LED lights in my 2008 refrigerator failed to light up, and after reading some "service technicians" on justanswer.com, I got fed up with the conversations between the techs and the poor soul working on their refrigerator. All the techs wanted to do was "throw parts" at the problem, always beginning with the most expensive part - Guesswork is for troubleshooting, doesn't anyone remember the science fair in school? Hypothesis is the guess, then you must prove the hypothesis or disprove.
That being said, I'll get off my soap box and provide a small fix for this problem.
The LED array is supposed to work even when the refrigerator is turned OFF.
UNPLUG THE REFRIGERATOR.
I formulated my own testing from this manual I searched and found online. Some "random human" put it online, probably a former tech mad at GE so I won't link you to it. If you want it, GOOGLE search the last model number on the page (PGSS5PJXSS) and PDF. Click the link that has [pdf] in front of the link.
If you can't find it, either it's gone or you didn't search it correctly --- which you probably don't want to go any further because getting to the annoying parts in this machine is hell in a hand-basket. I already want to beat the designer with a metal rod for being so evil.
My REFRIGERATOR LED array stopped working. The door display still worked, the water worked, the alarm worked. With that being said, it was NOT the switches (like people try and make you buy), it was NOT the control board (like the justanswer techs keep pushing people to buy). THEY BOTH WERE OBVIOUSLY WORKING!!!
After unplugging the refrigerator, pull it away from the wall, unscrew the screws holding the cardboard cover on the back. Put the screws back in the holes so you don't lose them, just finger tighten them in a little but. Lay the dusty nasty cardboard thing aside. You will need to reinstall it, but please, dust it off before reinstallation.
Find the two plugs for the transformer. The transformer is all the way in the back of the leftmost side. It is behind the water valves. Unplug the harness with the three wires (orange-purple-green) and pull it forward. Next unplug the harness with two wires (orange blue) and pull it forward.
The three-wire harness comes FROM the refrigerator switches. It GIVES 110VAC when the door is open.
The two-wire harness goes TO the LED light array. It NEEDS 36VDC.
Arrange four 9-volt batteries as pictured, take two lead wires and insert them into the plug end going to the LED (the blue-orange wire you unplugged and brought forward). Open the refrigerator, then connect the lead wire on the orange wire to the exposed positive battery terminal and then connect the lead wire on the blue wire to the exposed negative battery terminal. If the lights in the refrigerator light up, close the refrigerator door. If not, remove the light panel and test the panel directly with the batteries. If the light works, then the blue and orange wires are bad. If the light array does not work then the light array is bad.
If your light works then you need to test the input from the switches.
You will need a multimeter and THE REFRIGERATOR PLUGGED IN for the next test.
Before you plug in the refrigerator, take your multimeter (turn it on), turn it to ACV (AC Voltage), put your test leads in the holes for the two (orange and purple) wires (of the HARNESS coming FROM the refrigerator), MAKE SURE nothing is in the way or touching something that may become a problem, then PLUG THE REFRIGERATOR IN. Open the door, the meter should read 110, close the door, it will go low or to nothing.
UNPLUG THE REFRIGERATOR!!!!!!
If you got a reading of 110V AC from the refrigerator with the door open, then the transformer assembly is the problem.
If you did not get 110V AC on your meter, then check your switches. Also, if your switches are bad, the water would NOT be working and the display on the front would NOT be working.
You may or may not have a fuse. My fuse was intact. The fuse is actually useless, probably the reason they eliminated it in the current replacement part [image at the end of this blog post]. You have to remove the bracket assembly to get to the fuse (or raise the refrigerator to get the fuse from the bottom). I don't have a work table to put this behemoth refrigerator on to access from the underside, so I removed the bracket.
(See why the designer should be flogged?)
Yeah, it is up the butthole of the refrigerator. Behind the water valves.
***WARNING*** NO ONE SAID THIS IN ANY FORUM, BUT I WILL:
The copper tube in the picture is part of the compressor. DO NOT HIT IT, BEND IT OR TRY TO MOVE IT!!! It will damage your compressor if you do!!! It is something HVAC technicians do for acid in the refrigerant lines, why it is in the way is just another evil thing the designer did to make a simple job hard. We must work around it. That is the only way.
