Dometic Refrigerator Temperature Sensor

[Clark]

Recently I read in a blog connected to www.rvtravel.com about a white
plastic strip attached to the right-most metal fin inside the
refrigerator. Has anybody heard of this or seen it? I'm told it's a
temperature sensor and moving it can affect how cold your freezer will
be. I removed mine and a wire with a yellow tip dropped down - it's
still connected inside somewhere but the end with the yellow tip is
just loose. It appears to have never actually been attached to the
plastic strip.

There's nothing in the owner's manual about this - perhaps it's
because we aren't supposed to tamper with it. I wrote to Dometic but
their reply indicated to me that they misunderstood what I was
attempting to tell them.

Do any of you have information to share about this?

My refrigerator is model RM2551, installed in a 2000 Trail-lite 7230.

Thanks in advance.

Clark

[MTV]

Post by Clark
Recently I read in a blog connected to www.rvtravel.com about a white
plastic strip attached to the right-most metal fin inside the
refrigerator. Has anybody heard of this or seen it? I'm told it's a
temperature sensor and moving it can affect how cold your freezer will
be. I removed mine and a wire with a yellow tip dropped down - it's
still connected inside somewhere but the end with the yellow tip is
just loose. It appears to have never actually been attached to the
plastic strip.
There's nothing in the owner's manual about this - perhaps it's
because we aren't supposed to tamper with it. I wrote to Dometic but
their reply indicated to me that they misunderstood what I was
attempting to tell them.
Do any of you have information to share about this?
My refrigerator is model RM2551, installed in a 2000 Trail-lite 7230.
Thanks in advance.
Clark

The yellow tip thing is the actual temperature sensor.

MTV

[Ben H]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[Ben H]

Post by Ben H
It's a thermistor and if you slide up it should get colder a tiny bit
(not much). If your refrig still does not get cold enough it cold be a
defective thermistor. You can test it by putting the tip in a cup of
ice water and measuring the other end that goes to the control board.
Unplug it from the control board (power is off of course) and
measuring with an ohm meter across the leads. You should read between
7 and 8K after a few minutes. If you want it colder in your frig, you
can get a module that plugs in to the end from Dinosaur
Electronics.All it is a resister that ties in parallel to bring down
the thermistor value.
You can buy a new thermistor/wire harness assembly for 14 bucks at
www.rvdealership.com. Do a search on that site for part number
2931863035.
Ben

One more note. If you do decide to replace the thermistor, it's much
easier if you cut/solder/and heatshrink or electrical tape it. That is,
from the inside the the refrigerator, take the plug out where the wire
goes through the wall. Pull the wire from the inside about 6 inches more
and cut it about a foot out from the wall and strip the insulation off
the wires a 1/4 inch. Cut the new one about a foot from the connector
end (not the thermistor end) and strip the wires 1/4 inch. Slide
heat-shrink tubing over the wire ends and solder the wires together (do
not just twist them). Polarity does not matter. Slide the heatshrink
over the exposed portion on each wire and shrink it (or use electrical
tape to insulate one from the other). If you use electrical tape, don't
get carried away by using to much or the next step won't work. Push the
spliced portion of the wire back through the refrigerator wall so that
it is on the outside, not inside and then reinsert the plug. If you
don't do it this way, you'll have a hell of a time fishing it through
and may even have to pull the refrigerator back. www.rvdealership.com
sells a kit that comes with spices but they charge you an extra 10 bucks
plus it appears the crimps would not fit through the wall of the refrig.
I just wouldn't want to spliced portion on the inside because of
moisture and thermal expansion/contraction of the solder joint.

Ben.

[Clark]

Thanks MTV and Ben for your info.

There's nothing wrong with the thermistor but since I pulled off the
white plastic strip, thus allowing the wire to fall out of place I'm
unsure of exactly where the yellow tip is to be positioned when I try
to put it back. Should it be touching the right-most fin or is simply
being adjacent to it good enough. When you say "slide it up" to get it
colder, do you mean the plastic strip? How does it affect the
positioning of the thermister?

I hope I'm making sense here - just trying to understand how these two
parts are held together and how they work in conjunction with each
other.

