ARB 47 Litre fridge with no power

[Rock Trol]

Four weeks ago on a trip up near Marysville my 47 Litre ARB fridge gave up the ghost. Error light started flashing and it stopped cooling. We tried a couple of different power leeds and 3 different power sockets and two batteries. Still no cooling. By the end of the day there was no power at all. No lights, no led screen. Tested with 240 volts and again no power.

Checked the receipt and its farking 8 days out of warranty. Took it in to ARB and am hoping for a good will fix as its a bloody expensive ice box otherwise. Its been with them for 4 weeks and i cant get an update as to what is happening. I have tried the store I dropped it off at as well as the head office where it was sent. They say they will look into it and call me back but I am still waiting......

Just thought I would have a bit of a rant as its bloody frustrating. Should have bought an Engel ??

[GQtdauto]

I had some trouble with mine but the cause was the cig plug , I was lucky because I had an inverter to plug it into and continue on with the camping trip .
Only other problem I have is the cheap arse latch pin keeps trying to get away from the fridge .
For the money should have got an Engel but they didn't have one the size I wanted .
It didn't do that well when we had a couple of weeks of mid 40s plus when travelling round oz but I think most fridges are rated xx below ambient temps anyway .

[Cuppa]

Hmm don't like the sound of this, I've got two ARB's 60l & a 35l. I've had'em both several years now, but have never used them for more than about a week at a time yet. No complaints, but we'll be relying on them full time in the not too distant future.

[Rock Trol]

I like the fridge, especially the lid and how it comes off. I had circuit board problems with my old Waeco CF35 but it was under warranty so was fixed. Starting to have doubts about Dometic products and their electronics. If they dont fix it under warranty I will take it to a refrigeration mechanic and get them to put a simple thermostat, control knob and temp gauge on it. Should make it reliable then.

[Rock Trol]

I had some trouble with mine but the cause was the cig plug , I was lucky because I had an inverter to plug it into and continue on with the camping trip .


I was using the ARB supplied Engel plug so it had a secure connection for sure.

[Rock Trol]

Hmm don't like the sound of this, I've got two ARB's 60l & a 35l. I've had'em both several years now, but have never used them for more than about a week at a time yet. No complaints, but we'll be relying on them full time in the not too distant future.

I googled to see if there where many power problems with these fridges and could not find anything. It might be just me and Dometic fridges.......
Only problem is that they have to be sent back to head office for repair so you cant get them fixed locally at a refrigeration place.

[GQtdauto]

Hmm don't like the sound of this, I've got two ARB's 60l & a 35l. I've had'em both several years now, but have never used them for more than about a week at a time yet. No complaints, but we'll be relying on them full time in the not too distant future.

Make sure you swap the cig plug for either the Engel replacement or just change it to Anderson plug Cuppa.

[MudRunnerTD]

Four weeks ago on a trip up near Marysville my 47 Litre ARB fridge gave up the ghost. Error light started flashing and it stopped cooling. We tried a couple of different power leeds and 3 different power sockets and two batteries. Still no cooling. By the end of the day there was no power at all. No lights, no led screen. Tested with 240 volts and again no power.

Checked the receipt and its farking 8 days out of warranty. Took it in to ARB and am hoping for a good will fix as its a bloody expensive ice box otherwise. Its been with them for 4 weeks and i cant get an update as to what is happening. I have tried the store I dropped it off at as well as the head office where it was sent. They say they will look into it and call me back but I am still waiting......

Just thought I would have a bit of a rant as its bloody frustrating. Should have bought an Engel ??

8 days out of Warranty shouldn't really matter. The Warranty is really a reasonable time not a line in the sand, especially when talking about a big ticket item like this. It is reasonable that you should expect aq far longer life out of this item therefore the Law is on your side. Not Fit for Purpose. Be nice but bat Hard mate. Please keep us in the loop. I rate their fridge highly and for my money would buy one if i need to buy a fridge as i like everything about them. I own a 45 engel and an 80 Waeco.

[Rock Trol]

8 days out of Warranty shouldn't really matter. The Warranty is really a reasonable time not a line in the sand, especially when talking about a big ticket item like this. It is reasonable that you should expect aq far longer life out of this item therefore the Law is on your side. Not Fit for Purpose. Be nice but bat Hard mate. Please keep us in the loop. I rate their fridge highly and for my money would buy one if i need to buy a fridge as i like everything about them. I own a 45 engel and an 80 Waeco.


I like the fridge as well. And you are right about the warranty. 8 days out is not grounds to reject it under Australian consumer law. The Waeco had a common problem with the 5A polyfuse which was upgraded to a 7A fuse. With the ARB its a bit of a mystery as I couldnt find any similar problem on the net so hoping its a one off.

