Killed my Danby Controller Panel?

[Filch]

I've had my Danby for over a year now. I installed a blower a while back to help circulate the air and push cold air into the tower. After my last keg was empty about a month ago, I decided it was time to make the opening a proper 3" wide.

I finally finished it today and put it all back together to find that the fridge won't turn on. I know I'm getting power okay b/c the blower fan inside turns on. I have no light/power to the front panel, which makes me think I may have damaged it somehow as I manhandled to top off. I reseated the cables to the controller board but it's still not responding. I believe this is why the Danby will not cycle on b/c it somehow has lost connection to the controller.

IS there any advice on how to troubleshoot the front panel, and if not, can someone help me understand how I can bypass that panel and use something like a Brewers Edge 2 to run my box. Or have I just broken my keg fridge forever....

[lunkhead]

Unplug the danby. On the back of the danby there's a wiring diagram. Out of the control board is a red wire that goes to the compressor. Splice this wire into the black wire going into the control board by-passing the contorl board. Plug the unit back in and if the compressor runs and the unit gets cold just wire in (unplug the danby first) the Brewers Edge 2 to run the box.

[Filch]

Thanks Lunkhead

The compressor has kicked in. Now we'll see if it gets cold. I guess the only drawback to this now is that my blower fan will only run when the unit gets powered by the Brewers Edge and not be running continuously. I guess that's minor compared to not having a running fridge.

I guess I was using the term control panel incorrectly, it's the display panel that's dead in my case.

[Filch]

It gets cold, so all is well. Time for Brewers Temp control. Thanks again.
Any advice on installing the Brewers Edge before I drill any holes? I'm assuming I'll have to to get the sensor in there. Does it come with grommets ?

[lunkhead]

To get the temp bulb/sensor in I had to pull the co2 line out and feed the cap line thru that hole. I filed the opening a little to make some more room as the DC power for the blower runs there too. Put several layers of electrical tape around the cap tube for protection. You may want to power your fan external to keep it running. Otherwise I'm not sure what all comes with the Brewers Edge 2, but it will work way better than the danby stuff.

[Filch]

Can I just wire the fan to a plug and just use an outlet, or is there anything special I should do to it before hand? I'm no electronics guy.... :-p

[lunkhead]

If it's a 115 - 120 volt ac fan it would need to be plugged into a wall outlet. If it'a a DC fan you'll need a DC wall transformer to power the fan, just run the wires thru the co2 hose hole on the back of the danby. Otherwise I'm going to need some more info on your fan to help further and what model is the danby.