Whirlpool Side by Side American style Fridge Freezer too hot and too cold

[westfielder]

Hi all,

Hope this is OK to post here please remove if not

I am trying to save our (20 year old) fridge freezer from landfill by trying to repair (again) the main control board.
I have a Whirlpool model S20D FSS10-A/D Service number 8586 161 15000 Side By side FF – and after replacing many components on the rear board 13 years ago it has been running well.

However.... with two possibly related new faults I am hoping that the symptoms may allow someone to point me in the right direction. Not having a circuit diagram has been a hindrance.
Over last few years the front panel inside in the fridge in my model has been developing a display fault – it started with the LED display winking out briefly about twice a second. The mark/space of time for the 'winking out' changed slowly to 50% on 50% off twice a second to eventually become just flashing on briefly twice a second and finally off all the time. However, the default settings/functioning of the FF has been working fine so didn't need to use the panel. However, can't read any fault codes that might be there I don't think that the buttons are doing anything on the panel. It has 15v supply but I don't know what supply voltage from the rear PCB should be. Then...
A few weeks ago the house RCD tripped once and the fridge bulb had blown with a big stain on bulb interior and Relay RL3 was chattering randomly –

I took the board out and noticed a fried circuit track where it looped thinly either side of component hole that was unused. I soldered in a bridge over the gap. Restarted the FF.
From then the freezer cools to -32c and warms up to -2c and down to -32 etc.. The fridge varies in temp but does go as low as 0c and high as +9c. Alongside this, when the compressor is not running we can heard a ticking noise and identified that the compressor fan was turning slowly about ?100 rpm There's no ice build up, the freezer to fridge air louvres are opening and closing when you switch the FF on, and do seem to open and close at different times. The evapourator fan seems fine as does the compressor fan, the bottom of the fridge is dust free and the rear panels are all on to allow proper cooling of the condensor motor.
I pulled the board again, checked all the capacitors I have a slightly different board to many and all the capacitors I had used from one brand have failed again. I took all the caps out and measured them.
C6, C16 should have been 0.68uF and were in the order of a few nF
C14, 26, 27,28 should have been 0.1uF and were 0,.6nF, 2nF, 10nF and 38nF respectively.
All other film and electrolytic capacitors were within tolerance. I replaced all the faulty caps thinking that I had found the display problem (because I had found out in the past that C6 and C16 relate to the front panel) and the cooling issues and fan issues but NONE had been cured :- I checked the continuity to the front panel of all connectiions and they're fine. Also checked the 2 electrolytics on the front board.
So I am at a bit of a loss. I have checked the zener diodes in situ and all have about 6v forward voltage drop I cannot find a replacement board due to different connectors on my unit – so unless I can fix we will have to fork out for a new FF :-(


Many thanks for any suggestions

Here are pics of the board if it helps.



Nick

 

[kellys_eye]

I'd change all the relays. They've been switching inductive loads all their lives and will likely have pitted contacts meaning intermittent outputs. The relays all look to be pretty much standard issue so should be easily available. Given they rarely cost more than a few $ each it won't be too much of an expense either.

 

[73's de Edd]

Sir westfielder . . . . . . .


Lets start with . . . . our most revered, right honnable and esteemed . . . . . Kelly with his " EYE" . . . and his brevit . . . of . . .Nail . . .Hammer . . .Hit !

Utilizing my learned observation of that boards top components layout *** . . . . . I see the right top corners IC1 ??? as being a PIC16F877-04/P . . . . with its -04P . . . . . aspect, being related to its custom internal ROM memory map programming.
That big 40 pin chip is being the brains for your unit. Its code dating suggest your Freezer / refrig-id-ed-der-arator of being no older than 2003 vintage.
(*** why for, you no show me/us, the ALL IMPORTANT bottom foils trace layout, since you can read 'em just like a book ! )

You can see its . . . suspected 4Mz . . . . ceramic resonator / clock oscillator is being the left sides blue X1 and I'll just bet that the bottom left side R41-R42-R42 resistors are being . . . . U1 port fed . . . . and sending interruptable steady state DC to the two discrete relay driver transistors, located just above their respective two LARGER black power relays.
That then leaves the minor ORANGE RL3, relay , as being driven by its Q4 transistor.

