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As the other Danby thread has gotten quite long and much of the information has been buried, I thought it time to condense some of the information into a new thread.
When I first decided to modify my Danby to use an external control I did so because I wanted control. I have worked for twenty five years for the same company and the owner of the company has always stressed that we need to control our processes, not let them control us. It is this thinking that makes me believe that if I control my beer temperature with my temperature control setting I can then set my regulator at the proper pressure to maintain carbonation during dispense. I feel if you know what the carbonation level of your beer should be and you know what the temperature of it is, you can set your regulator to maintain that carbonation level.
In short, find out what volume of co2 your beer should be. Determine the beer temperature and set your regulator to maintain the desired volume of co2. Don't keep fiddling with your regulator to control dispense speed. Take control of your home beer dispense system.
Because I home brew, I can't call the brewery or distributer to know what the particular style of beer I'm serving should be. So I use this site to control that: TastyBrew.com | Homebrewing Calculators | Kegging Carbonation Calculator
I can easily tell what the temperature of my beer is by using the time honored method of measuring the temperature of the beer in the glass with a calibrated thermometer. I draw one beer, chug it and then measure the temperature of the second draw.
Next I set my co2 regulator accordingly.
Now about the Danby...
Mechanically this thing is fine IMHO. The compressor is quiet enough that it doesn't bother me in my den where I watch television, read or take naps. The main mechanical improvement I recommend is adding a tower cooler. This will help prevent the beer in the line from warming and letting co2 come out of solution in turn making the first pour of the day tend to not foam. If the co2 comes out of solution in the line, the first part of your pour is going to be a bit of foam and as Scott points out often in the forums, you can't pour clear beer through foam without making more foam. My original fan modification in my Danby was a simple Wal-Mart desk fan pointed at the tower to keep the air circulating. I have since trashed it and installed a blower that blows air to the base of the shank through a flex tube. Some day I will hard pipe this like lunkhead did his as his looks much better. Don't be afraid to use 90 degree elbows to do this if you use a blower as they will push air far better than old computer fans like the eBay guy is ripping people off with. The return air from the tower is also sufficient to circulate air inside the kegerator.
Electrically is where these things suck. Some people have had some luck having little or no problems with their Danby. However those who have had problems have had varying degrees of problems. Among the problems are incorrect temperature displays, not cooling enough, flashing LEDs indicating errors, unstable temperatures due to defrost cycles or the compressor flat out not running with no warning.
Some people have added resistors that they have been happy with. Some however have froze their kegs while trying to find the right resistor Using the resistor also does not prevent the defrost cycle or keep the board from outright failing as some have had happen. Advantages for some to do the resistor mod is that it is very inexpensive, take very little time and requires a minimum of skill or experience with electricity.
To completely rid yourself of the Danby control and to take control of your temperatures yourself is going to require adding an external temperature controller. I used a Dayton temperature switch that will likely last me forever. However it is much easier and just as dependable to use something like the Brewer's Edge or Johnson Controls switch.
Regardless of what external control you use, you will need to open up your Danby and do some wiring. This is where it gets dicey. If you do not know or are unsure how to work safely with electricity or wires, do not attempt this. Failure to do this correctly or safely can lead to fires, injury, death, property damage and who knows what else.
The first picture I have attached is the original wiring diagram for my Danby. There are some other Danbys out there with another fan controlled by a brown wire. I believe this is a condenser fan and you will want it to run when the compressor runs. I'm not 100% certain of the voltage of this fan or its location so I can't really answer any questions about it if this is the model you have. The black, white and yellow/green wires are the incoming power from where you plug the unit into the wall. The black wire is hot whenever you have the kegerator plugged in. The red wire is the wire you want to get hot to run the compressor. Make sure you tie into the red wire before the overload as you do not want to bypass the overload.
The second picture I attached is how my Danby is wired. Note that the black and white wires are still attached to the control board. This allows for the display to still light up providing me with a visual indicator that the kegerator is powered up. The temperature display still will not be accurate, but it will at least light up. Then the red wire is connected to the terminal on my Dayton that closes on temperature rise. The very important overload is still in the circuit and is functional.
The third picture is one posted by lunkhead showing how he hooked his Johnson Controls external controller. Note that he used the same wires connected in the same fashion so he still has a display. He provided the terminal identification on his for clarity. And again, he has the overload in the circuit.
The fourth picture may be easier for some to use for the Brewer's Edge style control where you plug the control into the wall and then plug the kegerator into that plug. As in the other examples, leave the overload in the circuit.
