Need help wiring Love controller

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A4J

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I'm putting together my keezer and I'm using a Love controller. I basically followed this wiring diagram, except that I only connected #7 to ground and did not connect it to white/neutral. It's running perfectly - compressor turns off when it the freezer hits the right temp and turns on again when it needs to. Is it ok? Will it go bad sometime in the future if I leave it like this?

If it matters at all, I have it hooked up to a Whirlpool 8.9cf freezer.

hermswiring3.jpg
 
Neutral and ground are usually bonded together at the distribution box or what not. If it was on a gfci circuit you would have problem with the gfci tripping. It wont hurt anything but you really should have the neutral connected instead of the ground. Now you have an uninsulated conductor conitinuously carrying current.

Why did you use the ground instead of the neutral?
 
Why did you use the ground instead of the neutral?
It wasn't on purpose. I was all set to wire it up exactly like the diagram above, but I had to stop in the middle of it [we had dinner guests] then when I got back to it, I thought I was all done and plugged it in. It wasn't until I was cleaning everything up that I realized that I didn't connect the neutral.
 
Yeah stuff happens. Just curious...
Yeah, I wouldnt leave it. You should fix it when you get the time.
 
Now is this wiring keep the freezer on all the time and only kick the compressor on/off or does it kick the whole freezer on/off? Just ordered my Love today
 
Mine's set up to turn the whole freezer off, but it doesn't matter much in my situation because freezer=compressor [i.e., there's no other accessory that is powered except an indicator light in the front of the unit].

Can you post a picture anyway WortMonger? We can compare.
 
Now is this wiring keep the freezer on all the time and only kick the compressor on/off or does it kick the whole freezer on/off? Just ordered my Love today

If you want it to just run the compressor then you need to find the relay in the fridge that drives it. You have two options. Cut the leads going to the current relay contacts and splice them into the Love Controllers contactc. Otherwise you can use the love controller to drive the coil of the control relay. I chose to do the later, just takes one wire. This way when I open the fridge I still get the light. I also wired the blower to run constantly.
 
my freezer circuit wit proposed wiring. new wiring is paint black. LOVE controller pinouts in red current freezer temp control crossed out

lovewiring.jpg


love wiring

7- power supply
8- power supply
10- switch common contact
11- NO switch contact

yays/nays on this ckt change?
I'm usually confident in this stuff till its my own stuff
 
Got the pin out right from the controller. ANd not to sound like a jerk but just checking, What's your electrical knowledge background?
 
Got the pin out right from the controller. ANd not to sound like a jerk but just checking, What's your electrical knowledge background?

Nah its cool man, you dont want an arm chair electrician telling you what to do ;)

My background is industrial controls, instrumentation, integration, and automation. PID controllers and their applications are a pretty common thing for me. My experience is mostly with waste and fresh water applications.
 
OKay, so got this all hooked up. Light works, but LOVE doesnt power on. Break out Volt Meter. 120 across black and white (going across white obviosuly) but no voltage between ground adn either Line or Neutral. So now I'm thinking a jumper between 7-11 (Ground and Neutral) and I think this follows suit with other LOVE wiring I've seen. Any issues with this? I guess I'll find out before any posts because I'm walking back to the garage. Any bets on if I come back in pleased or pissed with a wasted LOVE and/or Freezer! haha


SO THAT DIDN'T WORK
Pplugged freezer in and Love and Freezer both startedup and cycled off, started up cycled off. Obviously the neutral/ground jumper is shorting it out.

Any suggestions??
 
TS Series 13xxxx Anyway of getting in Chat wqith me Virtuous? That is exactly the field I hope to move into. I've been taken out of alot of it since I tooka desk job and am quite rusty, plus didn't have a real big knowledge base to get rusty from. I was jsut starting out of college
 
Big Thanks To Virtuous. He talked me through this over the phone and got me up and going. Going to clean it up tomorrow and I'll post wiring diagram in case anyone else is using the same freezer. I'll post it in the other thread I started though
 
Im getting a new fridge this weekend and will be wiring mine up as well.

My old fridge conked out on me
 
I'm going to need help this week with my Love. Where did you get the freezer schematics?

On most freezers there is a little pocket around back that will have a schematic. Both of mine had this as well as a sticker on the back with the schematic. There is plenty of help on this board. I just went through this and could probably help you out if you post a freezer schematic and LOVE model number
 
OK, sorry it took so long to get my pictures I promised up, but here they are for anyone that was wondering.