Drop down to connector CN5 and I'm seeing that as where . . . . THE . . . .AC in and out POWERING is being routed thru.

I see the real power "Boss" hog as being the compressor . . . . relegating the use of 1 black relay.
Next in the power consuming race is the defrost heater . . . .thus, the use of 1 more black relay
Lastly, is being a laminar air flow cooling fan down around the compressor area. . . . . thus the lesser ORANGE relay.

Now you go to work in examining and see if you can interpret which is related to which.


Now for your center bottom CN12 connector, I want to relate as communicating with your other mentioned display board . . . as its brains is being up at
40 pin U1 u/processor.

I'm up in the air on CN4 connector , without your feedback of its connectivity, as it could be either an in or out function related with companion resistors R12 and R13.

Same way with the CN6 which might tie into Q1 and Q3 transistors above ( repeat prior *** )

Where does our low voltage DC power source / come from ? ? ?
One possible consideration on this board might be the bottom left corners two (paralleled ? ) .68 ufd capacitors and the D3 rectifier diode and the DZ2 . . .1 watt zener diode . . . . presumably with it having a 15V zener knee.
Raw HOT line AC goes into the caps and fighting fierce capacitance reactance @ 50/60 cycles drops that voltage on down where the D3 diode then converts AC to DC and the DZ 2 zener diode clamps that DC down to a 15 VDC threshold . . . . . and then . . .AND THEN . . . AND THEN . . . it has to make a cross country trip across the board . . .involving two toll fees . . . .until it FINALLY reaches and connects into right top corners C2 filter E-cap.

Why for the (3) 5W WW power resistors ?
I repeat-repeat-repeat ***.

But, as for the 18 ohm unit . . . . . . and its sort of routing away from related circuitry with its top lead.
CONSIDER . . . that if you are going to design a capacitive dropper / quasi isolated AC line power supply you initially are cognizant of your max voltage and current consumption requirement and then you compute the capacitance reactance needed . . . . . and natchurally find the need of a 1.212 cap.
Ain't a gonna happen . . . .and in avoiding multi capacitance paralleled "padders", instead just use a bit more capacitance than calculated and then additionally reduce the over voltage by using an appropriate low resistance series resistor, that possibly being the use of that 18 ohms in this case ? ( *** )


FUN THINGS TO DO !

Initially examine the - terminal of C2 and confirm if it shares a common foil path to R32-R64-R65- or jumpers P21-P22 . . . . .I'm expecting so . . . .. THAT then gives you easy top access to DC ground metering connection of low voltage circuitry.
Take ohmmeter in hand and place in lowest ranging, unless its being a smart meter / autoranging.
Short its probes together to see a "short" s reading on its display.
Go to bottom corner and read between the two right leads of DZ2 and D1 to confirm an interconnect or ***.
Move back to C2, and you might also find easier TOP access to its + terminal from those earlier mentioned associative / proximity of components.
See if C2 + dirctly connects back to either D3 or DZ2 + (banded) lead ?
If so, that sort of confirms the + 15 low voltage DC power for the unit .
IF NOT . . . . meter from D3 / DZ2 ( joined ? ) over to each of the 8 pin of CN12.
Since LVDC power might INITIALLY go to the display board and then get routed back to this board, so . . . .ALSO . . .see if C2 + is found being connected to any of CN12 's pins.
On all of these meter measurement connections . . . I FREQUENTLY use either clip leads or tack / soldered on hook up wire leads, to avoid lead probes manipulation OR ACCESSIBILITY ! on an OPERATING and WIRING CONNECTED up unit.

