Module Whirlpool vriezer vastgelopen?

is dit zo'n kast met een BLDC compressor erin? dan heb je lol, elektronica of compressor geeft ellende..

Er zijn wat procedures. Zo uit het hoofd.
1. steek stekker in (of laat eerst even stekker uit)
2. de 2 buitenste toetsen L:aan/uit R: eco night??
3. druk in L, R, L, R, L, R
4. zelftest is nu aan
5. exit: stekker uit of R toets 6 sec in

Zo dit is wel de grap van de eeuw. Nadat de vriezer even in zelftestmode is geweest lijkt alles weer te werken.

Betekent dit dat het vastlopen van de software geregeld terug kan komen, en dat de vriezer zijn temperatuur niet vasthoudt?

Hartelijk dank voor beide reacties!
Groeten Hendrik

Laat ons zeggen dat het niet meer is wat het geweest is. Deze types hebben veel problemen, helaas.

Het is zo aan het serienummer dat met 99 begint en het land van herkomst dat op Turkije begint en eindigt, een ingekocht model. Was dat een zakencontact van Indesit van voor de fusie?

Het is in ieder geval geen Whirlpool sticker. Het is een van na de vinger in de pap met brokken sticker.

Ik vermoed dat iemand met knopjes gespeeld heeft en kast in Demo mode heeft gezet. Dan werkt kast verder OK alleen zonder koeling!

Sorry for writing in English - and I know this is an old thread...

Did anyone manage to find a schematics for the circuit?
Our freezer turned unstable after just over 2 years. The generic technician dismissed it as a generally crappy freezer (I tend to agree!) but thought it was missing coolant.
However, after looking at the errors, it seemed like an electronics problem - and we got the circuit board changed by Whirlpool. But this only lasted ~3/4 year before the instability was back. I seriously suspect it to be a supply problem. The mishaps (freezer either just stopping or ending up in alarm mode) seems to be more often shortly after the door has been opened. I'm thinking turning on all the LEDs in the display might trigger either a bad switcher or bad decoupling (it's a 2-layer PCB with no fills) and insufficient brown-out protection/reset circuitry in the STM micro-controller.
When it fails, the only way we've found to get it running again is to disconnect mains for >30min. Made no sense to me initially, but it seems there's >2000µF capacitance on the supply (3.3V?). So this probably needs to drain before the micro-controller properly resets.

In any case, I'd say it's a design error. Does not seem like planned planned obsolescence - but I might be wrong. In any case, it's hard to be impressed by Whirlpool!

I'd love to see the schematics...
It puzzles me where they get the voltage to drive the relay (marked 12V) for the compressor. The electrolytic caps on the secondary side is only 6.3V and 10V ratings! :-O
But I guess the first step without it is to try measuring noise on the main supply (3.3V) in the "door open" transition. (The door seems to be detected through a Hall sensor (MAG701) directly under the "-" sign in the display (interacting with two magnets in the door).

It gets worse. They still sell these things

Beyond the obvious electronical issues there is a long list of mechanical problems.

Whirlpool had some great freezers in the past (+25y ago).

[Bericht gewijzigd door EricN op woensdag 19 februari 2025 21:24:50 (63%)]

Op woensdag 19 februari 2025 21:21:02 schreef EricN:
It gets worse. They still sell these things

You are kidding me?!
In any case, this might be terrible for the environment and the consumers (=Whirlpool has NOT fixed the presumed problems with the electronics).
Or it might indicate that they've found their engineering error! In that case "the rest of us" just need to find the solution...

In the selection between those two, it worries me that Whirlpool agreed to change the PCB in our freezer end of 2023. And at that point they obviously had not yet fixed anything...

I find it very strange that I can't find anything close to a service manual or a schematics! (=Purely evil strategy from Whirlpool imho.!)

There is a SM and a schematic of the electric but not of the PCB.

I don't know it's evil but it's sertainly dumb design.