[Cuppa]

Make sure you swap the cig plug for either the Engel replacement or just change it to Anderson plug Cuppa.

Yup. I fitted Anderson plugs on them as soon as I bought them. Far more secure & 'vibration proof'. Anyone thinking of doing the same ..... be aware that the ARB ciggie plug has a fuse in it, so an inline fuse of the same capacity should be fitted close to the fridge when changing plugs.

[GQtdauto]

We used and abused our 60 litres ARB fridge for a year when travelling round oz , changed the plug lead for 12 volt at ARB in Broome for the Engel type plug .
It never worked it's way out after that and fridge ran constantly for a year , we only did the start of the Gibbs but the corrugations were shocking , the fridge survived ok so they must be reasonably well built .
Ours is now fixed in the new camper to be used just as a fridge and the ubercheap everkool knock off is going to be used as a freezer only and is in the back of the GQ , will see how it all works when we do the corner country Birdsville trip in a couple of months .

[threedogs]

Brought my 40ltr Engel in 92' pretty much ran non stop for a good 15 yrs..
All I did was fit a LED light on a reed switch and fused it to the dead side of the fuse.
Plus Ive fit a blower motor to cool the condenser a touch and the lastest is it now
runs via a 12v digital thermostat.
Point being,,, is no printed circuit boards etc to go wrong and still running like a top,,,,lol

[Ben-e-boy]

How many flashes does the error light make. The number of flashes determine what the fault is

[mudski]

Brought my 40ltr Engel in 92' pretty much ran non stop for a good 15 yrs..
All I did was fit a LED light on a reed switch and fused it to the dead side of the fuse.
Plus Ive fit a blower motor to cool the condenser a touch and the lastest is it now
runs via a 12v digital thermostat.
Point being,,, is no printed curcuit boards etc to go wrong and still running like a top,,,,lol

Yeah sometimes nothing beats old tech hey John.

[threedogs]

Yeah sometimes nothing beats old tech hey John.

Just saw on TV,,, Aldi have a Stirling named 12v fridge on sale this Saturday $499

https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-buys/special-buys-sat-1-april/saturday-detail-wk13/ps/p/40l-portable-fridge-freezer/

[jay see]

I was waiting for these to come up again, but for the same money I got a 18 month old cfx50 waeco.

[GQtdauto]

Not lining up again for Aldi sales , it's a shit fight , people line up only to have people jump in front and then people jump in front of them , 100 metre sprint to what you want only to get there and people have six of what you want piled on a trolley.
Fridges are danfoss compressors I believe .

[Rock Trol]

How many flashes does the error light make. The number of flashes determine what the fault is


Cant remember the number of flashes initially as the complete unit went dead after a while. No power at all. No longer any led lights.

[threedogs]

I was waiting for these to come up again, but for the same money I got a 18 month old cfx50 waeco.

Just make sure you have a secure power source and no cig plugs
either twist lock engel/narva or 50a anderson, Waeco are known
for requiring positive conections

[Rock Trol]

UPDATE: After 6 weeks of waiting I have finally been able to get some information on what is happening with my fridge. Apparently they are waiting on parts (circuit board) so hopefully I will get it back soon. Not sure when though.

[bazzaboy]

A friend of mine had the same ARB fridge with the same issue. Turned out to be the power supply/transformer. Replaced under warranty.

[Hodge]

A friend of mine had the same ARB fridge with the same issue. Turned out to be the power supply/transformer. Replaced under warranty.

Hopefully mine stays good as it's out of warranty now. It's been on 99% of the time since purchase in 2014. When it's not in the car its at home hooked up to 240V.
So far so good. Fingers crossed.

[threedogs]

Hopefully mine stays good as it's out of warranty now. It's been on 99% of the time since purchase in 2014. When it's not in the car its at home hooked up to 240V.
So far so good. Fingers crossed.

Ive ran my 40ltr Engel basically none stop from 1992 till about 2009 then on and off till now
never had a problem nothing has worn out. love the digital temp controller I've fitted as well
Its been off for about 1 year but will be using it again soon

[Rock Trol]

I don't get the impression that this is a widespread problem with these fridges but sh1te does happens with all makes and models. If the circuit board where to go again out of warranty I would just get a refrigeration mechanic to wire in a simple thermostat with rotating knob for temp control and a digital thermometer just like the old Engels. This should be a lot more reliable than the fully automatic/electronic control.

[Rock Trol]

UPDATE!!!
Received an sms from ARB that fridge was ready for pickup last Thursday (20April). Picked up om Monday and it now works. They replaced the power board and control unit under warranty.
Glad to have it back as I was on a trip to the Otways last week and had to rely on a cool box and friends fridges. What a pain in the butt!!

[Hodge]

Good outcome !

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