Wiring help in side by side fridge

OK all I really could use an expert eye. The attached photo shows the wiring from inside my side by side kegerator/fermenting chamber. I tried to label what I know about it already and I was hoping one of you could assist me in figuring out the rest. And yes... I leaped before I looked

As you can see I have labeled the hot, ground and what I presume is neutral (white). Of course the neutral is an assumption based off of what most appliances use. The brown wire coming from the large clip along with the pink wire coming from the timer meet at another clip that was taped off. I am not sure what that means but I am assuming that they are not needed for this project. I have also labeled some more obvious things like the timer, light switch and the 5 hot leads I spliced off of the black wire (to power 2x STC-1000's).

Any how, can some one please help me figure out the wires that turn on the compressor? And/or help me confirm which is the neutral? The fridge is a whirlpool model # ED25DQXDW05. I checked online and could not find any wiring schematics, nor could I find a schematic anywhere on the fridge.

Please note that the orange and red wires coming from the timer used to go to the old thermostat, which I have removed for space concerns and the fact that I won't need it again. Because the thermostat tells the motor to kick on is it safe to assume that one of those wires is the hot for the compressor/fan? should it be the red wire going to the main clip? It seems to share a port on the clip connecting it to the timer.

Again I am trying to think this through but I just don't have enough experience to feel confident in my logic. Any and all help is welcome!

Maybe this photo will add some needed info to the equation. It means nothing to me though.

You should call whirlpool they may be able to email you a schematic. Thats what i did with my hotpoint side by side which was bought out by general electric. They also helped me find my schematic which was behind the front grill in a pouch. You really need it for us to help determine the best approach as all fridges are different.

Pull off the kick panel, WP usually puts their schematic diagrams behind the kick panel. It will be all folded up tucked into the back of the panel, if it's there.

ButcherBoy said:

Pull off the kick panel, WP usually puts their schematic diagrams behind the kick panel. It will be all folded up tucked into the back of the panel, if it's there.

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No such luck. I looked behind the kick panel in the front and the cardboard panel in the back... nothing. I also emailed whirlpool asking for a schematic so I will just have to wait and see if they send me one.

It does appear that white is the neutral, you can see that it goes to the neutral side of the lamp socket. You should be able to use that for the neutral side of your controller power supply.

I wasn't able to find the wiring diagram for this either. But there is a safe way to hook it up anyway. The controller is often wired with the hot power wire connected to one side of the relay and the other side running to the compressor. Instead, just connect the two sides of the controller relay to the two wires that used to connect to the thermostat. One side to red, the other to orange, neither to hot.

The only possible down side is that this leaves the defrost timer in the circuit. After 10 hours of compressor run time, the timer will switch the refrigerator to defrost for 20 minutes or so.


I noticed you said you plan 2 x STC-1000 to control this side by side. What have you got in mind there?

Thanks for the reply reynolds5520. I will hook it up like you said and see how I like it with the timer still running. Shouldn't dramatically effect the temp in the keg side, right?

As for the 2 controllers...
I plan to use one controller to run the compressor which will chill the freezer side. The other controller will be hooked up to both a fan (fridge does not have a motorized damper just a dial that adjusts the gap) and also a heat source (ceramic bulb).

Thanks for the reply man, should be able to finish the fridge tonight!

Gotcha, that should work for you.

I think the compressor runs infrequently enough in this application that the occasional additional delay from the timer shouldn't be a big deal. Especially if you have a large thermal mass of beer in there.

The defrost cycle likely won't introduce any heat since its thermostat won't be cold enough to allow the heater to turn on.

I left the defrost intact on mine because i have heard it will still freeze up if you bypass it. To pull cold air from the freezer side to the fridge side i just wired in a 120v ac fan from radio shack to the cooling relay on my stc 1000. To prevent air migration to either side i installed a dryer vent with flappers over the fan so they close it off when the fan isnt running. Hope everything works out for ya

Kyleb100 said:

I left the defrost intact on mine because i have heard it will still freeze up if you bypass it. To pull cold air from the freezer side to the fridge side i just wired in a 120v ac fan from radio shack to the cooling relay on my stc 1000. To prevent air migration to either side i installed a dryer vent with flappers over the fan so they close it off when the fan isnt running. Hope everything works out for ya

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I am doing exactly that with a fan and vent cover.

OK so I have it completely hooked up and it works as desired! With one minor imperfection. I grabbed a 4 inch AC fan from radio shack that is rated at 65 CFM but it doesn't blow the small blades of the vent cover up. The fan is not powerful enough to move them very far due to the small vacuum it is trying to make between the freezer and fridge. If I open the freezer door the vent flaps move much more. Any thoughts on how to improve the fan's performance?

If there's a good spot to do it, perhaps cutting a hole between the two compartments to locate the fan will provide the circulation needed.

btw: How did the vent flaps open before? Are they on a servo-motor?

Cheers!

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