Here is my simple install of a Love Temperature Controller. I am unsure of the model right now, but will check next time (I forgot and can't find the paperwork to not have to unhook everything again).
love_controller.JPG


Alright, then I flipped it over and opened it up laying down the board side.
love_controller3.JPG


Now for the guts. This is all the wiring tools I had at the time and everything is very secure. Works like a dream and I made it with a thick commercial extension cord.
love_controller2.JPG


I will edit this post later with wiring numbers, I just had to do this fast to answer a PM, ;).
 
In 2008 Love changed the back of the controller. The wiring diagram for the pre-2008 is different than the latest generation.

I initially had some issues wiring mine up before I realized the problem.

Linc
 
Cool, so how are the new ones different. I am about to buy another. I "love" this thing... ba dum ching. I really like how small they are compared to the Ranco or Johnson Controls. Makes for a really clean looking install in a fridge/freezer/other.
 
I don't understand what that "splice" indication is for in the 2nd picture. There is no ground connection for either version of the controller?
 
In order to better understand this diagram, you should read from the original site:

Love TS-13010 Temperature Switch - New Wiring (2008+)

He is simply splicing the Love Control in-line with an extension cord so that he does not modify the freezer circuitry or wiring at all. This cuts power to the freezer until the temperature rises above the set-point.

In this diagram, pin 7 is spliced to the neutral and the ground is spliced back to itself (because he is cutting an extension cord in half).

If you want to just cut the compressor because you want the power indicator light or the interior light to operate, you need to bypass the thermostat only like in the diagram that IrregularPulse posted (but with #7 going to neutral and not ground).
 
Thanks dwygrsshpr. My chest freezer will be arriving at the end of this month. I sincerely hope that I'll be able to understand all this by then.

It looks like the guy at the link you posted is wiring the Love switch into an extension cord that the freezer is plugged into. From what I see of everyone's Keezer projects, that is pretty atypical. Most people seem to mount the Love on the Keezer and wire it into the appliance's wiring. In such case, I gather that the freezer would simply be plugged into a wall outlet.

In other words, the blog owner you referenced seems to be creating a Love-switched extension cord, not a Love-switched freezer. It could just as well be used to run a temperature-controlled freezer or a temperature-controlled paper shredder. But I'm guessing, because I really don't get it. Like I say, maybe I'll figure it all out when I can see the physical wiring.
 
Yup, you got it. I too am just about ready to start my keezer project. I picked up an old compact freezer for $30 on craigslist. What the link shows is basically someone using the Love control like a Ranco; kind of defeats the purpose of a panel mount temperature controller! I used this thread and John Beere's fermentation cabinet thread to plan my wiring. I am ordering my Love control today - I will post a diagram along with my freezer schematic to update this thread with my solution.
 
Here is the wiring diagram I used to connect my Love TS-13010 to an ancient compact freezer. If you look closely, the original wiring diagram (black) is virtually identical to the diagram above - I am guessing that nearly all fridge/freezers operate on the same diagram (other accessory circuits like lights etc operating inside the main loop).

I did not cut or damage the freezer in any way. I merely removed the original thermostat from the unit and spliced into the existing harness as indicated. I even theaded the Love thermocouple through the original hole in the unit. if I ever had the desire to return this unit to stock, it would simply be a matter of removing the Love and reinstalling the original thermostat.

In 40 minutes the unit chilled from 70* ambient to 48* (compressor shut-off) and continued to cool down to 41* due to lag. I placed the thermocouple into a cup of water to get true liquid temp.

Overall, this could not be simplier and I still have power to the unit - I highly recommend going this route instead of killing power to the whole thing. Full disclosure, I had no previous knowledge using Love controls.

FreezerWiring_sm.jpg


freezer_running_1.jpg
 
would someone be able to help me out with wiring my love controller into my freezer???

I thought i had the hang of it but when i plugged in the compressor started turning on/off/on/off/on/off then i got a nice large blue spark and a wonderful odor from the love controller... did i kill it??

here is a pic of my wiring diagram.... if anyone could help me out i would appreciate it..
IMG_1863.jpg



EDIT: Nevermind... tried it again.. Got it working. I spliced into the wires just before the original temp control device. I must have crossed wires at some point..
 
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