Danby Kegerator Improvements

[gravymaker]

Sounds good Lunk. I've put the danby probe and the Brewers Edge control into the same jug of covered water. The Danby is usually within 1 or 2 degrees of the Brewers edge, so far.

[Rkymtntexn]

Great thread - Thanks to all. I went the parallel resistor route with a twist. I used a 100K pot and dialed it down to 33K ohms to start which resulted in an inside temp of 25 degrees on my unit. I dial the pot down to 30K ohms and waiting to see if the temp goes up or down. Here are my pics.

[lunkhead]

I see you use the old Fluke 77 DVM. Good workhorse meter. With your sensor relocated at the top and forward toward the door you may not even need the resistor. This is about the warmest spot in the danby and the unit will work harder to stay cool. Going below 33k will add even more error to the temp display in addition to making it even cooler.

[Rkymtntexn]

I think you maybe right Lunk - I may have not needed the resistor mod with my sensor located where it is now.
Increasing the resistance increases the temp makes sense – using the 'reciprocal rule' of parallel resistance it would be logical that the higher the resistance one puts in parallel with the sensor, the total resistance will be closer to the original resistance of the sensor. I am still tweeking, but at 50K ohms and with the sensor in the warmest part of the frig, the temp is now around 33 degrees. Still playing – and thanks to all for getting me motivated to say NO to warm foamy beer.

[PoMC]

I'd like to try the resistor modification along with cooling the tap tower before spending any money on temperature controls, etc.

Could someone explain how to do the resistor mod? I've seen it mentioned, and I'm sure it's simple, but I didn't see any explanation on how to do it - only that someone did it.

Thanks.

[lunkhead]

Originally Posted by PoMC

I'd like to try the resistor modification along with cooling the tap tower before spending any money on temperature controls, etc.

Could someone explain how to do the resistor mod? I've seen it mentioned, and I'm sure it's simple, but I didn't see any explanation on how to do it - only that someone did it.

Thanks.

Post #6
Danby Temperature Modification Question

[PoMC]

Perfect! Thanks. Already went to the Radio Shack here in DC near work and they don't carry any resistors. Will have to check the larger store by home tonight.

I did place the stock temperature probe in a glass of water inside the unit and placed a thermometer in the glass. With the Danby set to 36, the water lightly iced over and after a while the Danby displayed 34 degrees on the readout. Then later last night the Danby went back up to 39 and the thermometer in the water seemed to be within a degree of the Danby.

This morning I believe the Danby was showing 39, but the thermometer in the water was around 34-35.

Tonight I plan to place a 5 gallon bucket of water in the unit to test the water temp further. Not sure if I'll have time to do the resistor mod tonight though, but should have time to at least lengthen the wire on the probe so I can place it in the bucket.

I have time to play since I still have to get my c02 tank filled tomorrow evening and dig out a blower fan I know I have in a parts bin somewhere. Still need to order a 2 way secondary regulator and two tap tower as well. So I should have the temp issues squared away before even tapping a keg.

[PoMC]

Picked up the resistors tonight. Should have time tomorrow night to install one.

Tonight the Danby display is showing 37 degrees. The analog thermometer in the glass of water inside is showing 37ish also. It's just a Walmart cooking thermometer, but is for liquids also, so I'm not sure how accurate it is really. But both are showing the same, so I guess I'd be inclined to vouch for it.

I have another Walmart thermometer suction cupped to the top left corner inside just in front of the door. It appears to be reading 48 degrees. Again, not sure how reliable or accurate it is though.

At least I have a baseline established before doing the resistor mod though. Always helps to know what the situation is before doing a mod to be able to see what changed afterwards.

[lunkhead]

Make a thick ice bath, crushed ice and water, put your thermometers in this for a few minutes. Should read 32f. If not recal or note the correction required for correct readings.

[PoMC]

I finally did the resistor mod last night. Although I couldn't find my solder, but did find my soldering iron. So I used wire nuts for the wire and resistor temporarily. Any reason that wouldn't work?

Anyway, I placed a 5 gallon bucket in the Danby last night. I'll check on the temperatures this evening. What should I be looking for regarding the mod results? Higher temp displayed on the Danby but much lower air temp inside? Just want to know how to verify the mod did anything.

Should the sensor also be placed in a glass of water after the mod too?

[PoMC]

Just to update. Tonight the Danby display showed 37 degrees, while the water in the bucket was lightly iced over and the thermometer in the water showed 30-32 degrees.

I ordered my kegs today and will have them on Thursday. Hopefully my two faucet tower and regulator coupler will have arrived by then.

