Whynter SNO WC-28S Wine Cooler

[chadth]

I take delivery of a Whynter SNO WC-28S Wine Cooler tomorrow and was curious if anyone else has converted this specific model to a wine-a-dor. I am specifically looking for any information regarding fine tuning the temperature control system, how the system handles condensation, and how effective the built in fan is.

Thanks,
-Chad

 

[Dave]

I have the same winecooler. It works for the most part, but be wary of certain things.

The display temp in front is inaccurate by as many as 5F at the top to 9F at the bottom.

The condensation doesn't build up as much, being thermoelectric and all, but finding a way to keep the humidity in is a problem. Mine is stable at 58RH-60RH with 1 and a half LB of heartfelt beads.

I'm looking into getting a Johnson controller to stop the cooler from running constantly. The fan runs well enough, and it keeps the insides cool (or maybe my house is just too damn hot in the summer time)

 

[chadth]

I have the same winecooler. It works for the most part, but be wary of certain things.

The display temp in front is inaccurate by as many as 5F at the top to 9F at the bottom.

The condensation doesn't build up as much, being thermoelectric and all, but finding a way to keep the humidity in is a problem. Mine is stable at 58RH-60RH with 1 and a half LB of heartfelt beads.

I'm looking into getting a Johnson controller to stop the cooler from running constantly. The fan runs well enough, and it keeps the insides cool (or maybe my house is just too damn hot in the summer time)

Thanks for the reply Dave. I hope to have a more complete post about everything I have found out and will be doing to this thing but thought I would share what I know so far.

The cooling is relative to the ambient temperature. According to documentation, the thermostat is calibrated based on an ambient temperature of 77 degrees. As such, I have also ordered an analog johnson controls thermostat to ensure I can control things a bit better.

I pulled the back apart and poked around at the circuit board some. The board will take another fan which may be handy. I will be putting a meter on the posts in the next few days to identify what voltage it is and when the circuit is activated. If I am lucky, it will take a standard 12v computer case fan and connector and not require any modification.

The condensation, as you likely know, drains into a tray on the back side of the unit. The exhaust/hot air fans blow down on the tray to evaporate the water. I am going to do one of two thing. Either I am going to try and build and retrofit internal tray with a hose that drains to my beads or use the existing drain and redirect it before it gets to the tray in the back. The latter will require me to drill and patch things so I am hoping I can just retrofit something.

Overall the thing appears to seal well and should hold good humidity after the drain is plugged. I should know more in the coming week as I am still trying to get the plastic smell out of the thing and ensure it functions properly after its journey.

-Chad

 

[chadth]

I finally had a chance to hook up a meter to the circuit board and the empty slot is in fact 12v. It is powered when the fridge cools and finding a brushless 2 wire computer case fan should be pretty easy. The hard part would be around running the wires assuming you didn't want to drill holes.

I also unplugged the single wire connection labeled "temp. adj." in hopes it would cause the fridge to always cool so my Johnson Control thermostat would stop fighting the internal thermostat but no luck. It appears it doesn't turn on without it plugged in. If anyone has some info around whats going on here, I would appreciate it.