Keg-O-Vision

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The_Dog_42

Supporting Member
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Joined
Feb 10, 2011
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Location
Austin
Let me first say, this project is totally ridiculous but I don't think it's been done and the wife and I wanted a project to have fun with...aside from the obvious.

First a little back story:

About a month ago, a co-worker of my wife decided to get rid of a 55" rear projection TV (dimensions were 50"H x 50"W x 50"D). Due to the difficulties in getting rid of a TV like this, my wife called me and asked if we wanted to do him a favor and turn it into a kegerator. The initial thought was to remove the electronics of the TV, insulate nearly the whole interior and replace it with a flat screen TV. To do this, we would have had to reduce the size of our current TV, so that wasn't going to happen. We have a few ideas on what to do with the interior now though, so I won't spoil the end (unless we find another idea that was really unique but won't work).

Here was the initial TV.
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FrontViewWhole

In about 20 minutes, it was broken down to this.
3709-3368.jpg

FrontViewColorGuns

And after 2 hours, with the wife's help, it was down to this.
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RearViewDisassembled

We decided to mock-up some kegs to make we could fit what we wanted inside and we had a third helper.
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KegTestFit

*EDIT: Because of the new links to the forum, I put in some titles of the pics, just in case the links break again.
 
About 1 week after the successful test fitting, we received this glorious bounty. Can you tell how many kegs will be in the Keg-O-Vision? :mug:

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KegPieceParts

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TempControllerParts

The wife modified part of the TV to include a temperature indicator, along with USB and RCA inputs for the stereo we're wiring in.

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TempIndicatorAssembled

She also did some very nice cutting to fit some kick a$$ speakers in the front.

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FrontViewSpeakers
 
Next up was modification of the Air Conditioner to cool everything.

Got the AC from a friend for the price of a piece of lumber to cover the opening.

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ACNew

Opened it up to find 2 fans, one blowing over each set of coils. These were controlled with a high-low switch on the control panel. There was also an on-off switch that had to be bypassed. I decided to run the fan permanently on low to increase the life cycle of the fan, and with the small volume needed to cool, I shouldn't have any issues.

Luckily there was a schematic to help with the wiring.
3708-3369.jpg

ACWired

Reassembled everything and removed the labels. Also applied caulk to make sure it's sealed up against condensation.
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ACReassembled
 
Just this week, I finally received all the components needed, so I started to get everything together. We're going to use a car stereo to run the system, along with a couple of car speakers. The stereo is wired to an off-the-shelf 13.8VDC 20amp converter, so it will handle all my needs (you can see wires going to the speakers on the left of the pictures).

I also started dry fitting the interior. The kegs will go on the sides, with the taps in the middle. I had to build in a couple of shelves to cover the kegs and limited the cooling space of everything.

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ShelfTestFit

Here's the taps being dry-fitted. We liked the symmetry from two towers instead of the dual tower, so we will be installing both. The only question is height. The tap on the right is almost a perfect height for a pour but the aesthetics are a little off. The tap on the left will look the best because it will be level with the top of the speakers. This will also allow the us the most usefulness inside the cavity. Let me know your thoughts on this one.

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TapDryFit
 
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PHP:
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I got a TV that would be better off as a kegerator too! Subscribed!
 
It was late last night when I was writing this, so I didn't go into as much backstory detail as I would have liked. I just added to it (copied below).

The initial thought was to remove the electronics of the TV, insulate nearly the whole interior and replace it with a flat screen TV. To do this, we would have had to reduce the size of our current TV, so that wasn't going to happen. We have a few ideas on what to do with the interior now though, so I won't spoil the end (unless we find another idea that was really unique but won't work).
 
subscribed this is totally effing awesome. Even more awesome would be if your final plan is a touch screen jukebox (that's what I would want done with it!)
 
subscribed this is totally effing awesome. Even more awesome would be if your final plan is a touch screen jukebox (that's what I would want done with it!)

I wouldn't think of that in 100 years. Too bad the wife is kind of an audiophile, so I'm not sure I would be able to find one to meet her requirements.

The stereo we got has a USB input, RCA input (including video for the 2" display) and a 1/8" stereo input...so I suppose we could connect it to a touch MP3 player and fake it. ;)
 
Did you save the magnifying screen for solar brewing?

Google that.

That is so cool. I don't know if I'm enough of a mad scientist to do that...although I am an engineer so that may be close.

I did save the lens, although I didn't know that was what it was.

I think the only things that we haven't saved yet are some of the PCBs. We plan on reusing the power button to power a relay which will turn the stereo on and off. I also removed the RCA inputs from the PCB in the back of the TV to use on the inputs. The aesthetic pieces (screen trim and speaker cover) and the roll out piece that housed the channel and volume buttons are the only other things I can think of off hand that we're reusing.
 
