Danby short-circuited

[moreBeer]

Hi all,
I have a question on electrical issues with a Danby kegerator. I've had the thing for almost 2 years and haven't had any real issues with it. Not perfect, but not bad for the price. Anyway, yesterday morning I realized it sounded funny. You know, you get used to a certain sound and after a while it just blends in and you don't even hear it anymore. That is until it starts making a different sound. The humming was just different. As the day wore on it started running non-stop and I noticed the temp was down to 16 degrees and the "LE" error was blinking on the display. I unplugged it for a while and when I plugged it back in it seemed to be okay. It was kicking on and off normally and the lcd was consistent at 36 degrees. But about 2 hours after that I heard a loud beep and the lcd was completely out. I was checking it out and realized that behind the tower the counter-top was really hot. I unplugged it and took the top off and saw there was condensation all over between the unit and the top. I also smelled a faint electrical wire burning smell. Of course the entire unit is unplugged now, but just while messing with I plugged it in and I could hear humming, but the compressor never kicked on. So what do you think, is it completely dead or did the circuit board get smoked. This seems pretty crazy too me. It seems like this would a huge safety issue and I wonder if anyone else has had this problem.

[psychodad]

At first I would have thought the compressor took a dump, but since you don't have a display, I think it may be something else. There is a wiring diagram on the back. How handy are you with a multimeter?

[moreBeer]

At this point I believe I have found that the circuit board and wiring harnesses got fried. Apparently we had a small leak coming from the output line which caused about 1/3 cup of beer to leak onto the metal top of the cooler which then ran into the depressed area that holds the unsealed, plastic circuit board box. The foam gasket soaked all that beer into the circuit board box and caused a nice sizzle. I spoke to Danby's Customer Service last night, what an experience that was. I spoke to the biggest jerk on the planet and got nowhere. I imformed him that the poor design of this circuit board box could have caused a fire. He claimed I was dead wrong and that I should not be throwing "frat-parties"! I'm a woman in my 30's and am a software engineer - somehow I doubt my house is used as a frat house too often. He claims to have read all these posts out here and referred to you all as "idiots" who just want to "re-engineer everything" and he stands behind the top-notch quality of Danby He was quite the winner I assure you. I fired off a nice letter to the president of Danby so we'll see where that goes. I'll let you know what comes of it. Right now, I am sure I will be replacing the wiring harness and the circuit board. The circuit board is about $40, but I have no idea how much the wiring is.

Thanks!

[psychodad]

Rather than give Danby 40 bucks for a new control board and who knows what for the wiring, I'd buy a Brewer's Edge from Micro Matic and be done with it.

And for what it's worth, we are far from idiots IMHO. We have just opted to take a shoddy product that Danby pushes through Sam's club and fix its shortcomings. That is why I never recommend these Danby kegerators to people who inquire about mine and tell them to go to micromatic.com instead to buy what they need to build one.

[moreBeer]

Thanks for your help psychodad! Don't worry, the only idiot I've seen is the moron Danby let's answer the phones.

So basically, I don't need the top control board? I can just add the Brewer's Edge thermostat and be done with it? What controls the fan, I thought that upper control board did that? Because now when I plug in the cooler the compressor won't kick on. I assume that is because there is a trigger that if the fan isn't running the compressor won't. I am I wrong?

[psychodad]

You're right, the fan won't run any longer. I was thinking more along the lines of what I did to mine. I have my own fan that I run continuoulsy and could remove the Danby board without making a difference in anything other than losing the digital display.

[moreBeer]

Ok, I think you and I are on the same then. I always figured if I got around to switching out the thermostat I might as well do the fan anyway. Now, let's say I added a fan and a thermostat - would there be any way to get around the compressor cut-off since my wiring is (more than likely) fried? Right now I don't think I can just hook up a new fan to the wiring and expect it to work efficiently - correct? Either the compressor would never kick-on or it would always be on.

FYI, I assume my wiring is fried since the circuit board was drowned in brown ale. It got so hot that the plastic box around the board actually convexed and some of the pastic coating on the wires is slightly melted. That usually means the wiring is toast, fortunately though there are no scorch marks. Somehow I just doubt I am going to be able to get this thing running again without replacing the main wiring harness. I don't care about the digital display so I would replace that one.

Again, thanks for your help - I really appreciate it!

[psychodad]

If the wiring doesn't look scorched, it may be fine. I'd bet that once the board headed south, it lost the ability to supply the compressor and thus removing that part of the wiring from the circuit. Ohm the wiring out and if you feel good about it, consider it good.

If you do your unit like mine, you won't use the wiring to the original fan anyway. I have a link of how I did mine with pictures if you want me to PM it to you.