CHOOOO . . . . .CHOOO . . . .CHOOOO . . . thought train # 2 . . . . .

If the above power supply sourcing didn't verify.

I'm STILL stuck on CN5 as being AC power sourcing, but this time, you route it up to C14 as being an across the AC line CX capacitor as its rating.
Then its little round BLUE companion couldn't be a CY capacitor . . .with its R prefix so make it a R7 or RZ . . . as a transient voltage suppressor wired across the AC line.
Then further pass that HOT AC on up to the 18 ohm 5W ww and out of it on up to the left lead of the very tops 1 ufd BLACK poly cap.
NOW follow the SAME route as before, this time with D1 rectifying AC to DC and DZ1 regulating down to +15VDC and the same prior checks being over to the C2 terminals. Also the same prior checks made down to CN12.


THE LEFTOVERS . . . . .
viz . . . .C26-27-28 and D4-D5-D2 and Three BLACK 0.22 poly caps

I would be wanting to see them as being associated with a new generation / energy saving compressor that your unit utilizes.
The unit, using a Permanant Magnet . . .rare earth . . . .brushless . . .3 phase DC drive compressor motor.
The boards (3) 1W06 are rated 600V at 1 amps . . . . . what I DON'T see are the related 3 power FET's or IGBT transistors that are placed elsewhere, ( for wiring proximity and cooling ), that then drive the 3 stationary stator windings of the compressor motor, from a supplied 3 phase drive signal from a dedicated port(s) of the main u / processor.

THAT PROBLEM RELAY . . . .
Using all of the prior info, for being able to locate the units LVDC metering points.
If the ORANGE relay was being the disruptive one.
Meter from DC ground and take a DC reading of the collector of its Q4 driver transistor to see if the relay chatter / drop outs relates to the voltage monitored there. ? ? ?
If the relay coil voltage is rock steady, erratic relay contact integrity is at fault.
BUT if the disruptions show as being coincident with the Q4 voltage, then u/processor drive or Q4 would be suspect of fault.
To confirm that drop down to then metering at the base of that Q4 and its much lower ~<1VDC and see if that is varying.
ASIDE . . .
Also try to trace wiring to see if this relay is serving as being either a cooling fan or defrost heater function.

ADDITIONALLY . . . . FIO
With a freezer / refrigerator combo, there is an additional transfer fan action between the freezer to the refrigerator.

Vell . . . . . vot you tinks ? . . . . . . did I dun bin givensk you, 'yer full nickels worth.

Now for your ***, coming forward..


Thaaaaaaasssss . . . . . .about . . . . . .it . . . . .

73's de Edd . . . . .

Worrying ab-so-root-ely and positively works!
More than 90 percent of the things I worry about . . . . . never even happen.



.

 

[westfielder]

O.M.G. Thank You!!!!
That is an amazing script - almost worth framing.
I'm off to do the homework that you have set me, however, we have a party tonight and SWMBO has forbidden me to pull the thing apart today, tomorrow is her birthday - so probably not good karma to play with it then... I will though, in the next few days get back to you with as many answers as I can.


In the mean time I have got a pic of the back of the board. Please ignore the capacitor sticking out of the middle - that was for a temporary repair years ago and is not there any more.

With lack of personal knowledge and working on what I could do, I have ordered a set of 3 replacement bridge rectifiers and 7 triacs and a replacement RL3.

I also disconnected the front panel cable from CN6 yesterday and SO FAR the FF is keeping sensible temperatures. So actually may make sense to leave it running for a couple of days and see what happens. The condensor fan motor is still constantly running slowly (but still running normally when condensor is running)



Maybe the minimal info here may be of some help

Thank you again for your time and interest. I am hopeful that we will be able to resolve the issues now

Kind Regards

Nick

 

[westfielder]

I will also get some better res pics for you.
I'll take the freezer inside casing off and find which wires go where and draw a map.
There is a single fan that runs the air around the freezer AND the fridge by way of a louvred vent (seems to be working OK)
I was told in the past that RL3 is the compresor relay and that the nearer black relay to that is the defrost relay but will confirm.
I wasn't at all sure how the IW06 Bridge rectifiers were working.
CN5 left two pins are power in, the right 3 pins are to the compressor fan.
CN12 is 16 pin.
CN6 goes to the front panel (actually its a board inside the fridge on the roof), 4 wires to the board and 2 to the fridge light.