So the honey-do list and mother's day prevented me from getting as much accomplished as I would have liked, but that's life.

First order of business was to get my electrical project box completed. It's similar to the ebay aquarium controller build, but with a love controller I had around. It has a total of 5 outlets, only 2 of which are controlled by the temp controller.

3776-3423.jpg

ElectricalBoxIso

Next I got to work on the stereo. Because this is incorporating a car stereo, the wiring is a little odd. I was going to use a relay to switch the "battery" on / off through the actual power button on the TV, but it turns out the power button on the TV does not maintain contact after being pushed...which I suppose makes sense but is a hassle. So I will have to get a new switch and build a small mount for it to install behind the power button and properly work the system (sorry no pictures yet).

Last (and longest) accomplishment of the week was finalizing the height / width / depth of the frame. This took a lot longer than expected, but we think we managed to get all the equipment, insulation, and aesthetics accounted for. Here it is all screwed together (all butt joints w/ some pocket screws where needed).

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RightSideRoughIn
 
Finally have some more progress to show.

When we wired up the speakers, my wife thought they needed a little more backbone. So we put in this slim subwoofer (center speaker). After it was installed, I realized it wouldn't fit with the trim piece that will go over it due to some plastic supports...so it's back to the drawing board on the position of the sub, but there are options.

The left side of the shelf is roughed in at this point also, which took a lot longer than expected.

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Subwoofer

I also built a little shelf and lag bolted it to the bottom of the original TV. This allowed my AC unit to sit outside the back at the right distance. It's hard to see in the pics but there is a little angled piece that protrudes out the back and the AC shelf is almost perfectly in line with that shelf.

3864-3503.jpg

ACShelf

Questions / comments welcome.
 
Got quite a bit accomplished (at least in my mind) this weekend.

First thing we accomplished was getting the rough in work permanently attached to the housing. We wanted to ensure that it wouldn't move or flex for the final detail work and insulation work. The middle shelf is at the final height and attached as well.

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FrontRoughInDone

Next we cut the holes in the sides so I can slide the corny's in and out. We also took some veneered plywood and made the doors. Using insert nuts and 1/4-20 x 1-1/4" screws with the plastic thumb screw cap on them. Got the doors cut, eased the edges with a 3/8" round over bit in my router and painted. Here they are attached. The color in the first picture does not seem to match very well, but in indoor lighting it should look pretty good.

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DoorLeftSide

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DoorRightSide

Next up is getting the subwoofer in a better position, and building mounting boxes for the stereo deck and the power supply. Then we run electricals and finally get this thing insulated. After that is final detail work.
 
Finally getting around to posting an update.

Memorial day weekend was a great weekend for SWMBO projects, but I don't think I put 2 hours into the kegerator. All my time went into putting up the iron railing in this pic.

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PorchRailing

Luckily, my wife was more dedicated to the project. She installed the electronics into the box. Here is the front, with the stereo installed and operating (upper left).

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FrontStereoOn

All the electronics to power it are mounted to the back. Arrows from left to right are as follows: Subwoofer box, Subwoofer, 110v to 13.8v power supply, temp controller. After it was all wired up, we realized we needed an amp for the subwoofer. I'm hoping to get that wired up and tested today and installed tomorrow. When all the wiring is completely done and operational, I'll go back and clean it all up.

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RearElectronics

Then she installed the fold out front panel that the channel and volume buttons used to be on. Arrows from left to right are: USB input and RCA inputs (including video) to stereo, temp sensor (not the controller, it wouldn't fit and I didn't want to have to turn the kegerator around every time I wanted to know the temp) and useless channel and volume buttons.

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InputPanelWInsulation

As you can see, we also started work on the insulation. Using rigid foam from HD in layers.
 
With all of the "my wife did this", "my wife did that", "my wife installed such-n-such", "my wife cut this" that I see in this thread, I think your wife is WAY cooler than you are.
 
With all of the "my wife did this", "my wife did that", "my wife installed such-n-such", "my wife cut this" that I see in this thread, I think your wife is WAY cooler than you are.

There is no doubt about that...just giving props where props are due.

This last week she's been kicking @$$ on the kegerator and I've been a lazy @$$, so I felt I owed it to her.
 
Thanks for the kind words all. It helps keep the motivation up to know people are actually following along.

BTW, I showed Walker's comment to my wife and she said "That's about right." (sigh)
 
Wish my wife would help out with beer related projects, instead of just bitching about them.

Yea that sounds about right... I'm slowly starting to acquire parts for a HERMS build and I think she figured I was up to something... granted I'm also collecting parts for a build similar to this, but I think I'm going to use my 250 gal oil tank sitting in the basement...and no there's no longer oil in it nor will there ever be.

...and parts in general...

Keg-o-vision is definitely a sweet build though!!
 
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