The transformer is behind this tube, I connected several 1/4" screw driver extensions and one 1/4" nut-driver with a magnet on the end to remove the screws. There are THREE screws not two (as the manual says). One is hidden on the bottom.
The red and white wires on the valve I unplugged, the hoses leak water when you move the valve out of the way. The bracket is held on by a 1/4' hex head screw (as is the transformer bracket). You DO NOT need to disconnect the water lines! They will pivot in place, gently move it to the side. They stop leaking when you stop moving them. Don't manhandle them. If you do disconnect the hoses, there is a priming procedure in the manual. I did not want to venture into another job on top of this so I did not read into it, I just worked around the hoses.
When the transformer bracket is loose, you will be able to carefully maneuver the bracket over and above the copper tube I warned you about earlier, just carefully maneuver it out of the hole. You will raise the existing harnesses out of the way or unplug them. You can't go wrong plugging them back in, none are similar. The only two that are similar are the red and white ones on the water valve (the red goes to red, and white goes to blue).
Now that the transformer bracket is out. Check the fuse (if you have one). If it is bad, replace it. I would not go through the trouble of reinstalling the transformer without testing, so you can plug everything else back in place and leave the transformer outside the hole and connect it to the two harnesses you pulled aside earlier. Make sure nothing is in the way, then plug in the refrigerator and test the lights... If they work, then go through the trouble of reinstalling the bracket. If the lights dont work then the transformer bracket is faulty. Unplug it again, and leave the two harnesses forward like in this picture.
(You can plug your refrigerator back in to use it while you do the next steps.)
To reiterate: The small 2-wire harness goes directly to the light fixture. The 3-wire harness is coming from the refrigerator 110V AC --only-- when a door is opened.
OPTIONAL: TESTING THE TRANSFORMER:
I tested the transformer with 110V AC from this cord. On the transformer: Purple is Neutral-white, Orange is Hot-black. No need to use the Ground-green for this test. The output from the transformer was zero. The rectifier (which converts the transformer output - 24VAC to 36VDC) may still be good, so I will keep it in my box-o-junk for a future project.
The transformer specs are listed on the transformer -- if you are one of those people who wish to replace just the transformer, knock yourself out! I believe it can be done with a (same spec) doorbell transformer, but I have no desire to put the contraption back in that hell hole so I'm altering the deal. Pray, I don't alter it any further. Bwahahaha. Evil laugh.
MY MODIFICATION
I decided to use a 110V-AC to 36V-DC power supply.
To make my modification a Plug-and-Play setup, I cut the harness off the transformer bracket assembly.
I attached a female barrel connector onto the end I cut from the rectifier board. Paying attention to polarity, my setup is: orange = positive, blue = negative. My barrel connector on the power supply is: center positive.
I attached a female AC cord end to the green, black and white wires (black to gold screw - white to silver screw). I cut the eyelet off the green wire and stripped it, I chose to mount this wire to the plug instead of screwing it to another ground point.
**I chose to use a 3 pole socket ONLY because the particular power supply I purchased uses a 3 pole plug. I could have purchased a two pole power supply, but they cost more, and were direct connections (splice) so no plug needed in that case - so if you choose a two-pole variety, you would just screw the green wire to an existing ground point (as seen on the upper right, in this image).
I then plugged the harnesses back into the refrigerator harnesses I left accessible.
I temporarily plugged an LED under-cabinet light into the AC plug until my power supply arrives. Now when I open the door, the light comes on, when I close it, it goes off.
When the power supply arrived, I plugged it in.
I hung it off the back so I could get to it if there were another failure. I don't want this item anywhere near the water valves, so being outside the refrigerator is fine.
Now I have replaced the infernal costly transformer assembly with a different less expensive style that does the same job with the same specs.
My fix: $17.00 ($13.00 for the power supply, $4.00 for the barrel connector and the AC cord female end.)
A new transformer assembly: $150.00
If the power supply fails before the refrigerator fails, it will be a painless and inexpensive replacement.
