuse in the plug is good, visually not fried and ohms out to '0' as it should.

The fuse in the unit is also good as it would not operate on the 120v if that were blown. That is the first one that I checked visually.

Thanks, I had not thought of the fuse in the cord until you mentioned it. Mostly because the light on the cooler was still on even though it was not cooling.

Morris

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:57 pm

Is ARB still in business? If so their support is horrible no info on the web period other than suppliers selling them.

Morris, I'd take to an electronic specialist as it works on the ac voltage side. Sounds like a good job for Russ.

In this instance I'm glad I bought a Coleman If it fails I only have four mile to drive to have it swapped out with a new one.

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:41 pm

Finally found there website. I'd shoot them an email maybee they can point you to some one in your area. http://www.arb.com.au/contact/international/

krick3tt · Post by **krick3tt** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:10 pm

Thanks Eric

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:17 pm

I can't take this any longer...
http://www.arbusa.com/
They're in Renton, WA

They even speak English

What can I say... I'm a hoarder

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:34 pm

David Dunn wrote:I can't take this any longer...
http://www.arbusa.com/
They're in Renton, WA

They even speak English

What can I say... I'm a hoarder

I did see that website. Just like I found the post on the diesel that was brought up in general chat even found were someone put up a pic of the sprinter here on this forum. Normally pretty good at the search function.

Really didn't see the point of posting as there was only a two page sale add on the freezer. Only found the au web page after searching youtube. Figured it had more info on the cooler so i'd post.

Still think their info or maintenance or trouble shooting should be in pdf on there website.

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:49 pm

Yeah,yeah...

ARB is best known for their Landie products..... think I had a ARB bumper on my first Dinosauer.

Also, the ARB fridge is sold under other brandnames that may have troubleshooting info on their sites... Engal, Norcold, and/or maybe Dometic...?

milesdzyn · Post by **milesdzyn** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:02 am

Also before anything else, did you test a diffrent product in the DC outlet plug in your Pinz, to make sure that the problem doesn't lie in the Pinz outlet side of things?

Just a thought, Miles

Middlebury_Pinz · Post by **Middlebury_Pinz** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:31 pm

I just bought one of the new ARB fridge/ freezers and it works great!! I bought it after doing a lot of research on the Expeditional Portal and FJ Cruiser forums. To a person, everyone praised ARB's service and attention to customers.

Check the Expedition Portal Forum for service as I think one of the ARB technicians posts on their site. In my opinion, their product and service is outstanding!! I keep my ARB in my Freightliner when traveling and you can't even hear it run sleeping next to it.

If you can't find it, let me know and I will track down the rep on the EP site. Not to diminish this site at all, but there is a wealth of camping and off roading info on the EP site.

Good luck, Mike

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:08 pm

Mike, I wasn't knocking ARB I know nothing about them. See there stickers on bumpers driving down the highway and thats about it I only made a comment that I can't believe they didn't have more info on there website on the fridge/freezer.

Krickett, What did you find out? Just wondering.

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