Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

[cnbcf]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Just quick update in case it helps anyone in future, I bought this 3 board set on Amazon for CA$52 and just replaced all 3 boards and all is working - https://www.amazon.ca/W10515058-W105.../dp/B0BFN9VRDG

These boards look a lot simpler than the originals, there's no dimming function but I don't know if I ever even noticed a dimming function on the originals, and they're very bright. Hopefully these last, will update here if they burn out.

[lotas]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

To be exact, then R15 - 1270 = 127Ω 1%.

[cnbcf]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

yeah I am still hesitant about any of the boards bought online.

I bought this W10515057 board to replace my LED burned out board from the freezer for CA$26.12 which arrived yesterday, I can only confirm that it does work, but no idea yet how long it will last: https://www.amazon.ca/Refrigerator-W...ls%2C84&sr=1-4

Since I think my soldering that new resistor onto my existing W10515058 main top fridge board didn't fix that board, I'm going to just order this 3 set from Amazon (two W10515057 boards and one W10515058) for CA$34.87 and will respond back in here on whether it works when it arrives in a week or so: https://www.amazon.com/W10515058-W10...ot_top?ie=UTF8

[redwire]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

The original Whirlpool board goes berzerk if there is a bad LED, I think its CC fails. It should never have parts burning up, ever.

That independently redesigned board looks good for $40.
It's one way to give Whirlpool the FU over their super crappy refrigerator light power supply design, CapXon included.

Only possible disadvantages are maybe higher inrush current for the door switches and I'm not sure how good the regulation is or what it does with a dead LED in the string. Does it stay reasonable for output voltage or skyrocket?
I'd go with it if I had to replace one.

[ron350]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

I see that some one on ebay is selling a redesigned board for $40.

Makes me wonder what the pros here think about the redesigned board?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/35392907462...BlBMUKj_1MS7YQ

[cnbcf]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

I had the same issue with the dim lights in the fridge and freezer. I was going to do the "log-on-Bob" fix but was able to find the WS10515058 board (the one in the fridge) for about $25 (new). My board had a burned R15 resistor and since I did not have any to use there, I just bought a new board. When I put the new board in, the lights were still dim. From what I had learned by reading this thread and looking at the schematic, I was able to find that the board in the freezer actually had a bad LED (this is what probably caused the board in the fridge to pop).
So I ordered a new board for the freezer also (WS10515057) for about $12. Installed it and the lights work perfectly now.

Question now is for how long will the new boards last. Thanks to everyone that posted here.

Thank you so much for sharing this as I believe I've had exactly the same problem as you.

When my Whirlpool WRS322FDAB05 lights stopped working I found this thread and after pulling out the main fridge board at the top (W10515058) I noticed my R15 resistor was burned out so I brought it to a random electronics shop and paid them $20 to remove the burned out R15 resistor and solder a new 150 Ohm/0.5watt resistor onto the R15 spot. I brought that home and plugged it into my fridge and the LED's on that board worked but were super dim, can barely even see they are on. I found your post about the freezer LED board (W10515057) being burned out so tested out my freezer board by switching it up with the other W10515057 board in the bottom of the fridge and sure enough that freezer board LED's were completely dead. I ordered a new W10515057 on Amazon for $26 and just put it in my fridge so at least now all 3 LED light boards show very dim lights, so I assume this means the repair I did at the electronics shop of replacing the R15 resistor on the main board (W10515058) with that new 150 Ohm/0.5watt resistor didn't actually fix that board.

Before I buy a new W10515058 board on Amazon, can any of the pros here let me know if they think there's something wrong with the resistor fix I got the electronics shop to do, and if there's anything I should try first before buying a new W10515058 board?

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed in this thread it has been so valuable!

[karthur]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

I had the same issue with the dim lights in the fridge and freezer. I was going to do the "log-on-Bob" fix but was able to find the WS10515058 board (the one in the fridge) for about $25 (new). My board had a burned R15 resistor and since I did not have any to use there, I just bought a new board. When I put the new board in, the lights were still dim. From what I had learned by reading this thread and looking at the schematic, I was able to find that the board in the freezer actually had a bad LED (this is what probably caused the board in the fridge to pop).
So I ordered a new board for the freezer also (WS10515057) for about $12. Installed it and the lights work perfectly now.

Question now is for how long will the new boards last. Thanks to everyone that posted here.

[bluto]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Confirmed and solved.

I repaired mine this way also.

Thanks @port443 and @slim jim for posting your successes. I had the first post in the thread updated to include your posts to help future visitors coming here looking for a solution.

[slim jim]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Confirmed and solved.

My board had burnt-looking R15 with board lacquer damaged on top of it.
Board needs 320+ degrees Celsius of iron temperature to melt the lacquer.

Soldered 150 Ohm 1/2 W huge resistor in place of that bugger: there's a lot of space available around.

Looking at all discussion, it looks like a design mistake: the wattage of resistor was not calculated right.

I repaired mine this way also. My original R15 chip resistor was scorched but not blown. One end had broken free. The old resistor checked 135 ohms.

The light fade-on effect is absent, possibly because I used a 150 ohm resistor instead of 135.

Thanks port443.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

They probably thought, hey, it's a fridge, it's going to be on for just seconds at a time and it's always going to be cold, we'll get away with these very undersized parts... They forgot to factor in the very high thermal resistance of SMD parts most likely. Had those resistors been thru-hole they would have likely gotten away with 0.25W ones as their body is larger and rounder which gives better heat dissipation in the surrounding air than a flat SMD.

[port443]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Confirmed and solved.

