HELP! I need a computer person or electrician person

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
You just need a wall transformer of the appropriate voltage. 10 to 14 volts should do it. The voltage doesn't need to be exact to run a motor. The amp rating of the transformer just needs to be larger than that of the fan rating. A 12 volt, 1 amp transformer will run a fan rated at .10 amps just fine, as will a .5 amp transformer, or a 10 amp transformer, but the 10 amp transformer would be larger and more expensive...

Home Depot will not have what you want. You want something out of a box of old junk that looks like this photo. It needs to have a rating around 12 volts DC and an amp rating larger than .10. Cut the plug off the end, separate the wires, and wire them to your fan.

 

[Akane]

If you accidentally had less power going to the fan you wouldn't harm it. It just wouldn't spin or would spin slower. I played with running some off 12v batteries and other low power sources. Should you try that you can't wire multiple 9v batteries in series to a computer fan. They have to be wired in parallel or it will quit working after about a day depending how many batteries you use. Phone chargers usually work and I used a couple adapters from regular phones and answering machines with success. You can't wire computer fans in series to a larger power source either. I thought I'd wire 2 5v laptop fans to one power source since I had several extra from a laptop that died and no desktop fans. It fried the fans in order. Most of the time if you wire them backward they just spin in reverse but I suppose some would fail to work. No harm should come to the fan though.

Even if you fried your fan do you need it? I have 2 still air incubators that hatch fine (occasionally 100%) without fans so unless you have a large incubator or design that doesn't heat evenly at all you may not even do any harm to your eggs. At minimum they should be able to survive a few days. Adjust the temperature so the thermometer on the eggs holds 99-102F, group them in the same area to lessen temperature differences, and if you have lots of eggs rotate them. My still airs can be up to 6F different from on top of the eggs in the middle to on the mesh at the edge so you do have to take that in to account and rotate the eggs if you have lots of them but it's entirely possible to hatch successfully and on time under those conditions.

For the future you can get desktop fans for as cheap as $1 off newegg.com.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
You just need a wall transformer of the appropriate voltage. 10 to 14 volts should do it. The voltage doesn't need to be exact to run a motor. The amp rating of the transformer just needs to be larger than that of the fan rating. A 12 volt, 1 amp transformer will run a fan rated at .10 amps just fine, as will a .5 amp transformer, or a 10 amp transformer, but the 10 amp transformer would be larger and more expensive...

Home Depot will not have what you want. You want something out of a box of old junk that looks like this photo. It needs to have a rating around 12 volts DC and an amp rating larger than .10. Cut the plug off the end, separate the wires, and wire them to your fan.

http://www.guitartechnician.com/images/wall-wart.jpg

If the amps dont' matter, how'd i fry the first fan? the voltage was either 12V or 6V.

The transformer i have found is labeled:
Input: 120V AC 260mA; Output = 7.2 DC 1650mA.

Will this power the fans and not fry them?

Thanks all for the help!

Rosco

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I'm not so sure what happened to your first one. If the amperage meter went to 12 amps on the battery charger, the wires were either shorted or the fan shorted. The battery charger didn't force 12 amps into the device, something happened at the device to cause a 12 amp load on the battery charger. Battery chargers make poor power supplies, they are fairly unregulated and put out around 15 volts to charge a 12 volt battery. It's possible the higher voltage caused your fan to fail, but since you said you were moving things around when this happened, it's more than likely that you shorted the wires which caused the battery charger to blow a fuse or trip its breaker.

That transformer should work fine, although at 7.2 volts the fan will run more slowly than at 12 volts.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
I'm not so sure what happened to your first one. If the amperage meter went to 12 amps on the battery charger, the wires were either shorted or the fan shorted. The battery charger didn't force 12 amps into the device, something happened at the device to cause a 12 amp load on the battery charger. Battery chargers make poor power supplies, they are fairly unregulated and put out around 15 volts to charge a 12 volt battery. It's possible the higher voltage caused your fan to fail, but since you said you were moving things around when this happened, it's more than likely that you shorted the wires which caused the battery charger to blow a fuse or trip its breaker.

That transformer should work fine, although at 7.2 volts the fan will run more slowly than at 12 volts.

Kewl. i'll double check with robin in the AM to make sure it can be sacrificed.

Hey, check out my home page in about an hour (1:30AM or later). you'll recognize the emblem on the side of the cooler.

thx, rosco

 

[Mac in Wisco]

If it's something you don't want to cut you may be able to make the connection at the plug and tape things in place. Bend a loop in one wire of your fan and insert it into the tip. Wrap the other wire around the outside shell of the tip. Make sure the two wires aren't shorted and tape everything in place.

 

[rosco]

here is the darn charger:

 

[geosheets]

I'm starting to feel like a real junk collector... I bet I have 40 old transformers in a box in my closet. I throw the electronics away when they quit or are no longer needed but always keep the transformers. Funny thing is, I bet I scrounge through that box once a month looking for one for some sort of project.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
Mac,
Thank you for the advice. I followed the above instructions and fan is working. i actually have two small fans in the incubator now. one is still on battery and one is on transformer. the fan is making about twice the noise though. if this isn't a problem, i'll let it go for a day before putting the other fan on the transformer.

Thanks tons!
Rosco
ps, you left abline and are now in wisconsin? are you texan or have you simply lived here?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Yeah, typical car charger. Don't use that as a 12 volt power supply. It puts out more than 12 volts.

12 volts @ 2 amps and 12 volts @ 6 amps are actually two different voltage settings. To get the battery to pull more current and charge faster it just puts more voltage to it.