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Beer-Baron

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Hey everyone,

I built myself a keggerator a while ago.

The fridge I used had the "chiller" plate thing near at the top of the fridge. It was also the "freezer" in the fridge.

I modified the fridge so that I moved that chiller thing to the back of the fridge, and now it no longer has the compartment in it that would be the freezer.

Basically I think it has messed up the thermostat because the fridge runs constantly only turning off for 5 minutes at a time.

How can I disable the built in thermostat and just use one of those ebay aqarium temp controllers instead?
Do I need to disable it at all?
If the temp controller turns the compressor off and on, should my internal thermostat be cranked all the way? Or down lower?
 
there are two options, you could either wire the new temperature control circuit in series with the existing T-stat switch and set the existing thermostat to any point colder than the new temp controllers setpoint , or you could remove the existing t-stat switch and replace it with the temp controller circuit.
 
there are two options, you could either wire the new temperature control circuit in series with the existing T-stat switch and set the existing thermostat to any point colder than the new temp controllers setpoint , or you could remove the existing t-stat switch and replace it with the temp controller circuit.

When you say wire "in series" do you just mean plug the fridge into my temp controller and then keep the internal thermostat temperature higher?
 
what temp is the fridge at if it's running constantly? If it's colder than what you'd want it to be, you can just use any temp controller (ranco, johnson, or one of the e-bay ones) and plug into that and let that control the temp.
 
what temp is the fridge at if it's running constantly? If it's colder than what you'd want it to be, you can just use any temp controller (ranco, johnson, or one of the e-bay ones) and plug into that and let that control the temp.

Yes its colder than I want. I think I'll go this route. Thank you!
 
I am not certain, but I suspect the the original thermostat was in the small freezer at the top of the mini fridge, and now the unit is trying to cool the whole mini fridge to that lower temperature with the cooling plate.
So if you plug in an external temperature controller like a johnson digital controller and control the fridge with that you will need to make sure the original thermostat is set to a lower temperature (cooler) than the temp that you are trying to maintain with the aftermarket temp controller. turning it to max cold would be an effective way to make sure the contacts would not interrupt the circuit.
if you are using an ebay temp controller you will need to wire the contoller to constant power and common to power up the device, and then run a jumper wire from the 120v hot wire to one of the contact terminals on the controllers internal relay. the other side of the relay contact will be wired either to the switch on the existing thermostat, or the compressor hot lead if you choose to leave the existing t-stat.
 
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