Dumpster Diving? Not really...

So I dropped by the cardboard recycling dumpsters at the local walmart today on the way home from cleaning out the old apartment the rest of the way. After dumping the boxes and flipping a turn to get to the other side of walmart (needed Rockstar drinks), I saw something next to a randoms dumpster close to the recycle area.

I slowed down and looked to see what it was, thinking I was looking at a mini-fridge. On the front: "Haier"... Yup. I checked it out, noticing the box to a brand new mini fridge in the dumpster. There was a partial bottle of Lipton iced tea inside. Interesting. There was also condensation inside, making me think the fridge had recently been used. I loaded it in the car without giving it a second thought.

Upon arriving home, I plugged it in. Nothing. I felt the compressor and it was crazy hot from the sun. I decided to let it cool while looking at the hardware connected to it. It had two pieces of gear on it: A Klixon thermal protector and some strange module. I pulled the Klixon, thinking it was the problem. It clicked. Well, thermal protect was off now. Test again. Still no go.

What was the strange module? It had a number on it: p6r8mc. I looked it up and saw it was a starter. Compressor won't start without it. One datasheet later, I saw that I could disassemble it. I used a knife blade to pop the clip off. Inside, it was obvious what the problem was. One side of the PTC pill was fine, but the other was burned badly. The contact was also fried.

I scraped the oxidation off of the contact and put the starter back together with the contact on a small patch of still-functioning PTC plating. With the assembly back in place, I plugged the fridge back in to hear the compressor start back up. I had diagnosed the issue. Would the jerry rig hold? Nope.

I need to get a new starter. Not so easy, but if I can't find one, I will be able to build a circuit to perform the same function while using the original starter case as the connector for it.

Fragwell Manor needs a mini fridge for snacks. The thermo-electric one I had before the move died. It wasn't that great, anyway. This one will get cold under any ambient temperature condition and even has a freezer in it. And, it's bigger. This one will hold a lot more than 36 cans of soda.

To whomever left it behind (probably an RV traveler, from the look of things) , thank you.