My thinking was on the lines of - if I replace the diodes, bridge rectifiers, Triacs, capacitors, zener diodes and relays (all cheap) then there's not a lot more I can do for the main board anyway - but of course, that may not be the source of the problem.

Here are pics of the front panel (as I don't have any without pulling it apart today. The only through-hole mounted components are a couple of electrolytics that I have already changed.

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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing - my discrete electronics finished with my electronics degree 35 years ago. It was then software, networking and finally marketing until 20 years ago when I changed career to being a paramedic so you will have to excuse my VERY rusty electronics knowledge.

Contined thanks Señor Edd.

 

[kellys_eye]

It'll be a severe disappointment if you get to change all parts except the main controller IC!!!

Edd's analysis is always very thorough but there's little that actually goes wrong with those things and, frankly, I'm astonished that the capacitors were all out of range. One, maybe two - but that many???!!!! Sure your capacitor meter is working properly?

 

[westfielder]

Thanks Kelly, yes, double checked - some capacitors were still spot on - and I have two meters.
I think definitely still something wrong with the board as the compressor fan runs slow speed when it should not be operating. Now that I have unplugged the front panel connector on the control board the device seems to be cooling correctly - only 24 hours so will see how it goes. Watch this space - it's become a bit of a personal challenge now!

 

[Harald Kapp]

I also disconnected the front panel cable from CN6 yesterday and SO FAR the FF is keeping sensible temperatures.

One possible issue here could be a defect in one or more of the pushbttons which would make the pic "think" there's user input and have it change settings. You could remove the front panel, open it and check all contacts. Also check any electrolytic capacitors in the front panel. After many years of service they may be no longer functional, having lost most of their capacity. If you don't have a capacitance meter: replacing the big ones is not to expensive, even if they should be o.k. If you find ones which have leaked or show a bulging cap, these are definitely no longer good.
Don't forget to clean any residues on the pcb in these cases.

 

[westfielder]

Thanks Harald, those steps already taken - there were two electrolytics they are both in tolerance but replaced anyway. all buttons seem to be clicking OK
Next time the front is off I will check continuity if possble across button terminals and check the make/break

Thanks for your suggestions

Nick

 

[westfielder]

Right, done some homework, well as much as I could get away with today!

(Harald - checked all the buttons and all function fine)

Had the FF in multiple pieces all over the kitchen! SWMBOs birthday so no more time today.

Firstly, some better pics attached - also with the circuit tracks superimposed over the top side that should answer all the 'what's connected to what by foil' questions..





And to answer some questions in your email Señor Edd.... In GREEN

CN 12 is a 16 pin connector. Identifying pins on all these connectors I will count across the top row (L to R) - eg 1-8 and then same on the bottom L-R eg 9-16. So top row 1-8 relates to the inner row of pins on the board.

CN5 Pins 1-3 go to a box by the compressor, the same box as the raw feed from the wall socket. This is the ONLY cable that goes to the compressor, all other cables except compressor fan go up into FF cabinet

CN5 Pins 4-5 are the compressor Fan

CN12 is difficult to trace all because some wires go to a multiplug hidden behind the rivetted back panel and different colours come forwards into the cabinet...
CN12 Pins 1,2,8,9 have no wires from them in the multipluf despite the circuitry on the board!
CN12 pins 1 and 12 are the fridge light (I was a dumb idiot and forgot to check the freezer light)
CN12 6 and 16 go to the internal fan
CN12 7, 11 & 15 go to the louvre door for airflow from freezer to fridge

CN6 pins 1, 2, 3, 4 go to the front panel .... 5 is blank and 6 goes ???

