How to test the ice maker and optics sytem in a Whirlpool / Kitchenaid Optical-Controlled In-Door Ice (IDI) system

First, some pearls of wisdom from Sublime Master Kurtiusinterupptus in the Samurai School of Appliantology:

1. Remove receiver board (right side) and insert wire into plug in black/black-white wire locations . This effectively bypasses the optics for test purposes. if you have no black/blk-white wires in the plug don’t panic, just chose the two wires beside the blank hole, not on the end.

2. test for voltage at the 4 wire harness plug, black to white and black to green…should have 120vac in both places. if not, inline fuse is open or wire is broken or separated in the liner. very bad and prolly not repairable (the broken wire not the fuse).

3. if voltage is present, hookup i/m and test at the points on the motor module head previously noted L and N…should have 120vac.

4. if voltage is present, install jumper between test points T and H…this should start the icemaker on a rotation if all the above outlined conditions are true. if it doesn’t, the motor on the module is bad. if it does start, reinstall i/m and wait till it fills and parks. remove jumpers and reinstall optics receiver. icemaker should work…if not, we have proven the icemaker assembly is good and the optics must be at fault, regardless of whether the light flashes are checking good or not.

And this enhancement from Grand Master appl.tech.29501:

The optics jumper wire cam remain until the cycle has completed.

The T & H jumper must be removed from the module once the cycle has started
if you listen closely at the beginning of the cycle you will hear the contacts in the module
“click” at about the 10 sec. mark its ok to remove the jumper at this point. I usually just
count to 12 and pull it out and the module should continue the harvest.

If you do not remove the T & H jumper and the cycle completes it will either blow
the new harness fuse or the module….

(click for larger view)