I have received all the parts from Digikey, but with the holidays and the New Year, have not had time to replace the caps. I have heard of successful repairs on these boards by replacing the failed components, so I think you'll have pretty good luck doing the same. I'll try to get to the Power side caps replaced this week and see if that solves my issue.

 

Have any of these started up after the parts replacements?

Mine did, and others have reported success as well.

 

Great News , thanks guys, I'll post back on how I go.

 

As is the way of things, mine will not start after replacing the list including the 4 1n4007's as 2 were short.

Now it is dead, there is no bang and the fuse is intact, the fans do not move so it is not crowbarring. Does anyone have the circuit for this thing by any chance?

 

Maybe the base resistor failed....My PS always came on but would cycle with the TEC1 connected. If I removed the TEC1, then the PS had no problem starting up, so my thought was that the TEC1 was drawing too many amps and the PS was shutting down.

 

...the fans do not move...

It's probably not relevant but I just want to point out that a working board will not run the fans at all times. With the right thermostat settings, the fans remain off. LEDs light , though.

Also, there is another fuse for just the TEC. Mine was inside a sleeve. That shouldn't matter, just pointing it out. Check resistance across the other fuse, just for verification that it's still OK.

I spent quite a bit of time searching for a schematic without success.

 

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.

 

Update:

I went over the whole board and when you have checked everything the only thing left even though it would seem impossible must be the problem.

I checked the main transistors, and found on the receipt that they were in fact VARIAC’s, so the guy at the electronics shop had sold me the wrong thing,

I have waited 3 weeks for the correct transistors to arrive from the UK ( none in Australia if you can believe that )

I also had to buy 50, but 50 cost the same as the 2 VARIACS any way.

Put them in and it fired up just fine.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Put them in and it fired up just fine.

A moment of great joy, I'm sure. Well done.

 

Hi There.
I've a cooler with same fx-102 PCB on board. The main display is working fine. After plugin it on, there is a 2 fans start to spin fast and after few seconds going slow. Light is respond to the light button meantime green LED is on and fan go faster. All the time, since cooler is plugged, the red LED is sparking to the buzzing sound witch is going out from PCB where transistors are placed.

Cooler don't respond to temp. settings.
My questions are:
Are those transistors (variacs you referring to) are PHE13005 ? What you mean calling them variacs (Autotransformer)?
If they aren't PHE13005 where do you get yours from?

For better visualization photo of the FX-102 PCB

 

I used two Fairchild FFJP3305H1TU transistors to replace my two power transistors. Ratings were similar or better than original.

I'd be a little suspect of your TEC modules, since everything else seems to be working. Check their DC resistance at the jumper. It should be 2-10Ω or so, not shorted but not open either. Maybe wire in an automotive headlight in their place and see if it lights up.

My power supply didn't allow anything to function when it had failed.

 

So i make what you (@wayneh) said. The TEC module hasn't any connection. I purchase 2 on ebay tec1-12706. I'll post something when it will arrive.

 

Some of those caps have to be bad.....whether they look it or not. My board exhibited odd behavior too.

 

My bad caps showed NO visual damage and most of them even had capacity. They had failed on ESR which could only be detected with a meter.

 

I also have a wine-cooler with the same SMPS that will not start with the Thermoelectric Unit connected. I have traced and drawn the circuit if anyone would like it. All components in the SMPS has been checked and verified and the PS works when the Thermoelectric Unit is connected after switching on. Have any of you with this problem found a solution? Is it the Thermoelectric Unit that is the faulty part or is there a starting problem with the SMPS?

 

I also have a wine-cooler with the same SMPS that will not start with the Thermoelectric Unit connected. I have traced and drawn the circuit if anyone would like it. All components in the SMPS has been checked and verified and the PS works when the Thermoelectric Unit is connected after switching on. Have any of you with this problem found a solution? Is it the Thermoelectric Unit that is the faulty part or is there a starting problem with the SMPS?

I have the exactly the same problem, with TU/Peltier Plate connected it's dead, fans not spinning, none of the green/red LED on the board lit, front display dead, light inside off.

If I disconnect the Peltier Plate and turn the power on everything is fine. Than I can reconnect the Peltier Plate back on while powered on and everything works just fine until the wine cooler loses the power again.
I can adjust the temperature just fine, once it gets to the set point the inside fan stops and the one on the outside slows down.

My Emerson FR996T wine cooler has a FX-101 board version PCB90829F1 and the best schematic I was able to find was on this website http://dicasdozebio.com/2013/12/01/1547/ where someone explains in Portuguese the principles of cooling using the Peltier Plate.

I have checked quite a few components and all of them turned out to be ok. My main suspect for now is a Power Schottky rectifier, STPS2045C marked on the schematics as DD1 since that seems to be the one that powers the Thermoelectric Unit, that has 20ohms in my case.

If anyone has any more suggestions please feel free to share.

 

I have traced and drawn the circuit if anyone would like it.

I think that would be an excellent addition to this thread. These power supplies are not all identical, but I do think they are quite similar.

 

My Emerson FR996T wine cooler has a FX-101 board version PCB90829F1 and the best schematic I was able to find was on this website http://dicasdozebio.com/2013/12/01/1547/ where someone explains in Portuguese the principles of cooling using the Peltier Plate.

Nice link. Thanks for that.

I have checked quite a few components and all of them turned out to be ok.

I have to ask - did your testing include ESR testing of the electrolytic capacitors? That's how mine had failed. Many that come here report "testing components" but in fact never checked ESR. If you don't have a meter, it's easier and cheaper overall to simply replace every electrolytic on the board.

My main suspect for now is a Power Schottky rectifier, STPS2045C marked on the schematics as DD1 since that seems to be the one that powers the Thermoelectric Unit, that has 20ohms in my case.

If anyone has any more suggestions please feel free to share.

So the cooler actually cools and functions normally until it cycles? I was going to suggest a problem with the TEC itself, but if it's cooling, then it's not likely to be the problem.

 

Nice link. Thanks for that.

I have to ask - did your testing include ESR testing of the electrolytic capacitors? That's how mine had failed. Many that come here report "testing components" but in fact never checked ESR. If you don't have a meter, it's easier and cheaper overall to simply replace every electrolytic on the board.
So the cooler actually cools and functions normally until it cycles? I was going to suggest a problem with the TEC itself, but if it's cooling, then it's not likely to be the problem.

I do have a decent meter, Protek 506, that does have a section just for caps and coils (farads & henrys) but of course I can't be too sure even with that.
The cooler it's been working fine for 2 days now and everything is fine as long as I don't loose the power or cycle it. I might have to try to replace all the electrolitycs just too see what happens, probably in a few weeks. Meanwhile I can install a small switch on the back to connect/disconnect the TEC and that can be a very cheap and easy fix. I'll post back once I have replaced all the caps

 

I do have a decent meter, Protek 506, that does have a section just for caps and coils (farads & henrys) but of course I can't be too sure even with that.

Yeah, just farads isn't enough. I think some of my failed caps were on the low end of rated capacity but not so low you'd think they had failed. Until you measure ESR, and then it was clear they were gone.