CN4 are the two temp sensors in the cabinets, one in fridge and one in freezer ?thermisters


Please read on...

Sir westfielder . . . . . . .

Utilizing my learned observation of that boards top components layout *** . . . . . I see the right top corners IC1 ??? as being a PIC16F877-04/P . . . . with its -04P . . . . . aspect, being related to its custom internal ROM memory map programming.
That big 40 pin chip is being the brains for your unit. Its code dating suggest your Freezer / refrig-id-ed-der-arator of being no older than 2003 vintage. Could be - I know the board was updated in 2003 - we bought the house with the FF in 2006.
(*** why for, you no show me/us, the ALL IMPORTANT bottom foils trace layout, since you can read 'em just like a book ! )

You can see its . . . suspected 4Mz . . . . ceramic resonator / clock oscillator is being the left sides blue X1 and I'll just bet that the bottom left side R41-R42-R42 resistors are being . . . . U1 port fed . . . . and sending interruptable steady state DC to the two discrete relay driver transistors, located just above their respective two LARGER black power relays.
That then leaves the minor ORANGE RL3, relay , as being driven by its Q4 transistor.

Drop down to connector CN5 and I'm seeing that as where . . . . THE . . . .AC in and out POWERING is being routed thru.

I see the real power "Boss" hog as being the compressor . . . . relegating the use of 1 black relay.
Next in the power consuming race is the defrost heater . . . .thus, the use of 1 more black relay
Lastly, is being a laminar air flow cooling fan down around the compressor area. . . . . thus the lesser ORANGE relay.

Now you go to work in examining and see if you can interpret which is related to which.


Now for your center bottom CN12 connector, I want to relate as communicating with your other mentioned display board . . . as its brains is being up at
40 pin U1 u/processor.

I'm up in the air on CN4 connector , without your feedback of its connectivity, as it could be either an in or out function related with companion resistors R12 and R13.

Same way with the CN6 which might tie into Q1 and Q3 transistors above ( repeat prior *** )

Where does our low voltage DC power source / come from ? ? ?
One possible consideration on this board might be the bottom left corners two (paralleled ? ) .68 ufd capacitors and the D3 rectifier diode and the DZ2 . . .1 watt zener diode . . . . presumably with it having a 15V zener knee.
Raw HOT line AC goes into the caps and fighting fierce capacitance reactance @ 50/60 cycles drops that voltage on down where the D3 diode then converts AC to DC and the DZ 2 zener diode clamps that DC down to a 15 VDC threshold . . . . . and then . . .AND THEN . . . AND THEN . . . it has to make a cross country trip across the board . . .involving two toll fees . . . .until it FINALLY reaches and connects into right top corners C2 filter E-cap.

Why for the (3) 5W WW power resistors ?
I repeat-repeat-repeat ***.

But, as for the 18 ohm unit . . . . . . and its sort of routing away from related circuitry with its top lead.
CONSIDER . . . that if you are going to design a capacitive dropper / quasi isolated AC line power supply you initially are cognizant of your max voltage and current consumption requirement and then you compute the capacitance reactance needed . . . . . and natchurally find the need of a 1.212 cap.
Ain't a gonna happen . . . .and in avoiding multi capacitance paralleled "padders", instead just use a bit more capacitance than calculated and then additionally reduce the over voltage by using an appropriate low resistance series resistor, that possibly being the use of that 18 ohms in this case ? ( *** )


FUN THINGS TO DO !

