The defrost cycling is done by the motherboard and defrosts much more efficiently that the old timers and is more energy efficient. The defrost cycle comes on on some regular times every 6,8, or 10 hours for less than 30 minutes at a time. The thermostat is on snapped to the coils and turns off at around 140-160 and the original ones are not reliable and are cheap, replace it as preventative maintenance. The defrost cycling keeps the coils from EVER icing up so that is why it will not recover if you just remove the ice from the coils and close it up hoping for the best.

This is for the serious DIYer animal.
In my case the thermostat tested bad but not open, the defrost coil looked ratty so I replaced it along with the thermostat. I have a background in electronics and I had initially looked over the board. I was leaving on vacation the night it broke so I waited a week and knew the refrigerator would be fine for a week.

I did not have a good feeling that I nailed the real problem the repair because I did not find a solid failure and replacing the defrost items was preventative maintenance, hoping it would do the trick.  I was sure I would be replacing the main board in a week. Sure as heck, 5 days later, the freezer temp rose and froze up again. I knew all was good in the freezer and food area, so I pulled the motherboard.

One thing that assisted me in troubleshooting and ultimately fixing the problem was my solid circuit board repair experience.  I removed the board to look for obvious burns and cold soldier joints under a bright light and magnifier. Your really looking for cold soldier connections, and burned or scored areas that are caused by high current running through them over the years.  Replacing the board would have solved all the problems so this is a labor of love to fix the board like I am going to explain going forward. These cold or burned selections can cause very erratic symptoms, causing you to come to more than one or erratic conclusions. Using a magnifier to look over the board will help determine if it is the board, or internal components, or both.  All symptoms pointed to the motherboard.

I found that one of the compressor relay leads had been darker and had been overheating due to poor or cold connections, which is typical, and this process disfigured part of the relay edge. After testing the relay toggle, it was not switching on one side, which was the side that fed the defrost relay. I then carefully sliced part of the relay case with a small hack saw and found that the heated part of the cover plastic kept the arm from swinging or switching, thus preventing it to supply electricity to the defrost coils. By exposing the relay cover caused the relay switch freely and  I was convinced at this point that I found the main and specific defrost / freezing problem up due to non-defrost cycles.

I cleaned up the board made some manual wire runs and soldiered up the relay, where it had burned. Note: You might be thinking it might be a fire hazard to repair a burned part but burning is common and fixable if it was a cold soldier connection. Also, as an added comfort, the motherboard has a in line fuse and the entire motherboard is completely encased in a metal box behind the refer so there is almost NO chance of fire or burning hazard.

I tested the relay with an external 12vdc and then put it all back together, turned the fridge on and went to bed. I woke up to a defrosted coil and now I know was successful. I made a small video. Why did I go to this much trouble. 1st off it would have ruined my Saturday hunting for parts and my patient wife would be bummed out with tools and refrigerator parts all over until I found the parts. They want $135-155 for the motherboard.

This general non-technical Background Information that may help you in any GE post 2002 model troubleshooting -

There are only 4 basic components to the refrigerator that will cause issues:

1. Defrost items, located in the freezer section and consist of,  the heating coils that measure around 21-30hms, the defrost thermostat that is always closed and opens around 160 degrees. Thermistor, the little white bullet that measures around 16k ohms.

2. Mother board that controls the defrost and everything else. The major amount of heat generated is associated with the compressor and defrost relays, clearly marked on the mother board. Test with the center AC in and the orange wire next to it, should read 21-30 ohms and ApplianceRepairIt.com has all the details.

3. Inside the food compartment, a common failure that looks like it might be a defrost issue is the top fan and damper door. If you get this out, the damper door opens when the food refer door is closed. If it is open when the door switch is activated, consider replacing it. It comes as a complete foam assembly.

4. Food compartment super cooling compartment. This is a fan and motor assembly that supplies super cool from the bottom of the freezer compartment feeding to the bottom of the food compartment. This is probably the last thing you should be concerned with if your refer is has general cooling and freezing issues. Symptoms are basically only isolated to the bottom chiller drawer.

Refer to this site for more in-depth info. ApplianceRepairIt.com

Below are a few pictures and videos that might help.

I was cleaning the boot and shifter area and pulled up on the shifter handle. It has always been loose and free to move up and down and I never thought much about it. Needless to say the dealership recommended that the shifter sometimes gets messed up and the handle and shifter assembly needs to be replaced as a pair. Cost around $600 for the part only. My guess is labor is around $200. If you do not have good mechanical skills, take it to the dealer to have it fixed over your local repair person as the dealer does it all day long and they know how to work with this specific breakage.

I think this should be a recall because the screw had come loose and it does not have any locketight and it should. Imagine how bad it would be to be driving along and then not being able to shift or to put it in park and remove your keys.

