This is a HUGE thank you to Tom Caffrey (Suncatcher) who advised me to replace my Dometic control board with a Dinosaur board. I was futzing with the fridge the day of the big illegal alien takedown at the GM rally. Usually if I cleaned all the contacts and wiggled all the wires at least a couple of times a year it would more or less work on gas a lot of the time. To say it was reliable on gas would have been a bald-faced lie. To say it was "useable" on gas was really stretching the truth. On the day in question I was getting nowhere fast when Tom came along and suggested that I needed to get me a Dinosaur (http://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/) board. I got on the phone that day and ordered one from All RV in Tucson. That was also after I got lost in voicemail hell at Beaudry and had some idiot at some other place tell me that troubleshooting fridges was WAY too complicated for the great unwashed such as myself to try, but that's a whole 'nuther story.
Anyway - yesterday I put the board in the fridge and this morning it was still working on gas. That longevity was unheard of prior to this board so I think Tom has fixed my fridge. Thank you Tom.
Amen! They are great boards. Mine fried in an electrical storm while parked in Fl. last winter. I call Dinosaur (800 number I think) and the guy (can't recall his name, but the only one...) asked for the sn to see if it was still covered by their warranty. It wasn't but he put me in touch with a re-seller who gave me a good price and overnighted the board. Great product; super people and takes all the mystery out of my Dometic.
dg
Hi Bob,
I'm glad you had success with the dino board. They are a little bit better then the Dometic OEM board with out a doubt.
The problem with the Dometic board is that it is subjected to extreme temperature and weather changes all the time. The boards
are just behind the outdoor grill with a stupid plastic cover over it. Think about it! The upper boards for the selection buttons sometimes
go south too but, many times the wires that travel through the reefer walls are the culprit. From what I can tell, the Dino boards have just
a bit more silicone coatings over the electronics then the OEM's. And that may just be what is needed for the environment.
Good Luck
Nick-
Naw Nick the Dino is made in the USA not Mexico or China lol
good luck
I believe that brand is what I put in my Hydroflame heater and it is great, complete with a color changing LED that tells when the different functions are taking place. It does a three try start rather than two.
The significant change that I noted Nick is that the Dinosaur board has both connections for the thermocouple on the board itself. The Dometic board routes the ground for the thermocouple to the common ground but the Dino board has an extra lug for grounding the thermocouple. The literature says this avoids "ground bounce" which causes a bad check light on the original boards. I didn't know that grounds could bounce but our check light certainly came on more than it should have. And often cleaning the ground lugs would temporarily solve the problem. For whatever that is worth.
Other than the extra lug and needing to relocate the wire from the thermocouple the board install is dead simple plug and play.