Initially examine the - terminal of C2 and confirm if it shares a common foil path to R32 No -R64 Yes + term -R65 YES +ve Term- or jumpers P21 No-P22 No but does go to P19 . . . . .I'm expecting so . . . .. THAT then gives you easy top access to DC ground metering connection of low voltage circuitry.
Take ohmmeter in hand and place in lowest ranging, unless its being a smart meter / autoranging.
Short its probes together to see a "short" s reading on its display.
Go to bottom corner and read between the two right leads of DZ2 and D1 to confirm an interconnect or ***. 4MOhm
Move back to C2, and you might also find easier TOP access to its + terminal from those earlier mentioned associative / proximity of components. Left side of R64 or R65 coould be used
See if C2 + dirctly connects back to either D3 or DZ2 + (banded) lead ? No
If so, that sort of confirms the + 15 low voltage DC power for the unit .
IF NOT . . . . meter from D3 / DZ2 ( joined ? ) over to each of the 8 pin of CN12. Only Pins 4 and 5
Since LVDC power might INITIALLY go to the display board and then get routed back to this board, so . . . .ALSO . . .see if C2 + is found being connected to any of CN12 's pins.
On all of these meter measurement connections . . . I FREQUENTLY use either clip leads or tack / soldered on hook up wire leads, to avoid lead probes manipulation OR ACCESSIBILITY ! on an OPERATING and WIRING CONNECTED up unit.

CHOOOO . . . . .CHOOO . . . .CHOOOO . . . thought train # 2 . . . . .

If the above power supply sourcing didn't verify.

I'm STILL stuck on CN5 as being AC power sourcing, but this time, you route it up to C14 as being an across the AC line CX capacitor as its rating.
Then its little round BLUE companion couldn't be a CY capacitor . . .with its R prefix so make it a R7 or RZ . . . as a transient voltage suppressor wired across the AC line.
Then further pass that HOT AC on up to the 18 ohm 5W ww and out of it on up to the left lead of the very tops 1 ufd BLACK poly cap.
NOW follow the SAME route as before, this time with D1 rectifying AC to DC and DZ1 regulating down to +15VDC and the same prior checks being over to the C2 terminals. Also the same prior checks made down to CN12.


THE LEFTOVERS . . . . .
viz . . . .C26-27-28 and D4-D5-D2 and Three BLACK 0.22 poly caps

I would be wanting to see them as being associated with a new generation / energy saving compressor that your unit utilizes.
The unit, using a Permanant Magnet . . .rare earth . . . .brushless . . .3 phase DC drive compressor motor.
The boards (3) 1W06 are rated 600V at 1 amps . . . . . what I DON'T see are the related 3 power FET's or IGBT transistors that are placed elsewhere, ( for wiring proximity and cooling ), that then drive the 3 stationary stator windings of the compressor motor, from a supplied 3 phase drive signal from a dedicated port(s) of the main u / processor.

THAT PROBLEM RELAY . . . .
Using all of the prior info, for being able to locate the units LVDC metering points.
If the ORANGE relay was being the disruptive one.
Meter from DC ground and take a DC reading of the collector of its Q4 driver transistor to see if the relay chatter / drop outs relates to the voltage monitored there. ? ? ?
If the relay coil voltage is rock steady, erratic relay contact integrity is at fault.
BUT if the disruptions show as being coincident with the Q4 voltage, then u/processor drive or Q4 would be suspect of fault.
To confirm that drop down to then metering at the base of that Q4 and its much lower ~<1VDC and see if that is varying.
ASIDE . . .
Also try to trace wiring to see if this relay is serving as being either a cooling fan or defrost heater function.

ADDITIONALLY . . . . FIO
With a freezer / refrigerator combo, there is an additional transfer fan action between the freezer to the refrigerator.

Vell . . . . . vot you tinks ? . . . . . . did I dun bin givensk you, 'yer full nickels worth.

Now for your ***, coming forward..


Thaaaaaaasssss . . . . . .about . . . . . .it . . . . .

73's de Edd . . . . .

Worrying ab-so-root-ely and positively works!
More than 90 percent of the things I worry about . . . . . never even happen.

Being called away ..... Thanks very much again Mr Edd

Speak / type soon

 

[Harald Kapp]

Very nice job with superimposed images

 

[westfielder]

Thanks Harald - hopefully it will help Edd.

