Diagnosing a Faulty Mini Refrigerator (Thermoelectric Cooler)
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Let's find out what caused the mini fridge I loaned 'Furhead to stop working. (Other than self protection.) I suspect a problem with the power board as opposed to the actual cooling elements.
Thermoelectric coolers utilize a lot of electricity to do their work, so things like burned or welded contacts should also be considered.
Very happy to see that you've decided to invest primarily time in high definition recording. Really makes your videos that much more enjoyable.
I was also going to leave a comment to that effect, but it looks like you beat me to it. Just wanted to chime in to say that I wholeheartedly agree. There's simply so much more detail to see with HD.
Thanks for taking the time to put this together and post it, but I couldn't handle the extraneous chatter.
Don't feel so terribly compelled to share. Just go and watch something else.
Agreed... I felt compelled to download the video and edit out all the chatter - I'm compulsive like that. It's now 4 minutes 26 seconds. Like it should be. Good content is good content and 4 and a half minutes was worth saving.
@@johnrakoczy9277 The phrase "penny wise and pound foolish" comes to mind. Strongly.
I think you need a hobby. Sudoku is a thought.
I highly disagree with these people, very entertaining and educational chatter
I ignorantly bought a Thermoelectric mini fridge for my dorm freshman year in 2006. The first weekend I had it, i threw some leftover pizza inside it friday night. When I went to eat it Sunday afternoon, I quickly realized how ineffective it was at cooling. It was about 50 degrees inside... Fixed that problem by picking up a proper minifridge at a garage sale :)
TECs, I love those things. Best way to chill something without some huge compressor. These things are pretty resilient, as long as you provide ample cooling to the necessary side.
I always thought that hiss/whine was a capacitor venting. Thank you for explaining the source.
Oh cool, I have the same Archer power strip. Very solid units with a rather satisfying 'Ka-thunk' sound when you plug something in.
very informative and explanatory. amazing
Probably enough room in there to fit a modified ATX power supply to feed those Peltier's. The way you pronounced Peltier is how I've always pronounced the word as well.
This helps me out. I was diagnosing my unit when I noticed that the Inrush Current Limiter, part number MF72 5D9, had blown. Literally shattered apart. This, mixed with two bad solder joints, appears to be my issue.
Yup, My ICL has also exploded! Digi-Key has them in stock!
I used to have an igloo ice cooler style TEC refrigerator, designed to plug into a cigarette lighter. Yes, TECs pull a ton of current. I used an old Sony PS2 power supply to run that one, it only had a single element, and it ran for a long time. The igloo was designed to have a regular DC motor (like a hobby RC car motor) that had a dual shaft, inside and outside fan. I quickly changed those out with a 120MM fan on the hot side, and a thin AMD heatsink CPU fan on the inside, and that unit would get to near freezing on the temps! Made my sodas and waters nice and cold. This was back in 2004ish or so.
I have a Magic Chef mini fridge in my garage that I might take out, clean it up completely, check the condenser, compressor, hoses, and so on to make sure it still works. I also have two Frigidaire fridges at home as well: a mini fridge which works without issues (was a temporary one when the old RCA fridge we had died), and the big fridge that replaced the old RCA fridge.
Sad to say that it seems most of these Peltier based fridges seem to die way before the refrigerant based units do. Not so much because the Peltier cooler is a bad choice, they just seem to be built much much more cheaply, which is a shame, they make for very light weight and compact things, like those coolers with these built in.
Well I realize that most of the cards are basecly the same. I change a card from a similar cooler and worked perfect.
hey Bill, invest in a few tripods so you always have one in the garage one in the main part of the house and one in the basement!
You can get the cooling nodes fairly cheaply. I found 2 for $15. The "cooling kit" is kind of hard to find, but the power boards and cooling nodes are all over the place.
glad to see more videos from you . i love your videos and the way you always try to answer peoples questions.
My personal experience with these (well, wine coolers based on the same thing) is they're absolute crap. Unless you're in an already cool environment they don't work terribly well.