I figured I did not have anything to lose so as a DIY’er. You need to be careful. I could not find any pictures, sketches blow-ups, service manual that would help me so I had to figure it out and pass it to others so they can learn be able to fix and save a lot of money.

The refrigerator was about 9 years plus old. It would Ice up after a few weeks. It appeared to be cooling well but I suspected that it was not performing regular defrosting

The refrigerator also had a torn seal in the base of the main food area on the door and my friend thought that might be causing the Freezer coils to completely ice up and stop cooling after a few weeks, depending on how many times they opened it.

I knew a good deal about appliance repair but I wanted to do some research prior to jumping in. To my surprise, at Appliance 411, I found an article that was by far the most comprehensive general refrigerator article I had read in a long time. http://www.appliance411.com/faq/howdefrostworks.shtml

My experience suspected the defrost timer being stuck or slow or both. If it stops it can the refer from ever defrosting then it will eventually ice up. The defrost cycle consists of glass and coiled heaters that heat up the coils in the Freezer section to keep it from icing up.

I pulled the Defrost Timer out which is located IN the main food area or the right compartment inside on top. It as a smaller defrost timer, unlike the older bulkier more unreliable ones of the past so I started to rule that out just as a hunch.

Then I turned to the Freezer section and removed the 4 cooling coil cover screws against the back of the freezer compartment, exposing the coils and the 2 defrost heaters that are setting at the top and the bottom of the cooling coils encased in metal protection.

When troubleshooting,  I was taught was to always make visual inspections of parts and in general. Look for something burnt, broken, out of place, unsymmetrical.

I looked at the upper glass covered heating coils and it looked clean and ok, but the lower one was not the same and the glass was discolored, look burnt.  If you know how to use a continuity tester to test for a complete circuit, you can test both tubes by unplugging the plug with the Blue Orange and pink wires. or remove each heater and test each one for very very low resistance, like under 5 ohms. You are looking for an open and any reading under 10 ohms will be ok.

Don’t forget the small button thermostat that controls the defrost coils from coming on and off. Nothing will work if that does not close and complete the connection to defrost. The way to test them is push the button into a glass of ice chips and wait 4-5 minutes. If it works it will turn on and complete the connection of the two wires Orange and Pink and you can pretty much rule out that.

So, in this case I unscrewed the lower heating element to get a better, more physical look at it. The coil was broken inside which make me             100% certain I found the issue.

The two coils and the thermostats come as a set and the part number is WR51X0372 replaced by new part number of WR51X443. They are $65 from sears parts distribution center and close to $100 anywhere else. Go here and get the model number on the lower right side of the right door, not on the door but facing you on the frame. http://www.searspartsdirect.com Search by model number and part number. You can find a local store or order it online.
Here are some helpful photos.

Tip – If your freezer seal is not closing well, depending on the age and flexibility, I have seen great success if you take a powerful hair dryer and heat the area that is pressed in and pull it out gently as you heat it. Let it cool and then close the door. It usually does the trick.

The Freezer door not closing properly and the ice dispenser round auto shut door not closing completely can produce similar symptoms of icing or frosting up.

Good luck

* Battery Life – This all came after replacing 2 sets of batteries in less than 2 weeks. I have been involved in electronics for most of my life and was just mystified why the folks at Delta offered a battery solution without an Optional adapter. I think the battery adapter should have been included with the faucet and charged a few bucks more.  Marketers are always looking for ways to get extended sales and this is a no brainier to offer it as a must have accessory for $30-50. Everyone would buy it.

What you need to do - You are only going to replace the battery pack with a permanent low voltage wall unit. I did not want to wait around for Delta to figure it out, which could be months or never.  Dead batteries on a faucet at anytime is a real bummer.  BTW – Save the battery pack unless you have a power outage, then you can still have running water during the outage.

Quick Fix Solution – If you do not want to mess with wires and testing stuff, I found a universal adapter that will has the plug adapter that comes with it. Radio Shack did not have any adapters with the old style 9 volt plug, which is what they used for this faucet. Really…. it should have been USB.

You will have to order the adapter. When you get it, set it for 6-10 volt range. Start at 6 but i think that you will have to go to the next range to be sure. I spent a long time searching on the net for an adapter that will just plug-in and here it is Quick Fix Adapter, purchased it on Amazon, I could not get the direct link from amazon, and it is under $20 bucks. Perform a search on the following:

Name -Axis-Universal-Adapter

Model number – dp/B0018BMPS

Cost $7.87 + Shipping
Note that One side of the Delta Battery pack is marked as Positive or + .  Your adapter has a polarity changer switch which makes it nice. You can plug in the adapter and switch or polarity changer at the end of the cord.  It will work in one way  and not in the other.

Reader update – This is what they found – Cables Unlimited AUD-6000 Universal AC/DC Power Adapter (Black)” Searching for “AUD-6000″ will find the one you need.