[Bericht gewijzigd door EricN op woensdag 19 februari 2025 21:53:49 (31%)]

Op donderdag 3 december 2020 22:15:12 schreef Hendrik:
Zo dit is wel de grap van de eeuw. Nadat de vriezer even in zelftestmode is geweest lijkt alles weer te werken.

Betekent dit dat het vastlopen van de software geregeld terug kan komen, en dat de vriezer zijn temperatuur niet vasthoudt?

Hartelijk dank voor beide reacties!
Groeten Hendrik

I'm guessing this means the supply is causing errors in the micro-controller. And that the test mode reinitialize stuff. And I'm fairly confident that you might also leave the unit unplugged for >30min (seemingly the main 2*1000µF caps need discharging) and achieve the same (=a proper reset).
I think the only way to prevent the problems is to find the actual design error! My best bet is currently an unstable power supply. IF I find a problem, I will of course let you know...

Another thing, monitor the 3,3 VDC, I have it seen that the 3,3 V went down to 2,9 VDC and then the problems occured. The best is to install an proper regulator in front of the processor..

Another solution is to instal a digital thermostat from AE with defrost function, cost is not so much, like these: https://www.novusautomation.com/en/product/electronic-thermostats/n321…

Op donderdag 20 februari 2025 22:27:10 schreef smd:
Another thing, monitor the 3,3 VDC, I have it seen that the 3,3 V went down to 2,9 VDC and then the problems occured. The best is to install an proper regulator in front of the processor..

Thanks for the info! That's exactly what I expected - and probably when monitored with a scope, it will dip below the µC minimum voltage rating.
Unfortunately, it's not easy to exchange the entire switch mode supply (and safety needs to be considered). So I'd prefer to find the assumed error. In any case, it seems like a non-traditional design. Typically, there would be an optocoupler providing feedback from the secondary side to the switcher circuit. But I see no parts (beside the IC) with more than 3 pins mounted... It might be implemented with an extra transformer winding - but in any case, your findings indicate it's not properly designed! :-O

Op woensdag 19 februari 2025 21:53:05 schreef EricN:
There is a SM and a schematic of the electric but not of the PCB.

Eric, could you post or link to the SM and electrical diagram?
Before measuring, I'm still puzzled about the driver/power for the LED lighting and the "missing" electrolytic cap for a 12V supply driving the relay for the compressor...

Op donderdag 20 februari 2025 22:50:39 schreef Gnyff:
[...] it's not properly designed! :-O

Darn, I'd love to see both the schematics and the safety approval!
The PCB design engineer has put in a proper effort to keep the isolation distance between the mains and the low voltage circuitry. But the electronics designer (right now, I doubt it's actually an engineer!) has in a stroke of either divine ingenuity or evil stupidity seemingly decided to connect the mains live wire directly (via L103) to the electronics GND!!!
Right now I'm simply baffled! Guess this requires a revisit...

That's whirlpool design these days. Wait till you find out about the mechanical (build up) mishaps. Looooong list. So i stopt rescuing these blunders.

For files i need a mail adres. If you don't want to publicly show you email (or hidden in credentials here) like i do, make a temporary one in example gmail (takes 2 minutes). Currently under Indeshit platform so don't expect to much.

Op woensdag 19 februari 2025 21:02:09 schreef Gnyff:
Sorry for writing in English - and I know this is an old thread...

Did anyone manage to find a schematics for the circuit?
Our freezer turned unstable after just over 2 years. The generic technician dismissed it as a generally crappy freezer (I tend to agree!) but thought it was missing coolant.
However, after looking at the errors, it seemed like an electronics problem - and we got the circuit board changed by Whirlpool. But this only lasted ~3/4 year before the instability was back. I seriously suspect it to be a supply problem. The mishaps (freezer either just stopping or ending up in alarm mode) seems to be more often shortly after the door has been opened. I'm thinking turning on all the LEDs in the display might trigger either a bad switcher or bad decoupling (it's a 2-layer PCB with no fills) and insufficient brown-out protection/reset circuitry in the STM micro-controller.
When it fails, the only way we've found to get it running again is to disconnect mains for >30min. Made no sense to me initially, but it seems there's >2000µF capacitance on the supply (3.3V?). So this probably needs to drain before the micro-controller properly resets.