Might be more fun to strip it down for parts and use the cooling modules for more fun projects, like CPU coolers.
I agree with your conclusions.
Wow, that is one yellowed Keytronic (I'm guessing) keyboard. Funny timing on this coming out as I had never heard of thermometric refrigeration until a random Wikipedia journey earlier in the day
This was interesting to watch. I didn't know there were non compressor based refrigerators around. Are there little AC Units that also use this technology, or are they all compressor based ?
I've never seen an air conditioner based upon a thermoelectric design. I don't think they're anything like efficient enough: a compressor would use far less electricity and get more out of what it did use.
A good compromise would be to diagnose, then make a video detailing the process.
I used to have one of those, i took the Peltier out and used it in a water cooled system (for sub ambient temps)
I also used the fans in a few projects
infact, i believe my model was the black version of this one!
Probably want to check the switching transistors on the large heatsinks (which have a tendency to be finicky), and swap out the caps with some nice Nichicon ones. Cool vid, though, pun intended :)
by the way where is furhead now those days?
I love those coolers I put one in a kola kooler from the 1950s ran 12 volt it sucked 2 battery dry in like 8 hours I am going to subscribe because I always find broken stuff.
Those peltier units are probably around 50 watts each, couple that with the fans it probably has a 150-200 watt switching power supply.
Cool. Not really, looks hot in there... Lol. Just wanted to thank you for the information. About to try tackling a peltier fridge with similar issues. Thumbs up.
Great video as always! Is there any way you could make an update about your FreeNAS server/network? I remember when you made that thing with the HP Vectra and I'm curious to see if it's still running lol.
the big blue capacitor on the board top right and black capacitor looks like that could be the issue looks like its boldging
None of the capacitors are visibly bloated or distressed.
"Crap Valanche" :-D i know what you mean, also i have falling everything days too :-D.
There is a video from bigclive that shows the result of a psu left alone like yours, a bonfire happens, never leave it unattended doing a job bill :-(
If you're talking of the variable regulated power supply, this would be the first I've heard of any possible unreliability or danger. It is a widely cloned design, so perhaps some are better or safer than others. This one is quite well made and well protected against faults. While not its purpose, I've used it without incident to charge various batteries from SLA bricks to lithium-ion packs.
Sorry bill, i logged into the google account by accident for the harvey comment.
I was just concerned for you, i ment no harm bill.
Crap Valanche' -When Newton nudges the gravity controls!
I have a Coleman electric cooler with the same configuration. I did have the thermoelectric part quit working. My Dad got a new part and got it back working.
Maybe you can help me diagnose my problem. When the main thermo electric harness is disconnected from the board the 2 fans run but when I plug it back into the board the fans stop. When the fans and the thermocouple and temperature control harnesses are all disconnected from the board I get 6.8 V for the main TE pins on the board and the two fan pin connections off the board. Just trying to figure out if it’s something with the power supply on the board or with the main thermal electric pad sandwiched in between the sinks. Thanks for the video!
I think you'll need some kind of dummy load to really test the power supply. A couple of sufficiently heavy power resistors would work. Figure a load of an amp or two, do the math with Ohm's Law and find what value/power rating you need.
1. Test the output of the power supply with everything disconnected.
2. You will need at least a 130 Watt power supply. This based on the data plate clearly shown in the video.
The power supply is clearly in protection and it's a very bad idea to run a switchmode power supply with no load unless you *explicitly* know it can handle such.
I don't really care much what the nameplate says. I want to know what the unit actually uses. That way I can find out whether or not there's another fault lurking, or if the label is mistaken.
Talk about being hot while I stare at an old Kenmore that's not installed ... LOL. In my opinion, Those look nicer than window AC's made today. Not to mention it seems like the same company makes all the brands because they all look so much alike.
At one time, Whirlpool manufactured all Kenmore branded appliances, including this air conditioner.
