Look to replace the electrolytic capacitors, particularly C8. Personally, I'd replace them all and hope to avoid placing another order and paying a second freight charge.

I replaced C8 capacitor with a new one and now it works great! Thanks a lot.

 

Thanks to everyone who shared all of the great information in this thread. Based on your experiences, I ordered all new capacitors for my Wine Enthusiast FX-101 control board.

I started replacing the caps, but then my curiosity got the best of me. I broke out my old school Leader oscilloscope and a curve tracer I made so I could test each capacitor as I replaced it.

The first 5 caps I replaced all tested good, which had me worried this wasn't going to solve my problem. Then I got to C206 and I saw a curve that looked really leaky. Next I changed CA1 which tested as an open circuit. Later I got to C8 which was really leaky and wasn't charging much at all. Here's a little video of what I saw when I tested them.

Happy ending here. The new caps brought our wine fridge back to life. Thanks for all of the great advice here.

 

Hi, I have a Koolatron WC12-DZ two zones wine cooler and one of the zone always reaches around 12 degrees Celsius even if the control is set to something else. The problem is related to the bottom FX-101 board because I switched it with the other one and then the other zone was in trouble. Any idea about which component could be replaced to fix this?

Thanks.

That is interesting, I have the same Koolatron with same issue. If I disconnect the TEC (one lead) the temp will stabilize and the fans (green led) will start cycling when temp reaches close to set temp. Did you fix your issue ? What was the fix ?
Thanks
------------------
Wow, just saw your fix, will try C8.
Thanks

 

I unfortunately didn't find this thread until after I ordered my capacitors from Amazon. I saw that the 1000 uf 16 V capacitor (looked to be on the TEC circuit) was bulging and ordered a few of those. After replacing the one capacitor my VinoTemp VT12 stopped chirping and cycling on and off every second or two and is now cooling and working as expected. Thanks for all the knowledge and help from this thread.

 

First thanks to all who contributed here there investigations and solutions.
I have a winecooler with a seized ventilator on the warm heat sink.
After making the fan motor free again.
The fan's won't start up.
When I disconnect the peltier the power came up and connecting again makes the fridge working.
Same symptoms like many others.
So replacing all caps (expect for the 2 high voltage ones on the primary side) did the job.
Thanks!

P.S. I did not read the whole thread.
But nice to see did even after 4 years this thread is still saving a lot of fridges from the scrapyard.
Repairing is better than replacing!

 

Look to replace the electrolytic capacitors, particularly C8. Personally, I'd replace them all and hope to avoid placing another order and paying a second freight charge.

C8 in my fridge was bad, but so were two others. I'd recommend replacing them all.

 

My front temp controller board has gone haywire (if i can make it, it's marked B0-00710, MNY-MP-104-A) Segments are missing on both upper/lower zone displays and buttons on right part (upper zone) does not respond with beep and shelf lights does not turn on/off. After 8-10 seconds, it starts beeping a bit random (as random button presses). Left buttons seems to work normally (LED on/off ok, up/down beeps and display changes, although I can't properly read it). I have replaced every single part I could locate (caps (same specs), transistors (9014 with 3904), 7805 with direct 5V from external power supply, removed all buttons (in case humidity/oxidation made some strange resistance readings). The only thing I haven't touched is the MCU, crystal and the two displays.
I doubt it's the rear power boards, since I'm bench powering the temp controller board from a lab supply (a faulty power board could have damaged the temp board, but the front temp board 7805 regulator seems stable). PCB silkscreen say 12V on the temp board power pin, but the power board supplies through a 7808 regulator (8V). So I tried both 8V and 12V to the temp controller inputs, same problem. Removed 7805 and powered 5V directly to the output pin of 7805 footprint, same problem. I can't see any other problem than the MCU or crystal. Unless there is a short in one the the the segments in the display, causing the MCU to draw too much power and behave erratic.

Anyone knows what could be the issue?

Unless I can fix it, I'm considering making a custom board (perhaps with wifi/BT/smart home integration, humidity sensor, OLED / colour display / etc).
If I take the time to design and write software for this, I might make a small batch and sell.
Any interest in this?

 

Here is the temp controller board (heavily modified).

 

Well, add another success story to the list.

