So after reading for weeks and planning everything i finally bit the bullet and bought a wine fridge.
As im from Austria and the used market was pretty slim or for really high end fridges, i was lucky that the model i wanted (
Klarstein Barolo 15) was on sale on ebay and i got it for around 160 Euros (well probably ill even get 20% back because the door was misaligned and thats what they offered me if i dont want to return it)
Anyways, as the unit was new and i wanted to keep my warranty i was looking for ways to get the job done without having to make a hole in it. Also it was kinda hard to tell where you could put a hole in it without damaging it or hitting the coolant. Luckily i was able to do it and maybe for some people in the german market or somebody looking at the same model it might be a useful guide.
This is how the unit looked new. I started to strip everything away and started to look for some ways inside. On the next picture (i didnt do a before picture) you can see the place where i was able to pull through 2 sturdier cables and the Inkbird sensor (i did it the other way around, i removed the sensor case, because the connector there is smaller then on the Inkbird unit itself)
The 2 others cables were already there (guess for the fan?) and thats why i decided to try it there.
First i had to remove the screws from the back plate inside the fridge as you can see here
I just unscrewed the 4 outer screws and the 4 in the middle are the ones that the heat sink is connected to. After that i was able to move the whole heat sink in the back a little bit inside to make space for my cables and the sensor.
This step is probably best done with another person! There is kind of a sweet spot, where the cable or sensor fit through but you can just push it in a little bit, because the angle you're holding the heat sink doesnt allow to move it further.
After you got the cables and sensor to a point where they don't move further in, you can move the heat sink a little bit again to make space for the cables and sensor.
When you get "stuck" again, move the heat sink a little bit and push/pull the cables again. Its a balance game but sooner or later you will have the cables inside.
As the sensor cable was too soft i connected it to my sturdier cable which was already pushed through and pulled them together inside of the fridge. And again, trust me, if you have somebody who can help you, let them it will be much easier and faster.
So with everything in place i connected the dehumidfier (still tryin to figure out what to do with the cables, that was just for testing purposes)
On the back side i just put my cables and the sensor cable next to the 2 cables that where already there, pulled them through the black plastic housing (funily, there was already a whole on the left bottom corner (maybe they use it for the bigger unit too) where i could pull my power cables and sensor through and then i connected everything in the back.
I also cut the power cord from the dehumidifier and made a direct connection to my cables so i dont have a long cable bouncing around and beeing in the way. Inside the black housing there was also enough space where i could "roll up" the sensor cable and hide it inside.
The inkbird unit is the perfect size where you dont need any adhesive or anything else to hold it in place, no matter what side you "squeeze" it in.
I used the "right" side for it, because its opposite from opening the door.
In this case you always have this side facing outwards so if you dont have the wifi version, you can have a quick glance through the grills on the side and see your RH.
For the inkbird power connector i used double sided tape and thats about it. I screwed everything back together and even the grill had space which i didnt really think it would. Here is another before and after and honestly it turned out much better than expected.
Im definately gonna make it "prettier" inside before i use it, but im very happy how the back turned out with everything in place.
I hope i was clear enough as english isnt my main language, but if anybody has question or is german speaking and needs advice with this model, just shoot me a pm or ill try to answer here.
And a big f**** shout out and thank you to you hook daddy for doing all this work and testing. Without you, nobody would be here today!