The good news is that after 48 hours the FF is keeping correct temperatures with CN6 disconnected on the main board. The condensor fan is still running all the time, slowly when it shouldn't be running and normally when it should. The front panel still appears dead when it is plugged in.
I think that the above would suggest that the IC is functioning as are all the fans, defroster, thermisters, internal fan, louvres, condenser etc. are all working.

Fingers crossed
SWMBO is a bit happier too as the milk and cheese have stopped freezing!

 

[westfielder]

I mistyped above - it should read
CN12 pins 4 and 12 are the fridge light (I was a dumb idiot and forgot to check the freezer light)

 

[westfielder]

A little progress.....
Replaced the triacs and bridge rectifiers again.
Outcome:
The constant slow running of the compressor fan has now stopped.... Yaaaahh
The front panel supply voltage is now steady 5V

BUT
the front panel still 'appears' dead.

New front panel ordered - will update....

 

[westfielder]

Happy to report that the fridge freezer is working fine after the actions taken above and a new front panel (£45 on eBay )
Keeping temp - freezer -20c to -22c and Fridge +0.5c to +4c. They do both seem a little cold considering that the settings of -18c and 6c respectively - however, this could possibly be my thermometer.

Happy enough
Thanks for the help above chaps


Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

[Harald Kapp]

Thanks for reporting back your success

Happy New Year, too!

 

[philpope]

Hi
I have similar problem and almost same board as this. I suspect RL3 is faulty as there is a bright flash when it clicks sometimes but not others. Have been removing capacitors and checking. C1 is slightly low but within tolerance. the 0.22uF caps seem okay. C26 C27 and C28 have drastically different values so at least two of them are faulty. What should the correct value of these be?
print on top say W9-U1M305V/U
guessing this mean 0.1uF so I have replaced them with 120nF which is the closest I had.
I have removed the internal cover in the freezer and there is no ice obstructing air circulation.
Internal fan spins and switches off/on when door opened/closed
when powered up an alarm sounds after 20 seconds. pressing enter on the front panel stops the beeping but the buttons to set the temperature are unresponsive. no menus available. holding menu and enter for several seconds make -04 appear on display (it's definitely not -4 Celsius in freezer).
after a while the cooling fan on the back starts spinning but the compressor doesn't seem to ever start up.

 

[westfielder]

Hi Phil,

You are correct, they are 0.1uF
RL3 is the compressor relay
I used to find that the FF would stay silent after a power cycle for up to 20 minutes before the relay would switch and the compressor come on. It's cheap enough to replace.
Try replacing the triacs and bridge rectifiers too - they're cheap and they were the cause of my problems and not the capacitors.
There are a couple of capacitors on my front panel - didn't fix it but might solve your issue
I believe that if you inplug the front panel from the rear board then the FF will start with default settings. Mine will run fine with it unplugged. This may be a way of finding which panel has the fault.
My strategy in the end was to replace every component I could, if all that failed then I was going to source a new board. Happily it didn't come to that. I bit hammer to crack a walnut but without the skills of other chaps on here it was a fair strategy!

Good Luck

Nick

 

[Que]

Thank you for the control board pics and fascinating explanations. I have been nursing along my Whirlpool F/F for a number of years now, currently suffering from a non functioning defrost heater. I am perplexed by the function of the serpentine trace on the board, is anyone able to clarify.

Appreciations (from Scotland)

 

[kellys_eye]

I am perplexed by the function of the serpentine trace on the board, is anyone able to clarify.

I don't seen anything that's particularly 'serpentine' - tracks make electrical connections from point-to-point and will 'wander' where ever they need to achieve that - designers try not to make too many topside wire links so the tracks may go 'all over the place' to get where they need to be.

On some boards (computer motherboards in particular) they really do have serpentine tracks as there is a need (because of the speed requirement) to ensure traces are of equal length else they have issues with timing - but that's in circuitry that operates in the GHz (or very high MHz) range.