Clark
<snip>

[Ben H]

Post by Clark
Thanks MTV and Ben for your info.
There's nothing wrong with the thermistor but since I pulled off the
white plastic strip, thus allowing the wire to fall out of place I'm
unsure of exactly where the yellow tip is to be positioned when I try
to put it back. Should it be touching the right-most fin or is simply
being adjacent to it good enough. When you say "slide it up" to get it
colder, do you mean the plastic strip? How does it affect the
positioning of the thermister?
I hope I'm making sense here - just trying to understand how these two
parts are held together and how they work in conjunction with each
other.
Clark

It shouldn't be touching the fin. The plastic holder should be slid onto
the fin farthest to the right hand side.You can position it so that the
yellow tip of the thermistor is slightly sticking out of the plastic
holder on top but it's not critical at all as to where it sits inside
the plastic holder. Adjust up and down accordingly to achieve the proper
cooling. You'll figure out the proper placement on the fin over time and
will vary depending on the unit and how cool you want it. As I said
earlier, it really doesn't make a great deference in temp.

Ben

[Chris Bryant]

Post by Clark
I hope I'm making sense here - just trying to understand how these two
parts are held together and how they work in conjunction with each
other.

Here you go- Loading Image...

- --
Chris Bryant
http://bryantrv.com
http://rx4rv.com
http://opensourcemachine.org

[Janet Wilder]

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Hash: SHA1

Post by Clark
I hope I'm making sense here - just trying to understand how these two
parts are held together and how they work in conjunction with each
other.

Here you go- http://www.bryantrv.com/images/temp/thermistor.png
- --
Chris Bryant
http://bryantrv.com
http://rx4rv.com
http://opensourcemachine.org
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Hi Chris,

So great to see you posting again. Please, please, please stay. I'll
beat up the bad guys for you.

Hugs,
Janet

[Anne Watson]

I will help her.

Anne
"Janet Wilder" > So great to see you posting again. Please, please, please
stay. I'll

Post by Janet Wilder
beat up the bad guys for you.
Hugs,
Janet

[Ben H]

Post by Anne Watson
I will help her.
Anne
"Janet Wilder" > So great to see you posting again. Please, please, please
stay. I'll

Post by Janet Wilder
beat up the bad guys for you.

I will too.

Ben

[Paul Flansburg]

Recently I read in a blog connected towww.rvtravel.comabout a white
plastic strip attached to the right-most metal fin inside the
refrigerator. Has anybody heard of this or seen it? I'm told it's a
temperature sensor and moving it can affect how cold your freezer will
be. I removed mine and a wire with a yellow tip dropped down - it's
still connected inside somewhere but the end with the yellow tip is
just loose. It appears to have never actually been attached to the
plastic strip.
There's nothing in the owner's manual about this - perhaps it's
because we aren't supposed to tamper with it. I wrote to Dometic but
their reply indicated to me that they misunderstood what I was
attempting to tell them.
Do any of you have information to share about this?
My refrigerator is model RM2551, installed in a 2000 Trail-lite 7230.
Thanks in advance.
Clark

Clark,

Just one thing. If you look at the plastic piece you'll see that
there are kinda two slots. One slot is used to slide the plastic
piece onto the fin and the other slot holds the thermistor. Slide the
thermistor into the outer slot and then slide the whole plastic piece
onto the fin with the other slot. As mentioned by Ben, you can either
slide the whole plastic piece up and down to adjust temperature OR the
thermistor in the piece up and down.

-paul

[Clark]

Thanks to you all - MTV, Ben, Chris and Paul for this. It's clear to
me now what to do.

Clark
<snip>

Post by Paul Flansburg
Clark,
Just one thing. If you look at the plastic piece you'll see that
there are kinda two slots. One slot is used to slide the plastic
piece onto the fin and the other slot holds the thermistor. Slide the
thermistor into the outer slot and then slide the whole plastic piece
onto the fin with the other slot. As mentioned by Ben, you can either
slide the whole plastic piece up and down to adjust temperature OR the
thermistor in the piece up and down.
-paul- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -