Help with unique wiring on Love controller and fridge problem

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kincade

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Greetings all! I'm hoping to solicit a bit of advice from you. I searched but didn't really find any applicable thread that answers my question.

My current beer fridge has died and it turned out to be the cold control thermostat. I can either buy a new fridge, buy a new thermostat for $70, or buy a love for $65 and have more control over the fridge.

However, I'm wondering how I would go about wiring this in with a bad cold control thermostat? If I understand it correctly, the cold control thermostat just cuts the power to the compressor when it reaches the set temperature. The thermostat has 2 wires on the back and a ground wire going from the it's case to the fridge. Would I just jumper the 2 wires together (which I'm thinking would be the same as cranking it to 'full cold') and then wire in the love controller as normal? Also, is there a way to keep the interior fridge light with the Love controller?

Thanks for any help you can give!
 
Not to drive you backwards, but how sure r u the thermostat is broken. Its not a loss of freon or pump failure right?

What make, model, age of fridge do you have.

As far as on the pump. On new models there is a starter cap and run cap. The starter cap starts the compressor and the run cap keeps the compressor running. You need to wire up to these somehow. You may also need to wire a fan(s) inside the unit near the evaporator coil to turn on and a fan on the condensor coil if you unit is so equipped.

Hopefulley others can chime
 
However, I'm wondering how I would go about wiring this in with a bad cold control thermostat? If I understand it correctly, the cold control thermostat just cuts the power to the compressor when it reaches the set temperature. The thermostat has 2 wires on the back and a ground wire going from the it's case to the fridge. Would I just jumper the 2 wires together (which I'm thinking would be the same as cranking it to 'full cold') and then wire in the love controller as normal?

Yes. A thermostat is essentially just a fancy on/off switch, so you just bypass the t-stat and hook up the controller.


kincade said:
Also, is there a way to keep the interior fridge light with the Love controller?

Assuming that the Love controller work the same way as my Johnson Controls controller, then no. The light will only go on if the controller is supplying power to the unit, so it will only work when the compressor is running.
 
Also, is there a way to keep the interior fridge light with the Love controller?
Yes, as long you wire the Love controller's relay to control the power to the compressor only.
The rest of the original electrical circuit stays the same, including the interior light.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
Not to drive you backwards, but how sure r u the thermostat is broken. Its not a loss of freon or pump failure right?

What make, model, age of fridge do you have.

As far as on the pump. On new models there is a starter cap and run cap. The starter cap starts the compressor and the run cap keeps the compressor running. You need to wire up to these somehow. You may also need to wire a fan(s) inside the unit near the evaporator coil to turn on and a fan on the condensor coil if you unit is so equipped.

Hopefulley others can chime

Not sure age, but the fridge is an Amana model number is tc20c-l and the Mfg# is P73500-21WL. I believe the part I'm looking for is a 'cold control thermostat'. The part needing replacement is stamped with part numbers 3ART5AE7 and 1-b5923-4. It will cool just fine till the setpoint but then will not turn back on to cool until I mess with the thermostat (turn or bump it).
 
Yes, as long you wire the Love controller's relay to control the power to the compressor only.
The rest of the original electrical circuit stays the same, including the interior light.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Thanks to all of you for all the advice so far!

So Claudius, could I use the 2 wires currently going to the bad thermostat for control? If I did that, where would I draw power/ground/etc from? I'm looking at the diagram posted by TH and it makes perfect sense as that is how I wired my Ranco. But if I wanted to just use the thermostat to interrupt I'm not sure how it would be wired???

Any ideas/diagrams/photos would be greatly appreciated!
 
I've been staring at the diagram and wondering if I could wire it this way?

hot from fridge to 8
neutral from fridge to 7
one side of thermostat wire to 10
other side of thermostat wire to 11 (I'm assuming that the controller closes the circuit between 10 and 11 when it is engaged)

I'm not sure where I'd grab the hot and neutral from in the fridge, and less sure how I'd safely route them through the interior of the fridge... But it seems like I'm making progress?
 
GREAT information! Thanks a million!

Looks like I need to try and find a wiring diagram for my fridge. There isn't one on the back, hopefully I can come up with one somewhere else in the fridge.
 
Or get a multimeter, and start testing connection points. That will work too, it just takes some digging.

I would bet all the fridges are the same in that the thermostat switches the hot lead to the compressor and fans. You just need to find a common line that is always powered for the other leg of the controller. It is probably white like in mine... but that is just a guess.
 
Kincade, sorry I am late:eek::eek:

Follow Boerderij_Kabouter advise.
He has done a great job with his project.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
Thanks to you all! I think I'm making progress here!

So... Here are the wiring diagrams...

fridge1sm.jpg


fridge2sm.jpg


fridge3sm.jpg


I'm thinking I can get the neutral from the icemaker (also in the freezer compartment). If I am correct, this will be the wiring sequence:

Terminal 7 to white in icemaker (hoping this is neutral?)
Terminal 8 to red in temp control/thermostat (hot?)
Terminal 8 jumper to Terminal 10
Terminal 11 to yellow in temp control/thermostat (line out to compressor?)

Does this look correct to you guys?

Boerderij_Kabouter, where did you get that sweet blue terminal block? Nice job!!!
 
That is correct!

I have a bunch of terminal blocks left over from other projects. You can get them from McMaster but they really aren't worth it for this kind of project. Home Depot, or other big box store, will have terminal blocks in the wiring section for ~$6 that will work great if you want to use terminals.

You are looking good. If you do it this way, your fridge/freezer will still operate normally (lights, defrost, etc.) just with better control.
 
That is correct!

I have a bunch of terminal blocks left over from other projects. You can get them from McMaster but they really aren't worth it for this kind of project. Home Depot, or other big box store, will have terminal blocks in the wiring section for ~$6 that will work great if you want to use terminals.

You are looking good. If you do it this way, your fridge/freezer will still operate normally (lights, defrost, etc.) just with better control.

Thanks a million! I really appreciate all the help from the members here; I was a bit lost with this project at first. I want the fridge to function normally w/ lights/defrost/etc, but just be able to control the temp with the Love controller.

Thanks again for all the help!
 
Thanks to the help of all of you I have this thing up and running. So far so good.

However, I'm not sure I programmed it correctly. I want it to chill to 42* and come back on when the temp reaches 46* (and chill back down to 42* then shut off). So I set SP to 42 and r0 to 4 and d0 to Co. It appears that r1 and r1 are just upper and lower limits. But I'm not sure if I should be adjusting c1, c2, c3 at all, and I don't think d2 and d8 do anything at all. Can anyone clarify?

Also, is P1 just a correction factor for the temp probe?
 
Can anyone advise me on the programming? Seems to be working fine but don't want to mess the controller up.
 
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