Dometic CFX545 - BEWARE!

[JLZBUB]

I'll get straight to it. I'm on my 3rd Dometic CFX refrigerator, and it's been horrible. Dometic has a serious quality issue occuring withing the CFX line, specifically the 45L unites, and it's worse than you might imagine.

My original unit was a CFX345, it was "just OK". From the beginning it was questionable of maintaining temperatures and occasionally the DC operation would stop. Initially I thought my JLUR battery must be weak, but that wasn't the case. Evnetually the DC operation became to flaky to maintain functionality and Dometic finally approved a warranty replacement. "Lucky me" they offered to upgrade me to the new and improved CFX545. There were multiple problems in getting the fridge shipped, but that not relevant here. The warranty fridge arrived and was Dead on Arrival. Dometic forced me to go through the troubleshooting and warranty process a 2nd time, but eventually shipped a 2nd warranty unit out. The 2nd unit was Dead on Arrival too. Dometic and I are at a stand still for what to do next.

I found it hard to believe that two brand new units were dead and thought this can's simply be a coincidence. I began searching on line for similar issues. Oddly, when I Googled the fridge it gets 4.5 stars just about everywhere, but it's a lie. REI.com shows 4.5 stars until you go and look at the actual reviews... and then it gets 3.3 stars. A quick read and you soon discover Dead on Arrival CFX5's is not uncommon, even twice in a row. Overtons.com also shows 4.5 stars, but nope, when you go to read the actual reviews, there are none. Rackup+Go.com, same story, 4.5 stars on Google but zero reviews on the actual site. Campingworld.com shows 4.5 star, but doesn't actually have reviews.

The gist of all this is, the CFX5 refrigerators are not living up to the hype. They 100% have quality issues and Dead on Arrival refrigerators shouldn't surprise anyone.

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[Ratbert]

Oddly, when I Googled the fridge it gets 4.5 stars just about everywhere, but it's a lie. REI.com shows 4.5 stars until you go and look at the actual reviews... and then it gets 3.3 stars.

Your claim was unexpected, so I looked at REI and this is what's on the main page:

3.3, not 4.5 stars.

 

[DaltonGang]

It always helps to read reviews.
A good quality cooler and some dry ice, will cool your stuff for a week. No electricity.

 

[Nokones]

I have a CFX345 in my Jeep Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. and a CFX595 Dual Zone in my 21 Silverado Diesel Dually Truck. Both have been no problem at all.

Make sure you have your automatic power shutdown level set at a level that your battery can handle so it doesn't shutdown prematurely.

I run the Dual Zone unit off of two Optima Blue Top Deep Cycle batteries in parallel and they are charged by my secondary alternator.

My Jeep's CFX345 is connected to my secondary battery of my Genesis Gen 3 Dual Battery System with Odyssey 25 batteries.

 

[zouch]

what are you using for a power supply to your fridge?

the power supplied from the Aux ('cigarette lighter') port in the back of the cargo area in the JL(U) is seriously poor, and can be the source of many problems.

I'll get straight to it. I'm on my 3rd Dometic CFX refrigerator, and it's been horrible. Dometic has a serious quality issue occuring withing the CFX line, specifically the 45L unites, and it's worse than you might imagine.

My original unit was a CFX345, it was "just OK". From the beginning it was questionable of maintaining temperatures and occasionally the DC operation would stop. Initially I thought my JLUR battery must be weak, but that wasn't the case. Evnetually the DC operation became to flaky to maintain functionality and Dometic finally approved a warranty replacement. "Lucky me" they offered to upgrade me to the new and improved CFX545. There were multiple problems in getting the fridge shipped, but that not relevant here. The warranty fridge arrived and was Dead on Arrival. Dometic forced me to go through the troubleshooting and warranty process a 2nd time, but eventually shipped a 2nd warranty unit out. The 2nd unit was Dead on Arrival too. Dometic and I are at a stand still for what to do next.

I found it hard to believe that two brand new units were dead and thought this can's simply be a coincidence. I began searching on line for similar issues. Oddly, when I Googled the fridge it gets 4.5 stars just about everywhere, but it's a lie. REI.com shows 4.5 stars until you go and look at the actual reviews... and then it gets 3.3 stars. A quick read and you soon discover Dead on Arrival CFX5's is not uncommon, even twice in a row. Overtons.com also shows 4.5 stars, but nope, when you go to read the actual reviews, there are none. Rackup+Go.com, same story, 4.5 stars on Google but zero reviews on the actual site. Campingworld.com shows 4.5 star, but doesn't actually have reviews.

The gist of all this is, the CFX5 refrigerators are not living up to the hype. They 100% have quality issues and Dead on Arrival refrigerators shouldn't surprise anyone.

 

[Nokones]

what are you using for a power supply to your fridge?

the power supplied from the Aux ('cigarette lighter') port in the back of the cargo area in the JL(U) is seriously poor, and can be the source of many problems.

I agree those outlets can be problematic, but itbis rated for 10 amps and the subject Dometic refrigerator should only pull no more than 6-7 amps. However, the time length of the constant power draw may be an issue as the circuit heats up over time.