That unit works perfectly. I picked it up off the curb years ago. Its only problem was molded plug disease.
I have the same problem
This particular power board has lot of problems and get bad really quick.
This video is very helpful
How can l reach out to you??
being that the coolers and fans runs off 12volt, i would be tempted to use a high wattage PC Power supply, as most should handle that load on their 12v rail
It's sad how modern electronics are super unreliable.
#plannedobsolensence
He should switch back to his 480p tape camcorder then?
Awesome video is that black screw driver a harbor freight tools one? I have a black set just like that one. I got it for free with a coupon plus 20% off the other item I purchased too! LoL 😀
Lastly what type of power supply is that you are using, also about how much does something like that cost? Thank you very much & have a wonderful day!! ☺️
All the best,
Ron.
I don't know about the screwdriver. The power supply is an inexpensive Chinese type, sold under many different names. You'll find them on eBay. I think they cost between $75-90 depending upon features and ratings. The newer ones tend to be switchmode types, while mine is linear.
uxwbill so what is different between yours and the newer type? Me being kind of a newbie what would you recommend? Thanks again. ☺️
The older ones, like mine, have a linear (line frequency, 50 or 60 Hz) power transformer and regulation approach. These are less efficient but simpler and have a very clean output. The newer ones are switchmode power supplies, allowing for much lighter components. The downside is added complexity, much more noise on the output or that could affect nearby radio receivers, and while unlikely, failures that tend to take out a whole bunch of circuitry in one shot.
They're still very decent power supplies for the money. You'll find a million uses for it.
Next I was wondering if you could suggest a decent capacitor tester & ESR Meter?
I have been repairing appliances on & off for the past few years, all self taught BTW LoL. I was scrapping them & figured I bet some just need little to no repair, clean them up, write a good listing on line to sell. Next thing you know I was in the market of repairing, buying/selling them. But anyways now I want to get more into repairing the bad circuit boards on Appliance's plus I figured I could then start repairing other Electronics like flat screen TVs & Etc.
I was looking at a decent clamp meter for $40 at Harbor Freight that I figured might be better than the centric $20 one I bought there a few years ago plus it includes a built-in capacitor tester along with a non contact voltage tester which I suppose could come in handy for HVAC situations?
Even if I just bought this $40 meter would you still suggest a decent separate capacitor tester along with a ESR Meter?
I am kinda of a self taught person in everything I do & am mechanically inclined I figure if I can fix automotive & small engine stuff then applicances/Electronics should be do able as well.
The wife gets upset with my hobbies tho because I'm always finding & collecting stuff but if I can fix stuff quick enough to turn a profit on I'm sure she won't mind helping to spend the money LoL 🙂. I hope to turn this into a full time repair & resell business. I was in auto retail & sales for over 20 years so I kinda got the business sence down with providing people with good experience. I also learned how businesses operate over the years.
Guess I'm just a self-made entrepreneur as business ideas are always on my mind!! Stupid #Adhd always making me borded & wanting to never stop learning!! Well take care & have a wonderful day!! ☺️
All the best,
Ron.
Hey Bill, I have this exact same fridge. Works for about 2 days and cools to about 35 degrees then stops running and I hear that high pitched whine. If you could help me out in purchasing a new power supply, I would be grateful. I acquired this fridge for free 😁
To be completely honest, you will have to perform some basic diagnosis to confirm where the problem is. It may *not* be in the power supply.
With as many of these as I've seen fail, their generally lackluster performance and the fact that a refrigerant based replacement could be had for around $65 (or far less, if you buy a used one), I wouldn't put any money into it. Parts alone could cost as much as a working replacement.
uxwbill I just figured it wouldn't be the cooling parts because it seems to work perfectly for about 48 hours before failing.
