KitchenAid Refrigerator KRMF706ESS01 completely dead - power supply board?

[Egertk]

Model Number

KRMF706ESS01

Brand

KitchenAid

Age

1-5 years

This fridge has had a string of issues, inside of warranty the inverter went out, then outside of the warranty the freezer LEDs and upper LEDs in the fridge went out. The evaporator coils ice over frequently and I need to force the defrost cycle to run. I ordered a new power supply board and main board last year and have been waiting to install both at the same time but the main board is still on back-order. Then this afternoon I went and opened the fridge, everything was on and lit up and then poof... everything went dead.

Very similar to this experience:

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I have a 3-year old Kitchen Aid KRMF706ESS01 5-Door refrigerator that has completely died - no lights, no compressor, no fans, no display panel. One day as I had the door open and loading food into the refrigerator section, it simply died. Leading up to this complete and total failure, the...

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I tried unplugging the LED control board, no change. I've tested for voltage at the power supply board and the main board. Both have 120V but all of the 12V outputs are cycling on and off between 0 and at most 3V. When you put your head near the board it almost sounds like there's the muffled sound of water dripping inside of the fridge when it's plugged in. I can't tell if it's a component on the power supply board (I don't think I saw any relays there?) or if it's just the sound of that quick voltage spike making the evaporator fan want to think about turning. I tried swapping to the brand new still in box power supply board, but still no change.

The inverter is blinking that it's not getting any DC voltage, which checks with my readings off the power supply board. I can't tell if the issue is that the power supply board is faulting out somehow and not able to output DC power or if it's starting to power up the system (doesn't seem like it would be possible with <3VDC) and sensing a short or a fault somewhere via the main board and the main board is telling it to reset?
Pretty done with this fridge at this point, hopefully somebody has some sage wisdom here!
Thanks in advance.

 

[Jake]

It does sound like the main control board is the problem or the power cord.

Yes, these threads below deal with this issue.

FIXED - Kitchen Aid KRMF706ESS01 5-Door Refrigerator Completely Dead

I have a 3-year old Kitchen Aid KRMF706ESS01 5-Door refrigerator that has completely died - no lights, no compressor, no fans, no display panel. One day as I had the door open and loading food into the refrigerator section, it simply died. Leading up to this complete and total failure, the...

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Here's our main thread on this problem, follow exactly what Rick says to do:

FIXED - KitchenAid Refrigerator KRMF706ESS01 - No response - No power

Hi all. I have relatively new KRMF706ESS01 (2.5 years). It has had intermittent ice making issues and I have had to power cycle the unit before to get the ice maker going. 4 days ago it quit making ice completely, even with a power cycle. I decided I would remove the ice maker and let it...

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Also ohm test the power cord per what Rick said here:
The power cord connects to P1-1 and P1-2. Unplug the machine and check for continuity between the L1 side of the plug (smaller end) to P1-1 and the neutral side of the plug (larger end) to P1-2

Here's the main control board for your model:
WPW10675033


Jake

 

[Egertk]

Thanks, that second post the initial poster had the exact problem that I have but the solution suggested was to replace the power module which I've done and that didn't work. The second part of that thread the person seemed to at least have 12vdc out of pins 1-8 on the power supply board. Where as I have intermittent power. I'll test the cord when I get home. All the 120v test points on the board tested good though.

 

[Egertk]

Continuity on the cord checks out.

 

[Egertk]

I started checking all the capacitors on the power supply board. I'm not getting any reading whatsoever off C4 on both the original board and the new replacement from repair clinic. I have a hard time believing I'd be shipped a board that was bad... So there must be something causing that capacitor to fail? But what?

 

[Jake]

I'm not getting any reading whatsoever off C4 on both the original board and the new replacement

Yes, that is going to be extremely difficult to pinpoint what is causing that capacitor to fail, as there is no board schematic for the components on the board.

Jake

 

[Egertk]

An update: I replaced the capacitor on the power supply module, fridge powers back on, back to no upper LED lights or freezer light working. I took readings on the aurora LED board, seems like the DC voltages on the P2 connector are variable, like from 0.5V to 12V, the included paperwork doesn't list expected voltages for those four pins, can anybody verify if that's expected? I pulled the upper LEDs, looks like two of those are burnt out, looks like they're 3030 bright white LED chips, will see if I can find some for cheap or just replace the whole assembly.

 

[Jake]

P1-1 to P1-4 on the Aurora board should be 12.7 Volts DC.

I'm attaching your tech. data sheet below.

The freezer LED is in series with the TOP refrigerator LED's. So I'd replace the freezer LED first and see if that makes them all come back ON again.

Look at post #17 here:

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The service bulletin explains about the FREEZER LED, if its out the TOP REFRIGERATOR LED's will not come on either. And you mentioned your FREEZER LED was also out?

Here's the FREEZER LED for your model: W10695459

Let us know how it goes.

Jake

 

[Egertk]

Thanks for the PDF copy of the tech data sheet, that's nicer to deal with than the paper copy when I'm sitting at my computer!

I pulled the freezer LED as well, it's dead. So the freezer LED and two of the upper fridge LEDs are all dead. LEDs don't usually burn out like that for no reason, so I suspect there's something with that aurora board as well.

 

[Egertk]

Also the voltages I'm wondering about are P2-1 to P2-2 and P2-3 to P2-4. The shelf lighting output and fill tube heater freezer FC IM. Thanks!

 

[Jake]

Just replace the Freezer LED and the rest should light up, remember they run in series.

Jake

 

[Egertk]

Like I mentioned above, two of the upper compartment lights also tested bad. I've got a new set on order. (I was testing each individual diode with a DMM)
Still wondering about the voltages from P2-1 to P2-2 and P2-3 to P2-4. Since there must be something up with the fridge that cause that capacitor on the power module board to blow on two separate boards.

 

[Jake]

I've not run into this problem, so I have no idea of why this is happening, sorry. The tech. data sheet I posted above should have the voltage readings from those P2 Pins listed.

Hopefully another tech or member can shed some light on this, if not contact KitchenAid at 1-800-422-1230 to come out and see what's going on.

Jake