I hope these wiring diagrams are a little easier for people to find and follow than what is in the old Danby Improvements thread.
When I first decided to modify my Danby to use an external control I did so because I wanted control. I have worked for twenty five years for the same company and the owner of the company has always stressed that we need to control our processes, not let them control us. It is this thinking that makes me believe that if I control my beer temperature with my temperature control setting I can then set my regulator at the proper pressure to maintain carbonation during dispense. I feel if you know what the carbonation level of your beer should be and you know what the temperature of it is, you can set your regulator to maintain that carbonation level.
In short, find out what volume of co2 your beer should be. Determine the beer temperature and set your regulator to maintain the desired volume of co2. Don't keep fiddling with your regulator to control dispense speed. Take control of your home beer dispense system.
Because I home brew, I can't call the brewery or distributer to know what the particular style of beer I'm serving should be. So I use this site to control that: TastyBrew.com | Homebrewing Calculators | Kegging Carbonation Calculator
I can easily tell what the temperature of my beer is by using the time honored method of measuring the temperature of the beer in the glass with a calibrated thermometer. I draw one beer, chug it and then measure the temperature of the second draw.
Next I set my co2 regulator accordingly.
Now about the Danby...
Mechanically this thing is fine IMHO. The compressor is quiet enough that it doesn't bother me in my den where I watch television, read or take naps. The main mechanical improvement I recommend is adding a tower cooler. This will help prevent the beer in the line from warming and letting co2 come out of solution in turn making the first pour of the day tend to not foam. If the co2 comes out of solution in the line, the first part of your pour is going to be a bit of foam and as Scott points out often in the forums, you can't pour clear beer through foam without making more foam. My original fan modification in my Danby was a simple Wal-Mart desk fan pointed at the tower to keep the air circulating. I have since trashed it and installed a blower that blows air to the base of the shank through a flex tube. Some day I will hard pipe this like lunkhead did his as his looks much better. Don't be afraid to use 90 degree elbows to do this if you use a blower as they will push air far better than old computer fans like the eBay guy is ripping people off with. The return air from the tower is also sufficient to circulate air inside the kegerator.
Electrically is where these things suck. Some people have had some luck having little or no problems with their Danby. However those who have had problems have had varying degrees of problems. Among the problems are incorrect temperature displays, not cooling enough, flashing LEDs indicating errors, unstable temperatures due to defrost cycles or the compressor flat out not running with no warning.
Some people have added resistors that they have been happy with. Some however have froze their kegs while trying to find the right resistor Using the resistor also does not prevent the defrost cycle or keep the board from outright failing as some have had happen. Advantages for some to do the resistor mod is that it is very inexpensive, take very little time and requires a minimum of skill or experience with electricity.
To completely rid yourself of the Danby control and to take control of your temperatures yourself is going to require adding an external temperature controller. I used a Dayton temperature switch that will likely last me forever. However it is much easier and just as dependable to use something like the Brewer's Edge or Johnson Controls switch.
Regardless of what external control you use, you will need to open up your Danby and do some wiring. This is where it gets dicey. If you do not know or are unsure how to work safely with electricity or wires, do not attempt this. Failure to do this correctly or safely can lead to fires, injury, death, property damage and who knows what else.
The first picture I have attached is the original wiring diagram for my Danby. There are some other Danbys out there with another fan controlled by a brown wire. I believe this is a condenser fan and you will want it to run when the compressor runs. I'm not 100% certain of the voltage of this fan or its location so I can't really answer any questions about it if this is the model you have. The black, white and yellow/green wires are the incoming power from where you plug the unit into the wall. The black wire is hot whenever you have the kegerator plugged in. The red wire is the wire you want to get hot to run the compressor. Make sure you tie into the red wire before the overload as you do not want to bypass the overload.
The second picture I attached is how my Danby is wired. Note that the black and white wires are still attached to the control board. This allows for the display to still light up providing me with a visual indicator that the kegerator is powered up. The temperature display still will not be accurate, but it will at least light up. Then the red wire is connected to the terminal on my Dayton that closes on temperature rise. The very important overload is still in the circuit and is functional.
The third picture is one posted by lunkhead showing how he hooked his Johnson Controls external controller. Note that he used the same wires connected in the same fashion so he still has a display. He provided the terminal identification on his for clarity. And again, he has the overload in the circuit.
The fourth picture may be easier for some to use for the Brewer's Edge style control where you plug the control into the wall and then plug the kegerator into that plug. As in the other examples, leave the overload in the circuit.
I hope these wiring diagrams are a little easier for people to find and follow than what is in the old Danby Improvements thread.
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