There's nothing wrong with making a guess, and you might be right. That's where diagnosing the fault comes in. If you really want one, though, I'd have to suggest getting one that has a refrigerant based cooling system. They are vastly more reliable and will continue to work properly even in high temperatures. TEC based units won't.
my mini fridge cools quite well. only issue i decomissioned it was there is a 5a fuse also on the output. it runs for a few good days before blowing the fuse. the fan inside runs but the outside ones(on the heatsink) dont. its something either psu related or the peltier though i cant say ive ever seen a peltier fail.
Great vid, thank you. I have a Wine Enthusiast dual zone fridge that has very similar control board. My issue is that the top sections digital temp shows 122 F but in fact it is 45 F (measured with a fridge thermometer). I cannot get that screen number to change. I adjusted the temp down to 50 degrees setting but it reverts back to 122 but I know it is cold inside. What could be the issue? Should I just leave it since it seems to be doing it's job but just the readout is not good. The bottom section works fine. Thanks in advance.
It's most likely that whatever is used to sense the temperature (often a thermistor or diode) has failed, possibly shorted. It'll be hidden somewhere in the refrigeration compartment.
Well got mine working just cleaning those fans and heat sinks
Nice to see your finally filming in 1080p :) (Time for 8k, the camera already exists!)
My shooting in high definition is *nothing* new. I use whatever video camera is handiest at the time.
You should film in 4k considering the 4 cameras are much cheaper now, as long as it has a good bitrate.
It just never ends.
I really do not see the point in any resolution over 1080p. To me, there is no considerable difference. Especially considering that high resolution files can be very large above 1080p.
Hi.It's been a while since this video was posted but im having the exact problem you have. Would u recommend buying an entirely new circuit board power supply or switching out the components instead? Thanks.
I would recommend replacing any TEC based refrigerator such as this one with a model that uses an actual refrigeration system.
My buddy just gave me one of these Haier wine cooler looks identical to what you have including the board and dusk fans. I thought it was most likely the TEC which was going to be a easy job... But I plug it in and nothing at all happens. Where could someone get a board for this to replace... And ideas
I have a Haier Model HVDW20ABB
For your own safety and well being, don't attempt any repair unless you really do know what you're doing. The TECs are quite reliable. They draw a *lot* of current and so it is that the power supply board takes a beating. Most will shut down quietly when they fail, and are very repairable. Electrolytic capacitors are a good starting point. There are very hazardous voltages present, parts directly connected to the power line and little tolerance for error, so again, please don't attempt a repair unless you know how to avoid the risks.
@@uxwbill Thank you Bill, I've done a great deal of electrical sodering etc related to RC aviation drones and aircraft. So capacitors and such area a bit in the area that I'm not familiar with. I do have a good handle of electrical workings but .... I agree. unless I can just outright change out the board which is straight forward, I won't be messing with the board. Thanks for the good advice... truly appreciated my friend.
The capacitors used are electrolytic types and they're often of very low quality. They take an awful beating in terms of heat and current flowing through them. What usually kills them is the drying out of their electrolyte paste. Some will bloat up through the capacitor top and others push out the rubber bung on the underside. A few give no sign at all, unless you remove and test them. If you're going to do that, you might as well just replace them wholesale.
Furhead had it. no wonder it decided to stop working lol.
Hey Bill, great video as always. What ever became of this fridge?
I still have this one and plan to buy a power supply for it at some point.
Hallo from the Netherlands.Thank you for your instructive video.My cooler does not reach the low temperatures… it stays 6 degrees celcius too high in both separated cooling rooms with 2 separated peltier elementsI checked the fans: they are turning on 12,3 v.... seems ok to me.Pls advise me how to proceed.Thanks for your help, Jan, the Netherlands
You could check to make sure that the power supply is not being overloaded. That's about all I can think of. If either room is particularly hot, you may have simply hit the limits of the TEC.
Hi, I have a 12 bottle thermoelectric wine cooler 110v 10.5. I cant fine the specific control card and understanding the all this is is an insulated box with a door , I suspect I can use another card from a similar cooler with the same cooling method. I fact it will be very helpful if you can show that this possible. Please reply and thanks
I have no specific knowledge of wine coolers, nor do I happen to own one. For your own safety, either replace the whole unit or get the original part. No one can guarantee that any substitution of a part is safe, and I will not do so.
