The ware for June 2012 was the control board from a GE PSC23SGPA-SS refrigerator. The part number of the control board is EBX1005G01 / REV N, made by Delphi electronics.
The control board was extracted from a fridge that failed. On the backside, one can see at least part of the cause of failure.
This is the solder joint from one of the larger relays. The joint had failed catastrophically, splattering bits of solder around the board. Replacing the board restored the fridge’s functionality.
All the comments about the complexity of the fridge controller board reminds me of Marvin from the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to…mind the fridge. Maybe the controller board committed suicide out of boredom.
The winner of last June’s competition is nrp. The link provided is to this exact model of board, but with a different revision. Congrats, email me for your prize!
Forgive me for being dumb: If the solder joint failed I’m assuming you could just re-solder it? I’m guessing the surrounding components had a LOT of current going through them and probably fried as well – and the effort necessary to troubleshoot the failure wasn’t comparable to the price of a new board?
Not my ware…I suppose the guy who originally took it out could have done that. I’m just the one taking the photos :)
As I commented in the original thread, that’s exactly what I did with mine – I resoldered the relay, and replaced a burnt power resistor with something with more power dissipation (the board lives in a little mostly-insulated pocket in the back of the fridge, so power dissipating components need to be derated). I didn’t have the appropriate resistor in stock, so I made one up with a series-parallel combination of resistors I did have. After that fix, the board has worked for several years.
I am having the same problem with my GE fridge, could you tell me what you did to replace the resister? I am having trouble locating one and dont have the money to replace the whole board.