How to get a compressor to run just on dc

I planned on using an old dehumidifier for a fermentation chamber but something happened and it says that the bucket is full and the compressor wont turn on, I do not want to spend money on parts to try to fix it, so is there a way I can just bypass the electronics and get the compressor to kick on just using dc? The cable coming from the compressor has a red, black and blue wire. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Most consumer electronics have a wiring diagram on one of the service panels. Consult that.

DC is direct current, which indicates that one leg is always positive, one is always negative. Household current is AC - alternating current. If you aren't comfortable working with electricity it can kick your butt.

You'll have to change the motor to a DC one if you want to use it on DC.

If it says the bucket is full, there's a float switch problem. Just bypass/disconnect the float switch.

If you don't know what you're doing, find someone who does. Electricity + Water can kill you pretty quickly.



B

There is some kind of float mechanism that activates a switch to tell it the bucket is full. Just poke around until you find it. It is probably stuck. If not, take the wires off the switch and see if that works. If not, put the wires together and try that. One or the other should work. Just depends on how it was set up. My guess is you will have to put the wires together, but that is simply a guess.

Putting the two switch wires together took care of the problem thanks!

AJC16 said:

Putting the two switch wires together took care of the problem thanks!

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If you are going to run it this way and not replace the switch, cut the terminals off of the wire and strip it back and then wrap it together to make a solid connection. Otherwise, you may risk having the terminals start arcing and you could have other problems in the future.

So how do you turn this thing off? What I'm getting at is that I assume you are going to kluge the evaporator into some sort of insulated box the temperature of which you want to regulate. The contact pair you just removed could be replaced with a thermostat or a pair of relay contacts controlled by a thermostat to turn the compressor off when the desired temperature is reached.

Yes just look for where the float switch connects, you can probably cut/short out the connection as needed.

Dehumidiers are _not_ a good choice for a ferm chamber unless you're going to relocate the condenser, because else their net effect is to heat the air that passes over the condenser and evaporator.

To go to DC could be simple - or impossible. Some appliances use universal wound motors, and those will run on DC as well as AC! But usually a refrigeration compressor is integral with the motor, so if it's not universal wound, basically forget it, you can't do it.