Danby DKC644BLS Temp Mod

[flynwa320]

Het Folks,

New guy here and the forum is great. I recently got an older Danby and have fixed it up (new tower, tower fan, and digital display) I did the resistor mod and the frog now gets liquid temp to about 36. I would like it even colder, but the mod for Johnson controller is for the DKC645BLS. My wiring doesn't seem the same.

Anyone do the mod with a separate controller with this model? Thanks.

[KillianBoy]

flynwa320,
If frog is your pet name for unit OK, great "the frog now gets liquid temp to about 36". Honestly if you want colder beer I wouldn't waste your time with the Danby. Buy a used refrigerator, ETC and turn colder all you want, but understand the beer NEEDS to reside in a stable temperature environment (normally 36-40 degrees). Once you go below 36 degrees you get into the danger zone of frozen kegs, beer won't freeze until 28 degrees but the water in beer may separate out of solution and freeze.

Bars can sell 28 degree beer because they have a special flash chiller (glycol and expensive), if you want colder beer, buy a bunch of freezer mugs, cheap and easy.
KB

[psychodad]

The Danby will easily get cold enough to freeze beer. The refrigerant and mechanical components are capable. The shortfalls come from the digital controllers. Or at least thaye did, I would like to think that by now Danby has figured out where they were going wrong electrically.

Without knowing exactly how your unit is wired, I'd say the easiest thing you could do to get your JC controller working is to tie directly into the compressor and let the JC do all the work. Search for a post by Pismo in my Danby thread, he had a quick,and dirty solution that works for many.

[mccreviss]

New member for about a week or so. You guys are life savers. Never occurred to me that you could do any of this stuff and like all of you, cold beer is a must. I've had my 644 for about 7 years or so and I don't know exactly what led me to these threads but all these years of dealing with the defrost cycle are about to come to an end when my JC A419 shows up. I believe it's Joewilk's mod I plan to use. Cut and cap the red wire on the plug and connect the red wire to the compressor to a wire from the JC, cut the black and connect the black from the JC and the same with the white then plug the white plug back to the control panel. I have an old power cord from a dead Sanyo fridge which is the same gauge as the one on the Danby. I'm wondering if I can use the green wire to connect to the red one. I understand it's usually a ground wire but since the the Danby is grounded form it's own cord, shouldn't the green wire run power? I'm no electrician but, like psychodad, I like to tinker and for the most part, can figure things out so I'm guessing that wire will run hot when plugged in. I added a tower fan a couple years ago as well as a bit of a larger fan from a computer on the inside (I have a larger one coming tomorrow). If I'm way off on the above, please let me know but after scouring these threads and looking at pictures, I think I have it. My only concern is the wire from the JC to the control panel. If I have to go buy a cord, so be it but I'd rather use the one I have. Also, where are people finding the best place to put the sensor from the JC inside the Danby. I saw that chadschloss78 put his on the bottom right (facing unit) and right up against the keg. Probably just trial and error but if anyone has luck in certain places, would love the input.

I also wanted to see what any of your thoughts are on having the fan inside the unit running all the time, not just when the compressor kicks on. Originally before I decided on the JC mod, I thought about putting in a larger fan and letting it run 24/7 like my tower fan but then I thought that may be too much air blowing around after I add the JC and take temp control away from the Danby. My plan was to unplug the fan wire on the control panel (the small red and black wire on the small white tab that plugs into the panel) and connect it to a 12v dc power cord and take power of the fan from the Danby and just let it run. Any thoughts? And is it really necessary to widen the hole to the tower with a blower shooting cold air up it?

Again, thanks to everyone on these threads. Everyone who has posted pics and listed exactly what they did to Mod their keggers have certainly given me a lot of ideas as to what the best option is for me. And, it's all in english so it's easy to know exactly what to do with every mod option I looked at. Never would have thought to put a resister in the thing. Like most though, that defrost cycle still is a reality so a new temp control is the way to go. Thanks again.

[mccreviss]

Modded my Danby 644 about 3 weeks ago with the JC 419 using the exact mods Joewilk used from the What Johnson Controls should I get thread. Perfection. And, I only spent about $60 to do all of it. The JC unit was $50 on Ebay. I took an old 16 gauge computer power cord I had laying around and cut off the plug at the end and used that to wire between the JC and the control panel. I used the Green wire, as Joewilk did, to connect to the Red compressor wire. I have cold beer all of the time after 7 years of dealing with the dreaded deforst cycle. I also put 2 120 MM computer fans in, one on the side of the unit where the old smaller fan was and one mounted on the top pointing downward. I bought both on ebay for $4. I bought a 12v 2A DC power cord off of ebay for about $3 that I am using to power the 2 fans. If you look at the the control panel, you'll see a small red and black wire combo which goes into a white plug which plugs into the control panel. I cut those and capped the 2 ends that plug into the control panel and wired the fan in with my roof fan to the DC power cord. Both fans run constantly but they have a very low RPM so it's enough to keep air circulating with out freezing anything. I used drywall screws to attache them into the roof and side of the fridge. I already had a Tower cooling fan but it never occurred to me to run my beer hose inside the fan hose which I saw on here under another thread. I have my JC temp sensor located upper right side by the door which seems to be perfect. I still have the Danby sensor working but the temp display is definitely not accurate. I have the JC set at 37* with a 1* differential. Stays consistent and the beer is a perfect temp and poor every time. The only thing I haven't done is widen the opening in to the tower. I still may do so but it doesn't seem to make a big difference at this point. Thanks again to all on here. Your guidance is second to none.

[KillianBoy]

mccreviss,
Don't know which post you are referencing (please link if you can, but from what I remember the last guy that did it had a remote dispense)? With a short run, it basically becomes a flash chiller and makes the first pour way colder than second (consecutive). I've said this before, up to you, you want first beer colder, then fine but, by running beer line in air hose to shank you are chilling beer in line colder than kegerator.
Also by running air temperature at 37 degrees with 1 degree differential, sure you will have stable air AND beer temperature but compressor will kick on and off, often, up to you but the more often the compressor turns off and on, the compressor might die sooner than normal. By going to 4+ differential, air temperature might waver but beer temperature should be steady.
KB