Is that an another refrigerator under the mini fridge?
It's an early 1970s Montgomery Ward Signature chest freezer.
Have this exact unit with a blown fuse by the line input. Not sure it's even worth fixing since a new 3.2 cf mini fridge with freezer is rated to pull 0.8 amps for the whole thing.
noticed in the back that old window air conditioner do a video on that old air conditioner I had that same air conditioner GE
❤
Can you turn this into an incubator by reversing the polarity ?
Yes, but you will want a thermostat.
Have you ever made a video on one?
No.
Yay... another uxwbill video.
what is the negative dc power option for on a variable power supply unit?
I've got the same bad temper you do. It takes a while to get me angry but If I go off it's not pretty. I also get very furious when I drop stuff like tools on the ground. I once dropped a socket set on the ground because of a poorly made case and I was so pissed off I left them laying where I dropped them for a week before gathering them up again.
Thank you
'HANK GOD' - it made me smile (:
It actually says "Thank God", though I have no idea why, or in what sense it was meant. That cabinet came out of a car dealership's workshop area complete with said sticker.
I have the same fridge and the bottom. Blade motor is slower and Making alot of noise...
Just replace all the electrolytic caps. Most manufacturers use crap caps.
There's little doubt that would have fixed it, only it's not worth repairing a refrigerator whose performance is far too dependent on the ambient temperature.
KF5LTO tussling with one now-stubborn caps....:-)
I have actually had an ebay aligator clip lead act as a fuse by putting enough current trough it that it burned in two!!!!
I've never had much luck with Black and Decker products. I don't buy them anymore.
Would a bad peltier plate (heat sink) cause my wine cooler to get colder than its set to
Its set to 18c and it goes to 10c
That would be a very unlikely outcome. It is much more likely that the thermostat or sensor is bad.
@@uxwbill is the sensor part of the control board?
At 4:00 you can see that the top cap is bulging at the top- problem solved.
There's little doubt in my mind that bad capacitors were likely the entire problem (and such is mentioned in the video along with a closeup shot, see 4:40 or thereabouts), though none were visibly bulged.
Given its limitations, I ultimately decided against fixing it. I mainly wanted to see if the TEC elements were still OK, and offer some possible troubleshooting tips to viewers who might.
no computers today ;.;
Why don't them double them up to get twice the temp diff. ?
weird....
Crapalanche! And here I thought I'd invented that word... I leave-out the "v".
Thank you sir
Some testing I did on power needed by a small (3.6 cu ft) AC compressor fridge versus a 13 quart TEC "fridge" - needed some numbers for my second novel (it's not yet finished, but my first novel is: www.amazon.com/dp/B01LVU5ILA ). The "72 watt" TEC is mounted in a double wall styrofoam box (a box from Omaha Steaks and a box from Honey Baked Ham that fit one inside the other). The figures from a 20 hour run of both devices are about as I expected.
20 hours
3.6 cu ft (107.7 qt)
1.52 KWH
(maintains 41F)
13 qt (0.434 cu ft)
64.6 watts continuous
* 20 hours = 1.292 KWH
(maintains 30F below ambient (44F for 74F ambient)
1.292 / 1.52 = 0.85
Cooling 0.434 cu ft with thermoelectric cooling requires 85% of the power required to cool 3.6 cu ft with a compressor refrigerator. Cooling 11% of the refrigerator's space requires 85% of the power required to cool the refrigerator.
I now have a 4.4 cu ft compressor fridge that uses 55 watts and runs perhaps 6 hours a day or 0.33 KWH usage in 24 hours. It's a Kenmore Item # 04699783000P Model # 99783 and might be the most efficient small 120 volt AC fridge available as it uses roughly twice the power of the 35 quart 12 volt Engel fridge/freezer but it cools 3 times as much space (4.4 cu ft = 114 quarts). The regular price on the little Kenmore fridge is $190 but it can be gotten on sale for $145.
