Electrical gurus

I was wondering if I could get some help from you guys on a littl eproject I want to do...I have a small fan that runs on 4 AA batteries, and I want to convert it to electrical power by splicing a DC power adapter into it...First, Can I even do this, and second, if I take the guts aprt and show you guys the wiring inside, would you be able to help me out?



Thanks!

When I was a kid I just used to solder the DC adapter wires to the battery terminals. (Better to add an inline fuse though)

Yes, You can do it and it should be pretty easy.

I can definately help you. DO you want this ASAP, or can it be done while I am up there in 2 weeks?

It should be a 15 minute job... max.

Dude said:

I was wondering if I could get some help from you guys on a littl eproject I want to do...I have a small fan that runs on 4 AA batteries, and I want to convert it to electrical power by splicing a DC power adapter into it...First, Can I even do this, and second, if I take the guts apart and show you guys the wiring inside, would you be able to help me out?



Thanks!

Click to expand...

Walker-san said:

Yes, You can do it and it should be pretty easy.

I can definately help you. DO you want this ASAP, or can it be done while I am up there in 2 weeks?

It should be a 15 minute job... max.

Click to expand...

We can do it in 2 weeks. Awesome bro! Thanks! Do I need to buy an inline fuse?

Yup Walker the EE can definitely handle it. Just make sure your adapter has an output of six volts and you're good to go. If you don't have one you can buy universal adapters relatively cheap. What's it for, just out of curiosity?

EDIT the inline fuse wouldn't hurt, but you need to know the amperage required of the fuse first. Might want to let Walker tell you that when he gets there. Get the fuseholder ahead of time and then you can put the fuse in anytime.

If you can hold off till Walker-San is in the area, it would be your best bet. It's very simple to do; but it's a little hard to explain on a forum. Just pick up this adapter in advance if you want to wait for Walker-San.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...&cp=2032056.2032136.2032153&parentPage=family

Bernie Brewer said:

Yup Walker the EE can definitely handle it.

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How do you know? Is he bringing a couple techs along so he can tell them what to do without risking having to touch a soldering iron?

Chairman Cheyco said:

How do you know? Is he bringing a couple techs along so he can tell them what to do without risking having to touch a soldering iron?

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LOL I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, even though I did see the pics of his light-bulb heater for his fermentation fridge. (Just razzin' ya Walker!)

Hey, I've got some of Walker's work in my fermentation fridge keeping my Doppelbock from freezing...I'll vouch for his work as long as you're not shooting for a UL listing.

Baron von BeeGee said:

Hey, I've got some of Walker's work in my fermentation fridge keeping my Doppelbock from freezing...I'll vouch for his work as long as you're not shooting for a UL listing.

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Oh, I know it works, it just not exactly moisture proof....... I'm just giving you & him a hard time anyway...........

Cool....I already have a 6 volt adapter handy.

So what if I wanted to use a bigger fan that say, ran on 4 D batteries? Same voltage?

Thanks for the help everyone!

Depends on how the batteries are arranged. It could be only 3 volts if they are run series/parallel, which would be more likely. running them in parallel gives you a higher capacity, the battteries will last longer. Running in seies will bump up the voltage.
Running a 3 volt motor on 6 volts will increase the speed it runs. You'll burn out the motor quicker.

Check out Jemco for the WOT power supplies. You should be able to pick them up for under $5 as opposed to over $23 from ratshack. I know I was looking at somme 12V units that supplies over 500mA for less than 5 for my stir plates. Cheaper than I could build them for. Disapointing considering I have all the parts except for the transformer.

Dude said:

Cool....I already have a 6 volt adapter handy.

So what if I wanted to use a bigger fan that say, ran on 4 D batteries? Same voltage?

Thanks for the help everyone!

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Yes, it would be the same terminal voltage (1.5 volts per cell). The difference in the sizes of battery cells (AAA, AA, C, etc) has to do with capacity, measured in mA-h (milliampere-hours).

The voltage etc info will be stamped somewhere on the fan motor.

Bernie Brewer said:

Oh, I know it works, it just not exactly moisture proof....... I'm just giving you & him a hard time anyway...........

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This actually had me concerned when I put that together, but.... there isn't really much moisture inside my fermentation chamber so I didn't get too worked up about it.

I want to modify that thing and put the thermistor on a long line (and the bulb on a longer line) so that I can leave the thermostat on the outside of the fridge and just have the heat source and probe inside of it.

Cheyco said:

How do you know? Is he bringing a couple techs along so he can tell them what to do without risking having to touch a soldering iron?

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LOL! That actually reminds me of this guy I know, too....




Notice how clean he is, yet everyone else around him shows the signs of a hard day's work.

:rockin:

-walker

Walker-san said:

LOL! That actually reminds me of this guy I know, too....

Notice how clean he is, yet everyone else around him shows the signs of a hard day's work.



-walker

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You would understand if you ever had to touch pipe dope as part of you job...