[BigBadJohn]

Originally Posted by lunkhead

I see you use the old Fluke 77 DVM. Good workhorse meter.

Ive got the 179 at home. Use it at Ranken Tech.
At Ranken, theyve even got 15-20 Fluke 43's and Fluke 123's to use
Cool stuff!

[lunkhead]

Originally Posted by PoMC

Just to update. Tonight the Danby display showed 37 degrees, while the water in the bucket was lightly iced over and the thermometer in the water showed 30-32 degrees.

I ordered my kegs today and will have them on Thursday. Hopefully my two faucet tower and regulator coupler will have arrived by then.

Lightly iced over is what you want to see, but the coldest the water temp will be is 32 deg, unless you put salt in it. Good time to cal the thermometer.

[lunkhead]

Originally Posted by BigBadJohn

Ive got the 179 at home. Use it at Ranken Tech.
At Ranken, theyve even got 15-20 Fluke 43's and Fluke 123's to use
Cool stuff!

We have a few 179s at work we use, also a very good DVM. But I just plug along here at home with my old Simpson 470. The 43s and 123s may be a bit overkill for working on a danby, You could buy 2 danby's for the price of either!

[ebluezx636]

question just curious how much will the unit actually hold? I am inbetween the danby and the kenmore wich is about 1 cu.ft. bigger.

[psychodad]

1 cubic foot isn't a big difference. I'd go with the Kenmore just because of fewer bad things I've read on the Internet about them.

[rtmatthew]

Question to anyone out there. I have a danby fridge and a danby kegerator, both the 5.8 c.f. models. I bought a custom setup to where i can dispense 3 different kegs, two mini kegs in the danby kegerator, and one pony keg in the danby frdige. My question is has anyone ever tried to punch a hole in the sides of either of these? i want to run my CO2 line and my beer line from the danby fridge into the danby kegerator and then up into my new tower. But i know the condensers for both of these are in the sides and disipate the heat through the sheet metal. Amyone know if there is a "safe" place to make about a 1" to 1 1/2" hole? PLEASE HELP!

[psychodad]

There has been at least one person on this board go through the side and hit lines.

[beergirl]

Everyone seems to be talking about Danby. Sam's Club has the Haier Kegerator. Has anyone had any experience with this system, or are we looking at the same problems? It looks very simular to the Danby.

[lunkhead]

Originally Posted by beergirl

Everyone seems to be talking about Danby. Sam's Club has the Haier Kegerator. Has anyone had any experience with this system, or are we looking at the same problems? It looks very simular to the Danby.

There are plenty of Haier threads and posts, just enter "haier" into the search forum at the top of the page.

[Fishbulb290]

So I work at Best Buy and can get the Danby on employee cost but I have to say I know little about what's going on in this thread. I just read the whole thing but it all is pretty confusing to me. My plan of course at first is to see how and how well it works out of the box but if I need to replace any parts or do any mods is there a simple and preferably cheap way to do it without too much complication? A lot of these seem too far out of my range as far as complexity goes. I had a Frigidaire 18.2 converted full size 'rator that I sold to make way for this guy but some of this stuff seems more complicated than I'm looking for...

Any response would be much appreciated.

- Joshua

[cubby_swans]

Joshua, I bought my Danby a month ago from Best Buy, and it worked pretty well out of the box. Not perfect, but I like to tinker. Yet I bought the Danby with the 2 year warranty, so I didn't want to make any permanent mods (drilling, soldering, etc) that would nullify this warranty. Believe me, when I read the mods that some of these guys have done, I was overwhelmed, but I narrowed it down to 2 simple mods that were most important and did those, and my Danby cooled a large mug of water down to 35.5 degrees when I set it to 36, vs 39.5 before I did these mods. I'm not an electrician or a mechanic by any means, yet I made two really simple mods that I think pretty much anyone with opposable thumbs could do. Simply move the sensor as far towards the front of the box as I could, and added a fan for some circulation. Check out the post about "Can I use this blower".... I could easily give you a list of parts, that if you don't have, you could get for very cheap, or most likely find a close substitute for cheap or free. My mods cost me under $15.

The biggest thing you really have to be concerned with is, does your Danby get cold enough. Believe me when I tell you the readout on the front of the unit is not accurate. I set mine to 36, and my beer was 39.5. Moving the sensor even just 6 inches closer to the front of the box allowed it to get much cooler, and adding the fan increases the air movement in the whole unit, moving the cold air from the cooling plate in the back to the rest of the unit.