I got a GE 2.4 cube fridge with the standard compressor that's pretty beat up with dings and dents from the previous owner(s) but still works like a charm.. Paid $20 dollars for it. PN: 203C1915P009 and there's nothing on mine that I can find on the internet..
i just got a mini fridge from goodwill today
Makes my cheap minifridge look like it was made in china, oh, wait........ :P
Sillyness aside, those Peltier things usually run on 12 volts so something with enough heft should get that thing running, but, considering there are compressor-driven fridges of this size out there, might be cheaper to acquire one of those, both buying and running... :)
before you put it back together you should really clean out the dust and maybe oil the fans
"Crapvelanche" ...nice. you should coin that
Do you fix it yet
If you fixed the mini fridge tell us
Watch the video.
those peltier plates can sup juice like no tomorrow, looking at some on eBay one 62mm x 62mm can handle 12-17v @ up to 35 amps ! that's more current than your grandmothers best fruitcake
just to add the more you cool the hot side with a fan the cooler the cold side gets, so it won't work so efficiently without the fans on
I bet there were many a cheap beers were cooled by that fridge.
Hi, can you tell me the peltier model pl.
No, I never got that far into it and I do not have it any more.
looks like i was first this time around :)
Constructive criticism, how about you rename the video " you gave up" I listened to you flex your english abilities for what seemed like forever and display your outdated technologies only to learn that I wasted my time watching your extremely WINDED VIDEO THAT GETS SOMEONE NOWHERE! SO UPSET YOU POSTED IT
Weeeeell...let's take your criticism at face value (probably a mistake, but it won't be the first)...
It's a fact that I got the thing to work. It's also a fact that I accurately and correctly diagnosed the problem to be somewhere in the power supply, something I led people through because I'm almost continually being asked how I go about diagnosing something. I went no further than that because the original owner of this fridge didn't want it back and I didn't think it was worth any further investment. I certainly had no need of it and later recycled it.
I can't even begin to guess at where you think an "outdated technology" is shown in this video.
Hi @@uxwbill, it was your verbiage and technical expertise that was enjoyable for me to watch your whole video. There are not many people that have a vocabulary in the manner in which you speak, so I thoroughly enjoyed listening to you speak. I also want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I do understand the frustration from Mark, but I was not frustrated. I was hoping to see your awesome skills to pinpoint the exact problem, but I was satisfied with where you ended your investigation. Before you called it good enough to be one of the capacitors, I was thinking maybe we were going to take an adventure to figure out diagnosing which capacitor was the culprit so that those of us with the same problem can understand how to figure out which capacitor is the problem for thermoelectric cooler(s) or any other device as well. I think this is the point Mark is attempting to make, which is that there are many of us with the identical problem as you experienced and we really want to figure out how to fix it, so we go to videos hoping for a solution. If you have a separate video that shows how to diagnose bad capacitors, maybe that would suffice as a link in your description or something so we can continue our journey with you to get to the bottom of our electronic quandaries. That being said, I still thought the video was excellent! :-) Thank you for what you do!
Mark Pasieka : In order to just help you prevent your frustration for the future of long videos, I would suggest you watch the last few minutes first before watching the entire video. It's a bit counter-intuitive, but it will definitely save you time and frustration as well. To add to this, I put long videos on 2x speed or more. Not everyone can listen that fast if you are first exposing yourself to speed viewing. I started a while ago at 1.5x and you can get continually better at viewing and listening to the videos as you level up and increase the speed.
@@drumminsticks yea; I also listen at 2x and wish there was a faster option too. Maybe 2.5 :) I also have this issue with the cooler; but I’ll try and replace all caps :) will make video if it does fix the issue.
First
DHL GAMING do you want a reward for your efforts?
The only reward they can possibly hope to get is a Technicolor Punch In The Nose(tm).
uxwbill haha
Chrismaster Approved(tm)