Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

[rgriggs]

My (rather involved) fix for Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Hi, the issue is not loose connections or bad LEDs but a bad power supply. Most likely a bad capacitor or other regulation which prevents the supply from starting up in a stable state. I think it's part of the "fade-in" circuitry, but the oscillator is not stably starting.

For my fridge (Whirlpool) I removed the board from the main LED unit (top of fridge) and replaced it with a small 120VAC to 12VDC power supply. Then I removed the four chip LEDs from the original board and soldered them to some perfboard, two in series, along with a 150 ohm resistor for each series. At 12VDC, this provides about the right current limiting for the desired brightness.

Photos





Then I soldered the J2 connector on and connected the 12VDC to it.

Finally, I removed the other two LED boards and did the following:

1. Cut trace between middle two LEDs as shown: (they are all connected in series; we want two sets of two in series.)

2. Remove U11 diode as shown



2. Inserted two 150 ohm resistors as shown (these can be inserted directly into the vias as shown - but be careful to solder them well, or they will cold-joint.



With these being done, the entire setup is powered by 12VDC using the existing wiring.

[pkfridges]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Circuit may be having loose connections.

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

That is funny, I thought you meant tape it shut permanently, not just while you were working on it

Excellent Dave.

[Dave125]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

That is funny, I thought you meant tape it shut permanently, not just while you were working on it

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Why do you need to tape the door switch closed?

Dave

I suggest since you don't know why to tape the switch while you are working on the wiring, is to Unplug the Refer from the wall if you plan on doing this yourself.

Or do you know anyone familiar with basic wiring? I for one would like to see still around to see the new lights.

The Red/yellow wires on the Top Light Wide Plug are 120V , same as straight out of the wall socket.

[Dave125]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Why do you need to tape the door switch closed?

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Pic 3 Bench Testing - unfortunately you can't in the picture see much difference but there is. Full 120v is hard to look at and if you look at Pic 1 you can see all the individual LED's, at 120v you can't but in Series and Half the Voltage you can see the LED's but It's still pretty bight. About 6 hours now and they have not burned out so lower voltage may be OK. FYI - 120v Bulb gets to uncomfortable to hang onto for very long, the other two are just Warm.

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

OK, I am done for now though I might experiment later adding the lower Refer light. I choose to just go with a Top Refer and the Freezer light. I am running a test on the Bench with Two Lights in series off the Top Refer. Have about four hours run time so far, so that should be months of opening and closing the doors.

I taped the Door Switch closed. Keep in mind both doors are in series so open one turns on all. If you are not comfortable, unplug the Refer or at your own risk.

1. All four Connectors were snipped off the wires stripped back.
2. Lower two refer light wires attached together with a simple Wire Nut. This completes the circuit ( once the bulbs are in ) Top light through the Freezer and back to the Top.

3. On the Bench ( pic 1 ) I found some Insulated Female Quick Disconnects in my junk drawer. Fry's carries them or Ebay. If you only have the un-insulated then electrical tape or heat shrink tube, I wouldn't leave them open.
As mentioned, I couldn't solder direct the bulbs. Butt connector worked but these will allow you to plug a new bulb down the road easily or, Maybe an actual G9 socket MIGHT fit, I don't know.
So on the bench, the connectors were not as tight as I would like, so simply squeezing one side ( one side is all that fits ) of the connector with pliers did the trick, you want it very firm.

4. Freeze side, I just left the Female connector on the bulb while crimping the wires. These connectors happened to be 14-16 gauge, I had to extra squeeze with a large pair of pliers, pull test on the wire and I could feel it not so secure with just the crimper.

5. NOTE: Unplug or Tape the door switch ---- Top light Refer, now you have to join ( see Bluto's diagram #60 ) the two 120v wires to the other two circuit wires. This makes the Top Light 120v and very bright and the lower & Freezer in Series at half voltage, still bright.

There you go,, oh another tip, I had to use a flashlight while connecting and crimping..:-)

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Bluto

Exactly... I had to go but that was the next plan to test. Now, on the bench I did test Top light direct so 120v. tapped in 2 more lights in series. These lights say Non-dimming but they worked without any flicker. Voltage across either of those two bulbs was 53.9v so a bit less but close to what Ohms law says. That was as far as I got...

