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Forum Index : Electronics : Solar refridgerator inverter selection.
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| Warpspeed Guru  Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Only ones I have experience working on have been either work related, belonging to friends, or my own here at home. The one I have here in front of me right now, a Westinghouse 300 Litre frost free fridge/freezer definitely has no timer. I know because the original thermostat failed, and as a result I have built my own electronic temperature controller, and am VERY familiar with the wiring and complete mode of operation. Ran it for a while on a data logger to tune the controller. Definitely no timer on the heater in this one. If I set the on/off temperature hysteresis too small the compressor short cycles quickly, and the evaporator ices up. With wider apart in/out temperature settings, the heater at least has a chance to defrost between EVERY compressor cycle. Klaus (Tinker) has played around with one of these frost free fridges extensively as well, he never mentioned anything about a timer. Cheers, Tony. |
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norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
First Kelvi frost free I`ve heard of without a defrost timer. Never too old to learn, interestingly just looked at Westinghouse`s website FAQ`s there state the frost free evaporator is kept that way by a powerfull fan no mention of a heater, yet the sales blurp mentions a 140 watt heater!!!! Have a few defrost timers left over when I retired, will seek and take photo(if I can find amongst mountain of junk). One in newie is a cute compact one assume its digital but will locate a service manual to confirm. Easy way to confirm is go to a service part online supplier key in your model number and look at list of parts. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
2012-11-30_055140_APC_image_files.pdf Found a couple easily, brand new except for cockie & silverfish damage. Note 6hr for freezer, 12hr for fridge/freezer. These fitted the Kelvi,Westinghouse and if memory serves me well the Frigidaire of the 70`s to 99 era. Bloody hell our fellows are going well in WA, lets hope they bat as well as they bowl. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Well, this is fascinating. Did a bit of a Google search, and found a couple of circuit diagrams for Westinghouse refrigerators, not my model though, and they both had timer motors !! I have just pulled my refrigerator out from the wall and had a really good look around the compressor area. Nothing there but the compressor. So I pulled the plastic cover off from the door switch/thermostat/interior light. No timer motor there either. Where is the little bugger hiding ?? Cheers, Tony. |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
My era defrost timers were near the comp(again going by memory) The newie has a cute cylindrical white timer? or I assume it is the timer, maybe an external starter but it is to the left of the comp(looking from rear). The old timers were mechanical and had a knob you could turn, which made it easy to fault find ie whether the heater was shot or timer and in some cases it was just a simple matter of running a seperate neutral to the timer,ie some times the timer would lose power because they used a neutral return through the comp or heater on some models a problem Email(pre Electrolux) took many years to rectify. This is bringing back a lot of what I thought was lost from this old farts mind. If me bloody sat internet wasn`t having such a bad day(has lots of them) would investigate more. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Incoming 240 goes to a covered terminal block on the compressor. Also coming out of that compressor terminal block is a thick white cable that goes to the thermostat housing. A thinner white cable runs between the thermostat housing and the heater. The heater was wired directly across the thermostat contacts. The thermostat housing contains the thermostat, door switch and the interior light. No motor timer anywhere !! This is a Westinghouse Silhouette Series 2, 300 Litre refrigerator freezer, and it's pretty old, maybe 20 to 30 years I really do not know. Quite a mystery. Cheers, Tony. |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Ok back into the dark matter, have you looked at the left hand front behind the kick plate just near the wheel, should see a grey 10mm dia knob in corner and the timer as per timer photo in earlier post, or is that RH side? Your model is back in my era (I think) but than have you a ring-in( sort of a fine cotton)  ?We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Tony, your fridge might have one or two thermistors in the heater circuit rather than a timer. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
I had a quick look all around yesterday. Only wiring in this thing is very simple and all plainly visible. Maybe this refrigerator came from the Twilight Zone.... Not sure what may be lurking behind the evaporator, there could be a thermistor or one of those tricky solid state thermal switches hiding behind there. Cheers, Tony. |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Hey yahoo2, your confused, no wait... maybe not, I`m definately confused. Have we a current fridgee on the forum who can throw some light on the defrost operation in the current crop of frost-frees. I`ll vouch for their efficiency(hey! got the spelling right, I think) or is that efficiency gain from the new crop of compressors and refrigerants, and nothing to do with the frost-free bit? I suspect its a bit of each, but I`m impressed. Last time I spoke to a current fridgee (year or so back) he informed me the new compressors consume less power because they do less, my newie has sort of made a myth out of that as its performance so far cannot be faulted. Perhaps a call to SBS and get the Myth Busters to sort it out 
We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Hey Norcold, I think he is bang on the money, the specs for a modern freezer compartment are lower than what they were 20 years ago. They should hold a low temperature better due to the massive improvements in insulation and design, but that bargain pork roast will take significantly longer to freeze, they are just not designed to pump a large amount of heat out in a short period of time. I have a fridge only unit and I think they have pushed the limits with this one, the walls are less than 30 mm thick, including the condenser coils. Perhaps the insulation is poorly fitted, I don't know. It only stays cold for a short time if the power goes off. Veggies are anything but crisp in the bottom of this thing I can tell ya! I have two modern upright freezers that I use as cupboards, I store welding rods and oil filters etc in them, I have tried them out a couple of times and they are terrible. My parents have an upright freezer (with the slide out drawers in it)and that is brilliant, they lost power for 24 hours a few weeks ago and the temp rose from -21 up to -16.7. I done some basic maintenance on a larger fridge with a Danfoss compressor last year, mostly cleaning and adjusting minor stuff to stop temperature leaks and improve the ventilation and heat transfer, we have gained about 35% improvement in power usage. There are some good units out there, there are also a lot that roam in packs, piss on ya wheels and howl at the moon. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Missus is off to Supermarket this week, she`ll come home and put 800l in a 400l fridge(I know that`s not logical, but she will, even the Vulcans accept human women are beyond logic(Trekies will comprehend). Than the newie will be tested, and sort out myth from reality. Also purchased a 9.5kg top load washer and believe it will also bring energy savings, if so that will also go against popular thinking.ie one load will do double plus what those small "Energy" efficient washers do. Tony ,maybe my fridge is from the Twilight zone, common belief us Northeners are touch by the sun, we believe we`re blessed cause its only a local call to JC. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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Lapsy Senior Member  Joined: 28/01/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 103 |
Always thought mine was on a timer to be honest! This is my signature ---> Scribble, scrawl, a bit of light pencil shading, some indelable ink and a bit of caligraphy. |
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| debe Newbie  Joined: 18/12/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3 |
This is the circuit of a more recent Wesinghouse frost free fridge. It uses a small electronics board with a processor, It gives a heated defrost time once in 24hrs & uses thermistors for fridge temp & defrost termination. Had to replace the board recently as the mains voltage was 300V for quite some time. New board $180 paid for by the electric supply company, along with several other apliances. |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Debe, Many thanks, makes sense to get away from the old timer to digital. Although the timer gave little trouble, you`d think the electronic board would be more reliable. Anyhow impressed with the new frost-free, have been flogging it a bit of late, what with xmass coming and our long hot dry. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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