My board had burnt-looking R15 with board lacquer damaged on top of it.
Board needs 320+ degrees Celsius of iron temperature to melt the lacquer.

Soldered 150 Ohm 1/2 W huge resistor in place of that bugger: there's a lot of space available around.

Looking at all discussion, it looks like a design mistake: the wattage of resistor was not calculated right.

[bluto]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

It might work. However the long term solution is to figure out how to fit a 120v led bulb into the space. I used one like this:

https://www.menards.com/main/electri...765-c-7482.htm

The lower fridge light and freezer light are in series so they only get half the voltage and are thus fairly dim. But it does not bother me in the least especially since I didn't have to pay $$$ for OEM parts that are going to fail again in 3.5 years.

[Mychance]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Hi all ! I now get a disco night each time I open my WP fridge and I am looking for a simple fix. I have read lots of inputs on the subject but very few conclusive answers. I am quite illiterate in electronics but I know how to solder components. SO, can someone give a DEFINITE answer about if soldering a 137 ohms resistors on R15 would actually solve the problem?

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Please post some pictures of the boards front and back

[Edge-hope]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Yes, in series. I am going to try to upload the Master Driving LED circuit, we shall see if it can be read. This is only helpful if the plan is to do new lights.

This is what this non-expert gets from this, so with a grain of salt. . All LED's in series.

Module on the right, label = LED AC Input. That is my Top Refer light, J1 is the wide plug, Yellow & White/Tan . This will show 118v AC across PIN 1&5, there is no 2,3 or 4. with the Door Switch Open.

J2 - Red & Yellow/Red in series with Red going though the Crisper Light and it say LED DC TOP but that should be the Freeze Side light so through that and back up to the Refer side as Yellow/Red.

Again, since plugging only the J1 Connector to the board and the LED's on just that upper Refer light will not come on then I would assume all LED's are in series and the rest is done on the circuit board.

I searched for the schematic diagram of the module (W10515058) for a long time, but I haven't found it.
Can you help me? Thank you very much.

[redwire]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

I'm guessing an LED first fails, which then causes the resistor R15 to burn up. The three boards total 12 LED's in series, so any one bad LED kills the entire string.

LED's fail - flickering, cutting out with low or high temperature, intermittent or just dead. Look for "the black dot of death" or any discolouration in the LED's face, they should be just yellowish tinted epoxy with no dark blotches. You have to eyeball all three boards. In the video the guy mentions the main fridge board is brighter than the other two boards?

I can't see the PCB traces and connections, Q3 etc to see what R15 is doing or even how the power supply works. With an open LED there is no load on the power supply so it must jump up in voltage too high and cook R15. So far bad capacitors have not been the problem.

[rlc]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

My 5 and half year old fridge LED started flashing.

This what I have done / observed,

Removed and visually inspected AC board. The only thing I noticed was that only one digit of R15's resistor code was visible, as the conformal coating was discoloured

Left the board outside the fridge, for a week, and then reinstalled. It worked properly, no flashing. Tried again, an hour latter and flashing returned.

Following day, decided to see how long the LEDs would flash for, and after about 20 flashes they stayed on. Tried again and after 4 flashes the LEDs stayed on. Tried again and the LED came on without any flashing.

I'm thinking that there is a thermally sensitive component on the board.

All LEDs in the three boards light up and appear to have the same brightness.


I don't believe just replacing R15 is a reasonable fix, It will fail again unless the component that is causing it to over heat is identified and also replaced.

[rlc]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Redwire, thanks for the response and information.

You confirmed my suspicions, I did not like the fact that the base of Q3 was shorted to ground.

R19 code is 78A, so looks like 634 Ohms.

I don't know how much credence to apply to the information in the video that indicated Q2 has the markings “ON P2F”, which a google search identifies as a PNP transistor. Since the PCB board markings for Q2 is “Q” I assume it is a transistor or possibly a MOSFET.

What type of pictures of the boards are you interested in?

I was thinking part of the functionality of the partial circuit identified in the video was to provide a gradual start up or fade in, but then the resistor values did not seem to make sense for a reasonable RC value.

Will do a separate post outlining the behaviour of my LEDs.

[redwire]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

His schematic is out to lunch. Sigh. There seems to be a curse on these Whirlpool LED boards because nobody can draw a schematic. The white solder-mask and conformal-coating makes it difficult. No decent photos of the boards. Sigh.

Whirlpool LED AC Unit W10515058 is a 120VAC to about 42VDC LED power supply (not mains isolated) with constant-current regulation. I'll bet it has a voltage-limiter which is why R15 burns up after an LED fails and goes open-circuit.

R15 - 137 ohms 1206 (gets hot and burns up)
R16 - 22.1 ohms 1206
R17 - 91 ohms 1206
R19 - ? ohms 0805
R20 - 2.2k ohms 0805

There is no shunt resistor that would give the ~121mA he measured. The power board has an opto-coupler for current feedback, but not sure what the circuit is.

I can't believe how hard it is to troubleshoot and how expensive the boards are.

[rlc]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Hi Folks,

I saw a video in YouTube where the guy shares a partial diagram of these boards at around 40": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdgzfOHSlxk

It has the details of some specific components.

I hope it helps.
Luiz

Thanks for posting the link to the video.

I don't think the circuit diagram shown in the video is an accurate representation of the LED driver circuit. At the end of the video you can see that 123mA of current flowing out of the "AC Board". This amount of current a reasonable amount of current to drive 1/2 Watt LEDs, but excessive for R15 a 1/8 Watt resistor. The maximum current through R15 should be 30 mA.