Note: The Delta Faucet is protected from backwards wiring or incorrect polarity, so it will not hurt the faucet electronics for brief periods of being hooked up backwards.  I tested it to be certain.  Make sure you do not leave the adapter plugged into the faucet when it does not work, you could harm it. If it does not work in either position, you probably have to bump up the power selection to the next one. You may have to tap both the spout or the hot cold handle to get the faucet reset itself and start functioning properly.

Geek Speak - My fix was an easy one. I just found an old adapter 7.5 Volt 200ma adapter and wired it directly in. You will need a volt meter to determine the correct polarity of the adapter and connect it to the faucet system.  It is all low voltage coming out of the wires, and as long as your adapter is plugged safely in the wall, there is no potential for getting shocked. (The only time that could potentially happen if the under-cabinet springs a leak but that will happen with or without the adapter.)
DIY’ers – Video Instruction Here

So for you geeks that need to figure out why it does not work, read on. For the simple user

I looked around for the most universal adapter that most can get hold of and found one at Radio Shack.

The battery pack is a 6V battery pack (4 at 1.5 Volts C Cell batteries). I tested faucet module that the battery pack attaches to and found the following specs.

2-26-2010 UPADATE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT USE A 9 VOLT OR HIGHER TRANSFORMER, YOUR FAUCET WILL WORK IRRATICALLY…LIKE COMING ON BY ITSELF CHATTERING ON AND OFF.

The Delta Faucet runs on: 6-10 Volt DC
Draw: 10-50 milliamps

At rest not turned on the system draws 10ma (milliamps, a form of current drain or flow) (so there is a minute but continuous drain on your batteries, hence, lose the batteries).

When you turn on the water you draw between 20-30ma, and higher up to 50ma when you turn it on and off rapidly.

The smallest adapter that is made by Radio Shack is a 500-1,000ma one at selected voltages. Cut the adapter wire and strip the ends and connect it to the faucet system and your done.

Radio Shack Recommended Power Adapter

Video -

Here are some important tips the installation.

* Hose Installation - Make sure you insert the hose into the correct end of the spout. Also,  You must put the plastic guide piece in the end of the hose (it only fits on one end. The correct side is the opposite side with the free spinning ring on it). If you insert the free spinning ring into the either end of the spout, it will not come out and you have to call the factory. They will tell you that it is not covered under warranty and you should just return it to the place where you bought it.  It is really retarded.

* Spout Wire - If your looking for the wire hanging out of the copper threaded area of the spout, don’t worry, it is there and I found it pushed up inside as far as it can go. You have to carefully fish for it.

* Take your time * – I know, all you professional DIY’ers, this is not typical install. Plan, read the instructions, and read carefully. The install instructions are marginal, but ok if you have some experience.  The average plumber, paid by the hour will be challenged.  If your going hire a plumber or installer, make sure it is someone who has had experience in at least a few installations of this particular brand of faucet or you will pay for his learning time.

Delta Product Information for this Model

They do not make it easy to find the phone number for Delta on the instructions so here it is – 800 345-3358

We finally turned a corner and got the plumbing and drains done, ready for the electical.

See the photos here….

Here is a link to our progress. The beam is up and in!!

Most of our water and drain pipes are rerouted.

Last night was nasty when I cut the drain I got metal shaving dust in my nose and had to flush it. It felt like my sinus was on fire. I am good today.

You can check out the last 4-5 photos at this link with a small video.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hbsurfdawg/200987ElCostaGmaRemodel#

See all our family photos at – http://picasaweb.google.com/hbsurfdawg

There are so many things to consider when tackling a moving remodel. You need to know your stuff and have some good friends in the trades. Tools at this point are important to have.

We started with replacing the cabinets and then they moved to updating the drains, getting that shower and bathroom on the first floor for our mother-in-law that lives with us can grow into a major project. Luckily, I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing and surround myself with some friends and other professionals in the business.

Lance Bell is a friend that knows everything about everything and is a great source of help and extremely knowledgable.

Craig Belmont is a long-time Contractor friend that does great work and has engineering knowledge that keeps me doing work by the city codes.
David Coleman, Gayle’s Brother is a Licensed Contractor and Fine Cabinet Maker by trade, and a very talented carpenter. He is cautious, neat, and very capable of just about anything you through at him. It is a pleasure working side-by-side with him as he is easy going and very meticulous about all he does. Today, we finished digging the footings for the beam that will be added to the ceiling so we can remove some of the wall and open up the kitchen-dinning room. Dave is designing cabinets for the kitchen and dining room. It looks like it will be very nice and just what Gayle, my wife, will like.

We are doing our best to stay in budget so that is why we are keeping it in the family.

Stay tuned and see some of the photos from Sunday August 6 and today,
Labor Day Work Photos 2009.