Wine Fridge Power Board

[keeney123]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

I would Google for the owners manual. This will tell you the operating temperature. To tell if your basement is to low. It should also tell you why the boards are beeping. If it is nothing to be concerned about then you can always try to disconnect the piezo electric device. If the Peltiers turn off so will the fan because it is not needed.

[redwire]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

Oh the fridge has two power boards?... one for each side, with fans/Peltier for each side too?
Then it would need a Master/Slave configuration- unless there are two independent temperature sensors (NTC thermistors).
If a single temperature sensor is "shared", then I think the second board needs a jumper/wire removed. Otherwise, connecting it would upset the mutual temperature reading.

Also, one side could be a responding a few degrees different from the other. Don't expect each side to have exactly the same setpoint, but it sounds like they are way off when you run two boards.

The squealing sound from the power supplies is normal when they have a light load. I wouldn't worry about it, esp. the new boards do it also

The IC in a socket looks like a microcontroller. If this is true, then there might be firmware differences. I would put the old MCU in the new power board and see if it behaves differently (i.e. master/slave).

[jkessler00]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

The boards are exact. I pulled the jumper wire that joins the two boards and it seems to be running like it should. The left side fan slowed and eventually stopped again but I happened to check the temp on that zone and it was where it should be. My basement where I'm working on this is cool so maybe that's been part of the deal all along. I would think the fan should still be on the whole time. I just don't get the beeping coming from the boards.

[keeney123]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

Yes, I believe you are right that you have them connected wrong or the board you bought is not directly compatible with the one you are replacing. The unit I had was a single board. It had similar connections. I did not have a front led on the unit just the inside led. The inside led stayed on all the time. This was normal. The CN1, NTC connector went inside to Rheostat/ thermal couple connection. To check this I disconnected CN1 connector and measure the resistance while I adjusted the temperature control knob. I got a reading of about 10 K ohm when fully cold and 14 K ohms when set to the warmest. The only chassis ground I had was from the incoming AC wire to a screw on the chassis. The AC ground and the DC ground was made on the board with some low amount of resistance between them. I would ohm out the fan connections to 12 volts to check each fan I connected to the 12 Volts. I would do this when everything is connected as somehow the fans are sharing the 12 volt wires and also possibly the grn. wire. Also, inside led was connect to the blue and white wires. You will have to ohm these out. I think I had a yellow and black wire going to the rheostat/thermocouple

[jkessler00]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

I took some better pics. The thick yellow wire (chassis ground) was in the center of the old boards. The new ones didn't have that spot available so I attached it next to the ground for the Peltier.

The second pic is of the right side. Each side has CN1 which I believe is the on/off switch for the lights inside each side or "zone". CN3-Fan I have for each exterior fan on the heat sinks. CN4-Fan is a single wire that joins both boards. CN5-LED-Fan is a 3-wire port for the front LED panel and interior fan; one on each side. The last port is not visible in the pic. It is CN2; a black and red wire that is only on the right side. This port is open on the left.

I unplugged the right side and turned on the fridge. The left side has been running all day. As soon as I plugged in the right side, the left immediately died. Maybe I have something plugged in wrong?

[multimeter]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

shame your far away,ive got around 20-25 valve radios in the garage,must fix em soon !

[goontron]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

man trouble?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rtft

[multimeter]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

RTFT
Peltier cooler.

man trouble?

[multimeter]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

S.t.y.f.a.ole

[goontron]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

does the cooler have a compressor?,or just fans?,ive known compressors to draw too much current on fridges/freezers and cause problems

RTFT
Peltier cooler.

[multimeter]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

does the cooler have a compressor?,or just fans?,ive known compressors to draw too much current on fridges/freezers and cause problems

[redwire]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

I would double-check the polarity and value of the new caps, and their soldering. Then I would confirm the cables/connectors didn't get mixed up. A felt pen mark or two helps.
220V primary caps are OK. It wouldn't give troubles you are seeing.

I found a schematic for a wine-cooler power board that looks similar to what you might have, except that extra socketed-DIP IC. I can't read PCB part #'s in your pics.
That circuit shows it's an always-on 12VDC 5A power supply and a thermistor/op-amp with power transistor (somewhere) linear? controlling the fans and Peltiers, which are all in parallel.
The temperature sensor on CN1 has something in series on CN2 which I think is a door switch.

You can try warming up the temp sensor with your fingers or a lighter and the voltage to the Peltiers/fan should ramp up. Or apply ice and it should back off.
Can you check the 12VDC is always good, LEDS not flickering etc.

[jkessler00]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

I checked everything over again tonight. I did find that the two big caps that I replaced on each board were 220V instead of 200V. I'm not sure how that happened but that is the only thing left I can find to try is to put the originals back.
I did this because I've heard over and over that these boards come with junk caps so I replaced all with Nichicon.

[jkessler00]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

The left side runs but throttles down to half speed after 20-30 minutes. The right side stays running fine. Both sides cool. I don't believe there is a door switch but I'll double check.

[redwire]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

What's it doing or not doing now. One or both sides cool, fan runs etc.
Does it have a door switch?

[jkessler00]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

Well, now both boards and both Peltiers are new. I changed the first chip with the first board. I am at a loss.

[budm]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

You should check the current draw of the Peltiers, most of the time it shorted out and tries to draw lots of current and causes power supply to go into shutdown/restart cycle.

[jkessler00]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

I had a spare Peltier that I swapped in this morning. The fridge stays running now but the left side throttles down after a bit. The voltage is exactly half the right side to the Peltiers. All connections are tight. The only thing I am not certain on is the single wire that connects to both boards. I have to connected to CN4-Fan on both. I have the fans connected to CN3-Fan. I still hear beeping from both. It sounds like a hearing test; high-toned and very faint.

[keeney123]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

If it is the left side you could connect the right power board to the left side peltier and see if the same thing happens. If it runs OK than try connecting the left thermal couple to the right power board and see what happens. If it still is OK then try connecting the left rheostat to the right power board.

[redwire]

Re: Wine Fridge Power Board

Assuming the (new) power supply board is working, something to check would be the Peltier cells.
Look for shorts - from the module to chassis ground, and for corrosion from moisture on the cold side. Cheap cells do not use solder inside and are a bit fragile.
If originally the fan died, the Peltiers could have then overheated. They can get damaged, but usually a controller has an over-temp shutdown which might be what you are seeing trip. Five connectors and a few wires on your PCB; do you know what they connect to?

You can measure the Peltier voltage and current before/after the unit shuts down. My guess - either the cells are failing when hot, or the PSU is making an executive decision based on the temperature sensors.