I have a Haier HVTEC18DABS wine fridge that gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago. It was demonstrating all of the usual bad signs that have already been mentioned here; beeping/chirping, non-working temp controls, external fans that wouldn't spin, etc. I started fiddling with it (without knowing much about electronics, mind you) and discovered by accident that if I removed the upper TEC from its control board that it would jump start everything. Thinking that I had somehow reset something, I closed it up and moved on, until it again stopped two days later. This time I switched the top control board with the bottom one to see if the problem moved along with it, and it did, so now I knew something was up with the board.

I did some Google searching and didn't really find all that much, except for a lot of posts of people complaining had bad these fridges were and that they didn't last all that long and were poorly made. At first I started looking for replacements for the board, and soon discovered that the FX-101B board was obsolete. I found some high cost replacements on Alibaba and Amazon, but wasn't too encouraged by the prices that I saw. I even started looking at new fridges to replace it with.

Fortunately, I finally found this website and forum, which seemed to have all the info that I needed. The descriptions of the problems others were having were exactly like mine, so I read every page eagerly. At first I saw that a complete cap replacement would be necessary, which I wasn't necessarily afraid of, as I had recapped an old Zenith radio several years ago. As I read more posts, I saw that most people had success with replacing the 47uf 25v cap at C8, so I thought I would start there. I took a trip to Microcenter and picked up a couple of high-temperature 47uf 50v caps (one to hold in reserve just in case the other board eventually failed), soldered it in, fired it up, and everything started up!

I can't begin to tell you how glad I was to find this forum and all of the helpful information it contains. I'm forever grateful, and happy to have saved another wine fridge from the scrap heap.

Thanks again!

 

Yes, member @wayneh still saving lives.

 

I have two of Koolatron 6-bottle wire refrigerators using FX-101B (10.5 V), and I am proactively replacing all electrolytic caps based on posts here.

One thing I noticed when I was taking measurements with an oscilloscope is that the reverse voltage across the Schottky diodes (STPS2045, the rectifier on the secondary side) in a normal working condition is almost 45 V, which is the max rated reverse voltage for this diode. Any thoughts about replacement of this diode with something with a higher rating? I am thinking about replacing this diode with Rohm RB218T-60 which has a higher reverse voltage rating of 60 V, slightly lower reverse leakage, slightly lower forward bias power loss, higher reverse-voltage rating, and comparable reverse-junction capacitance.

The following pictures shows the Cathode voltage on ch1 and Anode voltage on ch2. You can see that the voltage difference between the two is very close to 45 V for the first and third pulses in the capture window.

 

Replaced C8 on my FX-101 board, total cost $ 1.06 including tax. Cooling fine, pulling 20 degrees below ambient temperature.

Plus I learned how to use Soder Wick to remove the bad capacitor.

2007 unit has seen years of service, planning on much more now.
It was "working" before, but could not pull the temp down more than a few degrees, even after I replaced the Pelltier unit.

Thanks to all the folks here, as I love DIY projects (not including weeding....)

 

Hi,

Sure, no problem.

I've added the rated voltages to the table (below). I didn't include these (or other component specs) originally because, to be honest, I don't actually have a good reason for them to be a 'requirement'. I based my selections on some level of consensus of the previous posters along with any info I could find on the existing components in my boards (which was pretty sparse).

Location	Capacitance (uF)	Mouser Part Number	Rated Voltage (VDC)
C4	1	140-SEA1R0M1HBK0407	50
C7	1	140-SEA1R0M1HBK0407	50
C8	47	667-EEU-FR1E470H	25
C5	22	647-UVK1H220MDD	50
C12	120	661-EKXJ201ELL121MK3	200
C15	120	661-EKXJ201ELL121MK3	200
C9	4.7	140-RGA4R7M1HBK0511G	50
C14	4.7	140-RGA4R7M1HBK0511G	50
C13	4.7	140-RGA4R7M1HBK0511G	50
C10	2200	667-EEU-FS1C222LB	16
CA1	47	667-EEU-FR1E470H	25
CB	1	140-SEA1R0M1HBK0407	50
C202	1	140-SEA1R0M1HBK0407	50
C206	47	667-EEU-FR1E470H	25
CA2	22	647-UVK1H220MDD	50
CA4	4.7	140-RGA4R7M1HBK0511G	50
C201	47	667-EEU-FR1E470H	25

On my FX-10 coolerI replaced capacitor C8 with a 63 volt version, cooler is working, but it has trouble getting down to 55 degrees unless the temperature in the house is 75 or less. Initial testing it In the 82 degree garage, it ran 60-61 degrees. It used to do better than this until it started to fail and could barely make 70 degrees in the house even after I replaced the Pelletier unit.