 

[JLZBUB]

There have been some good questions concerning my post.

DC power sources have included the JLU rear outlet (poor quality), a Jackery 1000W power station, 200W solar, and a 200aH LiFePo4 system. VDC was verified across all sources as meeting Dometics power requriements. AC power sources were the 150W JLU utility outlet and household power.

 

[zouch]

regardless of what it's "rated" for, if you put a Voltmeter on that Aux Port you should be able to see that the wiring to those Aux Ports is so feeble there's a significant voltage drop of a Volt or more by the time it gets there.

the 'normal' voltage fluctuations we see in a 'Intelligent Battery System' equipped JL(U) already are possible to take the power outside what Dometic wants; add in that power drop at the Aux Port, and it's getting pretty sketchy. my 35 is spec'd to draw 7.2A @ 12V; what's the draw going to be like when it's down below 11V?
that's why i feel those Aux Ports are not suitable for directly powering our fridges.

I agree those outlets can be problematic, but itbis rated for 10 amps and the subject Dometic refrigerator should only pull no more than 6-7 amps. However, the time length of the constant power draw may be an issue as the circuit heats up over time.

 

[Nokones]

regardless of what it's "rated" for, if you put a Voltmeter on that Aux Port you should be able to see that the wiring to those Aux Ports is so feeble there's a significant voltage drop of a Volt or more by the time it gets there.

the 'normal' voltage fluctuations we see in a 'Intelligent Battery System' equipped JL(U) already are possible to take the power outside what Dometic wants; add in that power drop at the Aux Port, and it's getting pretty sketchy. my 35 is spec'd to draw 7.2A @ 12V; what's the draw going to be like when it's down below 11V?
that's why i feel those Aux Ports are not suitable for directly powering our fridges.

Just for giggles, I'm going to hook my fridge up to the rear aux power outlet and see what it draws and how much it fluctuates under load.

 

[zouch]

be prepared for some hot cabling!

Just for giggles, I'm going to hook my fridge up to the rear aux power outlet and see what it draws and how much it fluctuates under load.

 

[Nokones]

I finally got around and did my test comparing the feasibility of using the Rear Accessory Power Outlet for my Dometic CFX345 Refrigerator.

With the Dometic Refrigerator, it will make a difference on the setting of the Battery Protection setting on how frequent the refrigerator will cycle on/off to cool and maintain your temperature setting threshold. For my test I set the Battery Protection to "Low" for frequent cycling of the refrigerator.

My 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. 3.6L Auto with the 48V Auto Start/Stop LiPo4 Battery has a Genesis Gen 3 Dual Odyssey 25 Battery System. The Dual Battery System has Automatic switching when the Secondary Battery drops below 12.7 it will disconnect and isolate from the Primary Battery so you can always start the vehicle with the Primary battery.

The primary battery powers all on-vehicle factory circuits and the secondary battery powers all the after-market accessories such as the Refrigerator, Winch, Air Compressor and an additional Aux Power outlet for misc. after-market accessories such as my Handheld Spotlight and Flashlight Chargers.

With the refrigerator plugged in the Factory Rear Accessory Power Outlet, right away I noticed that refrigerator will only cycle on for no more than one second regardless of the setting of the Battery Protection. I did have 12.7 volts and I was seeing 6.8 amps for that brief second and it wouldn't do diddley insofar as cooling down.

The refrigerator would only cycle on for that brief second very infrequently. When the refrigerator was cycled down, the power draw was about .08 to .10 amp.

I removed the refrigerator from the on-vehicle rear accessory Power Outlet and connected the refrigerator to my Secondary Battery Accessory circuit I normally use for my refrigerator.

The voltage was essentially the same, but the power draw was 7.02 amps with a voltage level of 11.4 volts. The refrigerator still was cycling on and off but cycling off less frequently. When the refrigerator cycled off, the voltage was at 12.6 volts with power draw of .16 amp.

As I had things to do this morning, I decided to plug the refrigerator to AC to cool the inside down from 104 degrees of ambient temp down to 32 degrees and that only took about 30 minutes.

Then I plugged the refrigerator back in the on-vehicle Rear Accessory Power Outlook and in two hours, the inside temp. raised up to 71 degrees.

I reconnected the Refrigerator to my Secondary Accessory Power circuit, and the inside temp. came down to 48 degrees in just a few minutes.

Since, the outside temp was 117 degrees, I figured that there was no need to test any further so, I set my Battery Protection Setting back to Medium and called it a day.

So, the On-Vehicle Rear Accessory Power Outlet is useless for the Dometic Refrigerator regardless of what Battery Protection Setting is used.

Since the OP used the on-vehicle Rear Accessory Power Outlet for his Dometic Refrigerator and had failures with several refrigerators, I suspect the true problem was caused by using the rear Power outlet that was not sufficient in providing the minimum power level to adequately power the Dometic refrigerators.

 

[entropy]

I went with el cheapo alpicool 4 years ago. Plugged in the garage 24/7 and plugged to a jackery 500 when out camping. Zero issues.

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