Still pretty bright, no where as bright as the single light but to my surprise, still a Daylight White. The single light is too bright to look at until it is put away fully installed in the holder, then it's fine. This should be just fine OK but what I don't know is will those two fail shortly being supplied half their rated voltage. I plan to test both ways as the diagram and all three with two in series. Since I now have 6 bulbs, if 2 burn out no biggie or if I want more light in the Freezer I can go with just the two and 120v in the freezer.

I sure didn't feel that more light is really needed low on the Refer side but we will see, I will put up some pics later.

[bluto]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

That's a good idea. You could eliminate the lower fridge light, clip its connector and splice those two wires together. Then you feed 120v on to the output connector at the upper fridge light and get 120v across the 2 wires in the freezer. 2 good lights is better than 3 flickering lights.

Added a schematic:

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

nice, and the light turns off with the door switch?

and if I understand correctly, the new fridge light means no lights in the lower fridge or freezer? (I'm ok with that as it is better than the strobe light I currently have)

Hey Dave

Trouble posting on my tablet, more this Sat. when I return. The Door Switch works just fine. I have only connected the top light so far. The Freezer light will be a must but may give up the lower refer light due to the wiring being in series rather thatn in parellel

[Dave125]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

nice, and the light turns off with the door switch?

and if I understand correctly, the new fridge light means no lights in the lower fridge or freezer? (I'm ok with that as it is better than the strobe light I currently have)

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Two new pics same time of the day, 35W 3000K and the new 40W 5000K

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Ok, the lights in the above post #54 arrived today. I exchanged the 35W 3000K that I could live with but, this 40W 5000K is it. 5000K is described as Daylight and both the wife and I like these better.

I pulled for the first time the existing lower Refer and Freezer lights. Popped out the circuit boards. I was hoping the top pair of Red-Red/Yellow was going to the lower light and then a second pair to the Freezer, not going to happen. It is wired in series as we thought so the Red/Yellow goes to the Freezer, then a Grey wire goes to the lower Refer and the Red goes up to the Top Refer light. With the wires built in, not so sure and other wires can be pulled through just yet.

The lights claim their operating voltage is 110-130v A/c No problem for the Top light but in series the Freezer and Lower Refer if in series would be in theory near half 118v. I plan to bench test 2 lights in series but I have to go away til this Saturday.

Will advise how it went then... sorry.

[Dave125]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Thanks for the picture above, that helps. Though I may wait to see how this develops further

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Ok, after a lot of procrastinating I pulled the trigger on Amazon. 6 pcs for $ 14.99 delv'd this Tuesday. Could got em cheaper on Ebay but delivery was Mid Oct to Nov or bad reviews or a multiple of reasons and I have been taking too long so... We shall see how it goes. Plan is to Wire in Parallel for even brightness. Stepped up a bit to 40W and 5000K. Like I said, the 35W 3000K I can live with, but want to go a bit more Daylight White.

https://www.amazon.com/Equivalent-Da...ustomerReviews

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

But Sam, that module runs on DC, you need a separate Driver for it plus it says Blinding White that you can't even look at, well at some angle but that top light is right in your face when you open the door. But sure, advise how it works out.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

since posting early on this thread I gave up on repair and put a 120v replacement led in as I see now a few others have done. It's a friends fridge that I haven't seen so I ignored anything with the freezer side because idk what kind of insulation goes to the freezer. I made a whip for the 120v to connect this $8 lamp from home depot. only problem imo maybe it gets hot,185f, if left on for long periods but it shouldn't be a problem inside the fridge. Bonus it's rated for damp locations

You might have a look at this module it is very bright the one down side is that at 50 volts it gets very warm very fast which means that you do need a heat sink

https://www.goldmine-elec-products.c...?number=G24031

I just bought 6 of them

[fanplant]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

since posting early on this thread I gave up on repair and put a 120v replacement led in as I see now a few others have done. It's a friends fridge that I haven't seen so I ignored anything with the freezer side because idk what kind of insulation goes to the freezer. I made a whip for the 120v to connect this $8 lamp from home depot. only problem imo maybe it gets hot,185f, if left on for long periods but it shouldn't be a problem inside the fridge. Bonus it's rated for damp locations

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Ele...783759%7D%3Aqu

[Log_on_Bob]

Re: Whirlpool Refrigerator LED lights flickering

Hey Dave

Thought I would post a pic of just the top light so far.