Are there other caps that I could logically replace to restore the original cooling ability, or do I just need to do them all?

 

Got my first one fixed, fx101, by replacing all the switching side caps. On to the next one which has dual power supplies, fx101b. I think the b is for missing temp control as that seems to be done on a separate board. I was going to ask which connector for which fan but I can look on this other unit.

 

Interesting. The two PS seem linked. I unplugged the peltier from the top one and they both came on.

 

On my FX-10 coolerI replaced capacitor C8 with a 63 volt version, cooler is working, but it has trouble getting down to 55 degrees unless the temperature in the house is 75 or less. Initial testing it In the 82 degree garage, it ran 60-61 degrees. It used to do better than this until it started to fail and could barely make 70 degrees in the house even after I replaced the Pelletier unit.

Are there other caps that I could logically replace to restore the original cooling ability, or do I just need to do them all?

Partial Success undone! I replaced all the caps on the switching side, and the unit cooled quickly, but basically would not go below about 60 degrees, even when I moved the cooler into air conditioned space in the house. As I had all the small capacitors left that I bought in Amazon's cheap kit, I decided to replace the caps on the power side (twice). Should have left well enough alone, I guess, as unit is now dead.

I wonder if a replacement circuit board from a new unit is available and would work? (I bought a replacement cooler, but fixing the old one is now a Continuing challenge to me.)

 

My wine cooler is an Igloo model FRW066 manufactured 08/2018. The PS/controller board is a model CD-110-C from Hanny(China).

When it died, the fuse (2.5 A fast blow) was blown, if course. Since it was soldered in I replaced it with a fuse holder. Both of the NPN transistors were burned out, along with two diodes in the rectifier bridge. Replacing those did not solve the problem. The unit would start without the peltier cooler connected, but it took out one of the transistors again when I connected it.

I happened to have all of the small electrolytic caps and the two 120 mF PS caps on hand. After replacing them all and the blown transistor, the unit is working. I tested the caps and they all had high ESR ratings compared to the new ones.

As a side note, I had recently purchased a Hakko DR-301 desoldering tool. What a time saver! I wish I would have purchased it a long time ago. Parts were easily removed and it saved a bunch of time versus using a solder wick. I also found that a transistor checker was useful. It tests transistors, but also caps. I bought the Adipeen tester for $22 on Amazon. The same unit seems to be sold under several brands.

Thanks for all of the great info in this thread! I probably would have taken a lot more time to get to replacing all of the caps.

 

Absolute newbie here. Just wanted to thank you folks for sharing the info and success stories that gave me just what I needed to fix our wine fridge. Sure enough it was C8 cap on the FX-101 board. $150 fridge fixed for $20 (cheap soldering kit + pack of caps). Cheers!

 

More info......
I found that the temp Control board seems to be bad on the upper section control.
When i switch the connectors on the controll board
I can make both sections to work so I have a faulty temp control board (one side of it).
This board is marked MP104 (HT-NN79)....anyone that have a circuit diagram for this (picture below)?
Where is the NTC located....Some other place in the cooler?

View attachment 142881

You found what is wrong? Same problem here :-(

 

MY SOLUTION: I "inherited" a non-functioning wine cooler due to a defective power supply. No replacement could be located, and if it could, would likely cost more than a replacement cooler! But without a complete schematic, and considering the difficulties troubleshooting and obtaining replacement components, I found an easier and probably more cost-effective solution.

Nearly ¾ of the original circuit board consists of a 12V power supply, with the remainder being relays and connectors. With the kindly assistance of a friend with a vibrating saw, the circuit board was cut to remove the defunct power supply section, while leaving the rest of the board intact. (None of the existing wires were disconnected.) Two new wires were attached to the smaller section for 12V and GND and the board mounted with two screws on the existing standoffs. (The lower standoffs were removed.) A new 12V, 15A supply was obtained, secured with double-sided tape, and the cooler is now as good as new!

Total cost was around $20 for the power supply and a few bucks for a roll of tape. Between Amazon, eBay, Digikey, etc. a wide variety of supplies are available. I had considered a 20A supply, but they were a couple inches longer than the 15A version and probably wouldn't fit. Besides, 15A is still overkill. Good luck!