There are four wires in the harness from my Kenmore/Sears freezer #56676 to my ice maker: black, white, brown, and green.
I presume that two of these provide power to the motor and heater and another must energize the solenoiod to fill the ice maker. Can someone match the color code to the function and tell me the purpose of the fourth wire?
This is probably a whirlpool The black is hot, controlled by the photocell if the icemaker is on the door. White is neutral and brown goes back to the valve to turn on the water.
This guy has the best site I have found for icemakers but finding your way around it can be tedious
I measured 108 VAC between black and white. I was hoping that I would be able to turn on the fill solenoid by shorting black to brown but nothing happens, not even a click. Is there something wrong with this approach?
A water line goes into the back of the refrigerator for the dispenser in the door. It must also go to the ice filling solenoid. Do you know where this is located? Do you typically need to remove the back to get to it?
Can I test the solenoid by stripping a power cord, plugging it in, and touching the bare ends to the contacts? Or will that blow out the coil? (I'm pretty confident that I can do this without accidently shorting out the power cord and tripping a breaker.)
There is usually a wiring diagram wadded up in the corner of the fridge in front behind the kick plate. The solenoid is in back behind the cover
Is this one with the ice maker actually on the door and a photocel that detects the ice level? That is in series with the 120v as is the freezer door switch on most of them. You may still see some phantom voltage on the leads if you have a digital meter so the 108 is probably not real. Yes you can disconnect the leads on the solenoid and hit it with 120v ... be very careful if you go this way. Look at the FAQ on that page fopr some tips. If you have the new style whirlpool maker you can jumper 2 pins and force a cycle (down around 4 and 5 o'clock on the wheel)
First of all I noticed on my refrigerator that the solenoids don't make much noise, almost none.
If you want to check the solenoid for your ice maker and you have a water dispenser that works on the front of your refrigerator, swap the two electrical connectors on the solenoid. Now you can use the paddle that normally controls the water dispenser to switch the ice maker solenoid. Remove the ice maker end of the water line and put it in a bucket, push the water dispenser paddle, and check to see if water is being dispensed into the bucket.
Don't forget to swap the electrical connectors back and reattach the ice maker water line when you're finished with the test.
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