In any case, I'd say it's a design error. Does not seem like planned planned obsolescence - but I might be wrong. In any case, it's hard to be impressed by Whirlpool!

I'd love to see the schematics...
It puzzles me where they get the voltage to drive the relay (marked 12V) for the compressor. The electrolytic caps on the secondary side is only 6.3V and 10V ratings! :-O
But I guess the first step without it is to try measuring noise on the main supply (3.3V) in the "door open" transition. (The door seems to be detected through a Hall sensor (MAG701) directly under the "-" sign in the display (interacting with two magnets in the door).

Good morning all, since I suspected the power supply I changed 6 capacitors and mounted the PCB back in the fridge. I thought I solved the problem, but a few weeks ago the same problem occured again. I now temporarily bought another freezer but I still hope we can find the problem... When somebody has service information about this unit, I would also be happy to receive it to further investigate!

I also measured the voltage which should be around 12V for driving the relays. In my situation it only gives 8,4 volt, which is also curious. When the freezer starts having the problem (it keeps resetting every 5 seconds), in my situation it takes about 30 hrs with mains unconnected before the freezer can startup again...
Best regards Hendrik.

Hi All!
Just now, I've written to Whirlpool in Denmark. I simply can't see how they - with the wiring I see (especially CN7) - would be able to get a proper safety approval with mains directly on the micro controller etc...
So I expect, they will (at least legally) have to recall ALL the W104011686 rev.A R2412 circuit boards. Whether they find this to be overly expensive and dare to omit to "take proper action" is another question.
But for now, I'll wait for their answer and expect to get a free, updated and safe (!) replacement board as soon as they have it (judging from this thread alone, they should have made it already).

I/we might proceed and find the error in the supply design (I personally suspect, some non-engineer have made a version without the CN6 output and forgotten that the switcher feedback was dependent on this (presumed optocoupler footprints U601/602.))
But I have a bad feeling making the design "safe" won't be as easy as removing L103 (creepage distances will still be insufficient - but I worry more about stability). So initially, I'll try to force a recall. I'll let you know about how it goes - if I succeed, you should be able to do the same in Holland or where ever you are!

Best of luck to us all - hopefully Whirlpool will voluntarily "do the right thing"! Otherwise we'll take it from there (a bit more aggressive)...

If Whirlpool doesn't come with solution, then it is also an idea to built in a proper AC to DC power supply. These are quite tiny now or days and then problem is solved too.

Double post...

[Bericht gewijzigd door smd op zaterdag 22 februari 2025 18:55:11 (89%)]

I'm certainly not convinced there's a safety issue if the low voltage circuit is doubly insulated (5kV) from anything you can touch. Maybe they have made a design mistake causing a durability issue but good luck getting a recall for that....

Op zaterdag 22 februari 2025 23:03:16 schreef maartenbakker:
I'm certainly not convinced there's a safety issue if the low voltage circuit is doubly insulated (5kV) from anything you can touch. Maybe they have made a design mistake causing a durability issue but good luck getting a recall for that....

Agreed: They might be lucky that the non-400V rated wires are isolated from the users by dumb luck! Likewise for the NTCs and internal LED lights...

Op zaterdag 22 februari 2025 18:53:53 schreef smd:
If Whirlpool doesn't come with solution, then it is also an idea to built in a proper AC to DC power supply. These are quite tiny now or days and then problem is solved too.

It's a bit of guesswork to find without proper (power) specs, though?! And in any case (at least) two voltages are needed.
The good thing is that isolation could be "restored" with a new supply design. I'm still a bit nervous that the breach of isolation was done to remedy yet another design flaw?! It simply seems so irrational to do otherwise! :-O

My best bet would currently be to mount the missing circuitry around the unused CN6 output (as I'm guessing, the instability problems are caused by missing feedback. Which in a normal, isolated design would be achieved with an optocoupler). But of course that involves the work of drawing up a schematics of the current design...