Repairing a wine fridge

[Varroa]

Hey Guys, I recently picked up a dead wine fridge (16 bottle) for free but it no longer cools. The fan runs, the lights are on but the compressor doesn't run (no sound or heat from the compressor). I opened the back to find this:



When the unit is plugged in there is a green and red LED in the bottom right hand corner of the circuit board. The red light flashed at about 60 Hz while the green one flashed at about 60 cycles per minute. There is also a clicking/arching sound that matches the green led (sounds like a relay switching). The interior light also flashes at the same cycle. I tried bypassing the thermostat and nothing changed but if I unplug the thermostat from the circuit board I get a weird hissing/whining sound. Does anybody have any ideas on what might be wrong? Thanks

 

[huntb]

Sounds like a bad flux capacitor

 

[FirstStateBrewer]

I'm getting a similar clicking sound from a dead dorm fridge I'm using to cool a fermentation chamber. I hope someone knows of a way to fix it.

 

[BigRob]

You'd need to find the model number and take a look at the troubleshooting guide. In lieu of that, I'd hazard a guess that the compressor is toast.

 

[fxdude]

I have the exact same thing with those exact same boards. The boards are discontinued (since they were made so poorly) so they need to be rebuilt, there are only a couple of companies that do it and it's not cheap. I was thinking of having one of the boards repaired, then comparing it to the other boards to see what they replaced. Might be a chance that it's only a capacitor or two that can be purchased for under $1. Here is an e-mail I received from a company that repairs/rebuilds the boards.

Most of the boards that we have received have needed to be rebuilt, which includes replacing any defective solid state parts and also replacing all the electrolytic capacitors with new high-temp, long-life units.

Most repairs average two shop hours of bench time and cost 170 dollars per board. that price includes the costs of all parts and the boards are guaranteed for one year through U.S. Electronics Repairs, a division of Cabcraft Engineering.

Here is a link to our repair form, which also has our shipping information. Please feel free to call us if you have any questions.

http://uselectronicsrepairs.com/US_Electronics_Repair_Form.htm

Sincerely,

Repairs Department

U.S. Electronics Repairs
a division of Cabcraft Engineering
(toll-free) 866-419-2250

 

[mtg4772]

Coast Appliances is pretty helpful. I tried to replace just the capacitor, but no luck; no one carried that capacitor. My board was discontinued but Coast had one for $20. I replaced the board and the wine cooler works fine.

 

[Varroa]

If the board is toast then that is not good. I am going to see if I can fire the compressor by bypassing the board. I just need to figure out the voltage it uses.

 

[E-Mursed]

The red light flashed at about 60 Hz while the green one flashed at about 60 cycles per minute.

Isn't this the same thing.....???

I would say that your best bet is to take the fridge down to the street and let some unsuspecting schmuck adopt this problem from you.

JMO

 

[Varroa]

Yes, lol. I meant Mhz. I have given myself a deadline, if I can't get it working before garbage pickup day then it goes to the curb. I will let one of the junk collectors deal with it then.

 

[huntb]

60 Hz is 60/second. Also, how to you see 60 MHz? that's 60000000/second

 

[Varroa]

D'oh! So I was right the first time! Thanks