The Dometic CFX3 Mega Thread

Is it normal to have to smack the lid to get it to latch shut? I’m sure it provides an excellent seal but wanted to make sure it’s normal and I’m not stressing other parts of the lid/fridge by it being so tight.

 

I guess it depends on the level of smacking needed.

Is it a



level smack or a



smackdown?


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Somewhere in between

https://youtu.be/eYNPeMlyTIg

 

Thanks for the tips! I haven't yet, trip isn't until this weekend! I'm wiring in a constant 12v plug tonight, then tomorrow night I plan to pack it, let it do it's thing overnight and see how it is in the morning! This trip won't consist of days of sitting without starting so I'm not worried about longevity so to speak!

 

I need to give mine a pretty solid smack to get it to lock closed too. One side more so than the other.

 

Thanks for the video. Wanted to make sure we had a good idea of what you were experiencing.

Yes, that’s normal and will break in over time. We intentionally made it fit tight to ensure the seal works correctly. Better than too loose!

Now we don’t recommend smashing the lid down usually Just a firm press downward on the hinge will work and it will get easier over time.

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So you're saying I shouldn't smack that ass? Fine.

I did just go try and press the lid shut like a normal human being and low and behold, it latched shut. I think I've resorted to smacking it because usually I'm reaching behind me while driving to grab stuff and I can't get leverage on it. Thanks for the help.

 

Definitely up to you

Totally understand the issue of trying to get stuff out behind the seat and getting it closed. Anything behind the seat feels like a way to tear your rotator cuff!

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If you're on the edge about using the long or short plug, here's the difference it makes:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fridge-power-plug-socket.671940/

 

So I'm still not convinced my 75DZ is capable of really being used as a freezer. I bought the PLB40 and wanted to test it. Prior to running my test, I put the 75DZ in my garage, plugged it into AC, and set the small side to 0* and the large side to 37*. The fridge side reaches temp. fine, but the freezer side stays around 5*, the lowest it ever went was 3*. Once it reached that, I put a number of water bottles in both sides. Admittedly, the bottles were from my basement (~62*), so they were not pre cooled to their desired temperature, but I didn't want to test using the meat in my freezer since my confidence level is rather low at this point. Yes, I realize in a real world scenario I would be taking items from the fridge and freezer in my house and putting them directly into a pre cooled unit, but since I was on AC I figured I would let it do it's thing to bring these items down to temp. That was noontime yesterday.

At 9:00 last night, seeing that the fridge side had remained at 37* for a number of hours, and the freezer side constantly showing 5* for at least 3 hours, I decided to start my test. I plugged the unit into a fully charged PLB40. This morning I went into the garage at 7:30, and found the PLB40 down to 16%. Fridge side still reading a constant 37*, while the freezer side showing 5*. Inside the freezer, even in the deep part, there were still water bottles totally unfrozen, not even slushy. So in a matter of 10 hours the PLB40 went from 100% down to 16%. Not exactly promising results considering I'd like to see at a minimum 16 hours of run time out of a PLB40 to duplicate an overnight stay in camp.

Throughout this entire time, the unit's compressor was running. The freezer side never reaches temperature and I believe it is the unit's inability to reach desired temp that keeps the unit running, thus causing a massive power draw. I am going to run the same test again, only this time setting the freezer side to 5*, to see if that will save a considerable amount of energy.

If I am doing something wrong someone please correct me. My garage has no direct sunlight, and is below 80*. I imagine if this test was run inside the truck, baking in the sun, I would only see less run time. At this point between the 75DZ and the PLB40 I am almost $2,000 invested into @Dometic , and I am not convinced it is worth that kind of money to have something that can only run for 10, maybe 12 hours and still not be able to freeze a half dozen water bottles over a period of 19.5 hours. I am also confident that it is the freezer side of things causing such short run times and that if I set both sides to 37* I would be more than satisfied. Had I known that, I would have opted for the 55IM, because it seems that this unit is just too power hungry to be used as a freezer.

 

I think you're just expecting too much from it. First, you cooled it totally empty and then put in room temp water bottles into it, hoping for it to freeze them. It takes a lot of energy to freeze a water bottle, let alone multiple ones. It sounds more like you're torture testing it rather than doing real-world tests. Put frozen stuff in the freezer, even if it's just frozen water bottles, and then see how well it does.

 

Ok that makes sense. I'll freeze all my bottles then put them once they're frozen, and then I'll switch over the a fully charged PLB40 and see how it goes. Think I should leave it set to 0* or move up to 5*? Even empty it never gets down to 0*.

 

That I'm not sure, I only have a single zone and I've never set it below freezing. Try 5 and see how it does with both the compressor kicking on, and if that's cold enough to keep a popsicle frozen.

 

I'd say set it to 0*. It's advertised as a freezer, right?

It's good information to know.

 

Like @EatSleepTacos said, you need to start with it prechilled and add frozen stuff. Even a full size freezer is going to have trouble getting to temperature if it's basically empty and you add a bunch of room temperature items.

 

I have the CFX3-100 with the PLB-40 and its a great combination. 100w solar panel recharges the PLB-40 during the day. Plug into the DC socket in the back of bed for transport to and from. I have dual battery set-up but I love the freedom the PLB-40 affords. I can off load my fridge where its convenient and also charge my phone etc. I do a lot of desert camping so the solar works very well. My only gripe is that I have never been able to get the mobile app to work. When when will the app be updated to work with android 10???

 

Idk if my situation was just a fluke, but... For whatever reason The App needs access to device location. So I gave it permission to "always" access location, and made sure my GPS was on, and miraculously it finally worked for me.
BTW, I run Android 10 on my phone. Also I paired my CFX3 75dz to the phone as well.

 

Are you using the CFX3 app or the older CFX app? The instructions said to use the CFX app, but I couldn't connect. I found the CFX3 app and it worked right away.

 

Ran another test last night. Charged the PLB40 to 100%, kept the 75DZ pre chilled to 37* on the large side, and set to 0* on the small size using AC power. I put 8 water battles in my chest freezer and waited for them to turn into solid bricks of ice before putting them into the freezer side along with ~12 popsicles. The 8 water bottles in the fridge side remained in the 75DZ the entire time.

Once I put everything in I closed the lid and switched over to DC power using the PLB40. After 10 hours the PLB40 went from 100% to 28%. Some simple calculations show that if that trend continues the PLB40 will last just under ~14 hours before reaching 0%. Now that's certainly better than the ~12 hours I got from my previous test, but still not really enough to have a leisurely time in camp without having to worry about getting on the road to keep the Dometic running.

I am going to run the same test again, only this time I'll set the freezer side to 5* and see if that helps.

 

Was it able to maintain 0° this time?

Also, 14hrs doesn’t seem terribly far off. If the 75DZ runs continuously then the PLB40 will last about 7hrs. So with those temp settings you are running at 50% duty cycle. Which seems reasonable considering it’s at 0°.

If I’m running the freezer, I usually run it was 0° when I’m driving and bump it up to like 10° when at camp. But I don’t take ice cream either.