This model has the two french doors under which is a full-width drawer for cold cuts and drinks. Under that is the freezer. The light for the freezer is a strip with 3 LEDs under the middle drawer.
This light doesn’t turn on. The fridge is pretty new - no more than 2 years old. The door switch in the freezer feels solid. If I touch my fingers to the contacts on the LED board, the LEDs glow dimly so the LEDs appear to be working - I suspect the problem is further upstream. There is no other circuitry on the LED board.
I’m not inclined to just start replacing parts without some hint that I know where the problem is. Any suggestions as to how to diagnose?
UPDATE:
I swapped the freezer LED board for an identical one else where and it works fine, so it’s not the LED board. I pulled the freezer door switch and tested it with a voltmeter and it behaved as expected, so it’s not the switch.
I’m not sure where to turn next. Are schematics available?
Hey FlyingDave… did you ever figure out the problem with the freezer light, I have the same style of Samsung fridge (french doors, middle drawer, and freezer below) and my light has gone out as well. Looking for answers / possible solutions. Thanks!
I found this thread because I also have the same problem. Hopefully this will help anyone else that has the same issue. Check the manualslib.com site for a service manual for your Samsung model. The one I found for my RF28HMEDBBC model has a schematic and pictures of the main logic board which was very helpful.
I removed the board access panel on the rear of the refrigerator in order to perform some of my tests. Take extreme care if you do this. This exposes the 110V power line inputs and can cause electrical shock and danger of death or serious injury.
I verified both the freezer switch (tested continuity on the magnetic reed switch) and the LED board are working. The LED board was removed from the refrigerator and tested with a 12V DC source (voltage per the service manual). For my unit, the CN76 connector has pins 10 and 11 for the FZ Door Switch. The CN78 connector has pins 1 and 2 for the FZ Lamp. All are clearly labeled on the main logic board. Keep in mind other models could have different wiring. I verified that the CN connector pins 1 and 2 were outputting 12V when the freezer door is opened. The problem was with the wiring harness going from CN78 pin 1 to the LED board red wire. If I ran a jumper cable between these two connectors, the LED light would work. I still need to determine exactly where the failure is in the harness and will post back when I know more.
Update @ 2020-07-27: Indeed the DA96-00640A wiring harness had three broken wires. The cable runs along the right rail and must be prone to snagging when the flexzone door is used. It appears to be an issue other users encountered too. I found videos of people repairing the wires https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr2AThDz9GIand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AhmG0GkWXY. I too repaired the wires and wonder how long it will last before this happens again.