HELP! I need a computer person or electrician person

[rosco]

i had a computer fan working off of a car battery charger.

now it is not working

i moved the fan while it was powered and possible moved the switch from 12V/6A to say 12V/2A or 6V/6A.

did i fry the fan? is it possible to fix it? new one at best buy is $10 or so

any help is greatly appreciated. the eggs i've saved are about one week old. i wont' get fertile ones anymore. the laying hens saw the last of a rooster about 2.5 weeks ago

THX!

Rosco

 

[farmboydj]

yes you fried it you need to take an old 12v power plugin and splice the ends together from the fan to power adapter have you tried tiger direct or Walmart for a fan let me know if that helps good luck

 

[muddstopper]

I wouldnt be so quick to say you fried your fan. Have you tried switching the charger back to 12V to see if that fixes the problem. Most computer fans are made to run at a varible speed. The varible speed is cause by changes in the power supplied to the fan. If you switched the charger to just 6v, the fan should have just ran slower. . My suggestion is to get rid of the batter chargery and go with a regular power supply. You can pickup a 110vac to 12dc transformer at Radioshack for about $5 and make a power supply on the cheap, but if you are afraid to play with electricity, I would just hunt a wallwart in the correct power ranges you need. One really good place to find surplus Wallwarts would be at any of your local motels. They usually have a box full of phone and computer chargers that have been left behind by their guests. Everytime I forget my phone charger, I just rundown to the frontdesk and ask to rumble thru their box of chargers until I find one that will fit my phone. I have also gotten free laptop computer power supplies this way. Computer fans generally run on 12dc @0.6 +/- amps. You can also go to SurplusCenter.com https://www.surpluscenter.com/sort.asp?UID=2009120614170801&catname=electric&keyword=EBFA and order a 110vac fan for around $7.95, of course they will hit you for about $10 in shipping. I just ordered 2 for my incubators. This way you can get rid of the batterycharger altogether.

 

[jenjscott]

I have one and if you put the wires on the wrong lead it won't run, it took me a while the first time it happened to me to figure out what was up, but polarity matters.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
Muddstoper,
this is excellent information and a great secret. Hotels/motels are an excellent place for phone chargers and laptop power supply cables. This never crossed my mind.

Would it be possible to take an old phone charger and run the fan? The fan is probably fried but i'll have a new one in a few days from a linux friend.

Thanks for the awesome info!

rosco

 

[rosco]

Quote:
Famboydj,

i think you may have answered the question i just posed to Muddstopper. can i take an old phone charger and do what your suggesting?

the fan i had runs off 0.10A. the car battery charger was putting out 12A. either there was a surge when i moved the fan or i accidentally switched the setting to 12v/2A or 6v/6A.

Thanks, Rosco

 

[rosco]

Quote:
Jenscott,
yeah, i the poles were matched. it was the amperage that was 10 or 100x's too great.

i hope the phone chareger idea the other two guys suggested works. this would be awesome. we've tons of old chargers

Thanks,
Rosco

 

[muddstopper]

I just checked a couple of phone charger I had to see what the voltage they put out is. Both where 5v@850ma. These might run your computer fan, but the speed would be decreased by at least half. My laptop adapter is a [email protected], again, this might run your fan, but could burn it out. I really think your best bet would be to contact Surplus center ( the link I posted above) and just buy one of their $7.99 110V fans and eliminate the need for a power converter.

 

[geosheets]

Quote:
Jenscott,
yeah, i the poles were matched. it was the amperage that was 10 or 100x's too great.

i hope the phone chareger idea the other two guys suggested works. this would be awesome. we've tons of old chargers

Thanks,
Rosco

The amperage of the power supply really shouldn't matter... unless it is underpowered which is not the issue here. Any chance you touched the positive and negative together? You may have damaged your power supply or blown a fuse (if the power supply is equipped with a fuse) if the two wires were touched together.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
i snagged two fans for under $5 before i read your post. no matter. this thing needs to start working very soon or never. the eggs are getting old and no more rooster.

If i understood an earlier post i can get a very cheap transformer to take 110V to 12V? the amps will be in the range of 0.10V as indicated on the fans themselves?

I went ot Home Depot near our house. the people working there weren't familiar with the transformer i'd need. It is my aim to return there with the description and part number, etc and purchase the transformer.

Thanks for all the help!

Rosco