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Wire Piercing Probes in Action - Locating breaks in Whirlpool SxS Lower Hinge Wiring

Rhubarb Tau

Entry posted by Rhubarb Tau in Wiring Repair

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I put this in a Dojo post, but thought I might just post it to my just-created Appliantology blog to make it easier to find

I made a video the other day on a callback for broken lower hinge wiring on a Kitchenaid SxS. Earlier in the week I had spliced all of the breaks I could find, found two wires with multiple breaks along their length, some concealed inside unbroken insulation, advised the customer that it was a temporary fix, and was relieved when the icemaker finally passed its harvest test. 

Unfortunately, I didn't test the auger motor, and spaced the fact that the auger motor wiring runs through the same harness under the hinge. Turns out there was another concealed break in the blue wire (DC to the auger motor), and I made this short 4min video (poorly) showing the process of locating and splicing the concealed break.

BTW, the probes in the video are from AES Wave, their "uSignalTap" wire piercing probes. I've only had them about a month, but so far I'm very impressed, the best ones I've tried, so far at least

https://www.aeswave.com/uSignalTap-Wire-Piercing-Probe-Red-p10423.html

https://www.aeswave.com/uSignalTap-Wire-Piercing-Probe-Black-p10424.html

Also, fwiw it sounds like Whirlpool is finally facing a class action lawsuit for this issue, linked below the video:

 

 

https://www.classaction.org/news/certain-whirlpool-maytag-kitchenaid-kenmore-fridges-plagued-by-wiring-defect-lawsuit-says

Edited by Rhubarb Tau
Added probe info

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Captain Dunsel

Captain Dunsel

Posted

This is a great video!

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Rhubarb Tau

Rhubarb Tau

Posted

Just a quick followup after daily-driving these bad boys for a few months. Eh.

About a month ago, I started getting weird excessive and intermittent resistance on one or both. It varied so much, and I didn't sit down to systematically test to see which one (red or black) was acting up. They still worked fine for 120VAC measurements, but low VDC or resistance measurements got pretty janky

Today, I killed the red one for good, donezo. I was testing a cold ctrl. on a Whirlpool SxS. I saw that I had 120VAC across the cold ctrl set to the coldest setting with a warm box, so 100% bad cold ctrl. To save a few seconds, to jump it out, I left the piercing probes in and just jumped the two together with a banana plug. 

I momentarily saw a bright flash inside the red plastic, then it went open-circuit. I know using piecing probes to handle compressor starting current is asking a lot, but I know for certain I've done this before with other piercing probes I've used, and never had a problem. 

I may do a postmortem on the red probe to see where the magic smoke escaped. Might be interesting to open up the black one too. Put that on the TODO list

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vallen513

vallen513

Posted (edited)

I tried to splice wires in on these before.  Won't do that again. They get too much movement to make a reliable fix. Also takes too much time for a patch job. Just live with limited functionality or get a new fridge.  Get one with wiring through the top hinge. 

 

As far as using the probes, excellent video. 

Edited by vallen513
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bowhunter

bowhunter

Posted

I have had several of these and “repaired” 2. Very poor design and the repair won’t last. Whirlpool doesn’t leave enough slack in the wiring to have anything to work with. The ones I did repair broke right up close to where the wires go up into the door.

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Mrs. Samurai

Mrs. Samurai

Posted

  • Team Samurai

Hi @Rhubarb Tau - someone wrote in asking for the brand/model of your wire strippers. 🙂

Rhubarb Tau

Rhubarb Tau

Posted

Agreed, the repair isn't going to last. I've considered making a better repair, taking the door off for better access, splicing in a more flexible silicone wire for the entire length that flexes, then tucking the splices or solder joints up into the cavity above the door hinge, but I haven't done that yet.

Thank you to @Samurai Appliance Repair Man, @Son of Samurai, and @Mrs. Samurai for featuring the video! I appreciate it!

@Mrs. Samurai the wire strippers are Knipex p/n 12 62 180, linked below. I've experimented with quite a few automatic wire strippers, and so far I think these are my favorite

https://www.knipex-tools.com/products/wire-strippers-and-dismantling-tools/automatic-wire-strippers/automatic-wire-stripper-mm2/1262180

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