Hello,

I recently purchased a used wine enthusiast dual zone fridge and found a few issues. Started searching the internet for repair fixes. found this forum and it has helped me a great deal. Boards and fixed and everything is running. While scrolling through this forum though I saw a post where someone added a resistior to the cooling module I believe, allowing it to get colder than normal. Is this possible? If so, how? Please expalin, pics help. Thanks.

Moderator edit: New thread created from this.

 

I was lucky to find a wine chiller at a thrift store for about $10. The working power supply was almost the same as my Chefmate mini fridge so I could test all the parts to find the issue. Mine had blown up the NPN transistor, maybe because the other one shorted out. I also have a main cap bubbled up. Bought new ones on eBay for $3 each. As for the issue with slow operation of fans and weak power when TEC is connected, find a fuse on the low power side hidden inside a heat shrink. It makes the power slow down when a load is connected. I also soldered on a resistor in parallel with the temp control plug, so I could get it colder inside. I don't remember the value but tested many different ones until I got the temp settings I wanted. The dial still works, but now I can adjust between 55 and 34 degrees. Before it would only cool down to 50 before slowing down. It's sad that the main board PS costs $100 when my whole fridge was less than $80 new. It's a throw-away society.

Good Evening,

I'm interested to know more about what you did to get colder temps in the wine cooler. I have a dual zone with digital controls that only get down to 50. Would love to be able to go lower. Any advice? Have pics?

 

If this is the same circuit diagram as your board, then you need to decrease the resistance across pins 1 and 3 on CN3 ( top right )to lower the temperature more.

 

Good Evening,

I'm interested to know more about what you did to get colder temps in the wine cooler. I have a dual zone with digital controls that only get down to 50. Would love to be able to go lower. Any advice? Have pics?

Hello,

If it uses a thermoelectric cooling device (Peltier) then first you have to make sure that the input/output temperature differential is not too great because if the air around the chamber is too warm then the cooling device will not have enough power to cool any lower than some temperature, and it will take time to get to that lower temperature also.
To find out, you could look into turning the cooling device on manually so that it is on all the time, then note how long it takes to cool and how low the temperature got. For example, if your outside temperature is 80 degrees F and it gets down to 60 degrees F, then at 85 degrees you can expect only 65 degrees after some time.

I have read now that these devices are not that good because they use a lot of power to cool things. They have to run for many hours. It could have something to do with the insulation used to enclose the cooling chamber, but I do not have one to test out and I changed my mind about buying one after reading up on them.
It could work though if you only have to use it once in a while for parties. That would mean that it would mostly only have to run during the party. I would not want to use one full time 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Maybe you could provide some feedback on these issues.

 

Hello,

If it uses a thermoelectric cooling device (Peltier) then first you have to make sure that the input/output temperature differential is not too great because if the air around the chamber is too warm then the cooling device will not have enough power to cool any lower than some temperature, and it will take time to get to that lower temperature also.
To find out, you could look into turning the cooling device on manually so that it is on all the time, then note how long it takes to cool and how low the temperature got. For example, if your outside temperature is 80 degrees F and it gets down to 60 degrees F, then at 85 degrees you can expect only 65 degrees after some time.

I have read now that these devices are not that good because they use a lot of power to cool things. They have to run for many hours. It could have something to do with the insulation used to enclose the cooling chamber, but I do not have one to test out and I changed my mind about buying one after reading up on them.
It could work though if you only have to use it once in a while for parties. That would mean that it would mostly only have to run during the party. I would not want to use one full time 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Maybe you could provide some feedback on these issues.

I haven't had it long enough to know about long term power consumption. I got it used for $20 and put $30 into fixing it. It runs great though. I've always kept my house at 70. Wine cooler is at 50 and doesn't fluctuate unless the door gets opened. And at that it's only by a degree or 2. I'd just like it a little colder. I don't use it wine, but as a beverage cooler for water and Gatorade.

 

I haven't had it long enough to know about long term power consumption. I got it used for $20 and put $30 into fixing it. It runs great though. I've always kept my house at 70. Wine cooler is at 50 and doesn't fluctuate unless the door gets opened. And at that it's only by a degree or 2. I'd just like it a little colder. I don't use it wine, but as a beverage cooler for water and Gatorade.

Oh yes ok, sounds interesting. Maybe you could check the power consumption to get an idea what it takes to keep stuff cold with one of those things.
All you have to do is get the rating off the power supply that power is, or else measure the current and voltage going into the cooler and how long it runs on a typical day. We could figure out the energy usage, like even the yearly energy usage, and compare it to a tiny ordinary refrigerator. You can get a little cube refrigerator for about $100 USD these days I think. The Peltier types are cheaper but they are also much smaller and do not work as well and are not adjustable. Little cube refrigerators are adjustable so you can set the temperature as needed. They sometimes need manual defrosting though which can be a pain.

 

If this is the same circuit diagram as your board, then you need to decrease the resistance across pins 1 and 3 on CN3 ( top right )to lower the temperature more.

View attachment 316311

Is this diagram in Spanish?

 

Portuguese I think, but if yours is the same circuit then you can modify it.