Author Topic: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.  (Read 1983 times)

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Offline worachj

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My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« on: June 10, 2022, 05:49:00 PM »
Seems like my 5-N-1's fan has stopped working after 62 months. I’m now getting daytime temps 12° above the actual temperature. I did notice that the fan was audibly pretty noisy when I walked by it last March. Also, when I did its yearly maintenance check last fall, I did noticed that the solar panels where whitish looking and maybe dying.

I’m going to have to take it down and try cleaning the solar panels and do a recheck on the fan. But I think it’s the fan that died. I don't plan on replacing it since I have a Atlas that's been working flawlessly(After fixing many problems) the last 15 months.

I guess its not too bad to get 62 months of usage out of it especially in my cold Minnesota climate.


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Offline worachj

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2022, 10:32:24 AM »
I found the following quote on the internet. I haven't tried to clear the plastic covering on my solar panels yet because I don't have Clear Nail Polish or Lacquer.

Any other suggestions to clear the my solar panels besides the above or soapy water?

Quote
Revamping Cloudy Plastic

Fix that cloudy plastic covering the solar cells by coating it with a thin layer of clear nail polish or a spray-on clear lacquer. These clear coatings render the plastic clear once again. Cover the areas surrounding the plastic -- either the housing for the cells or the lid of a light with a built-in solar panel -- with painter's tape before applying the chosen clear-coat material. Peel the tape away once the coating dries.
 


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Offline worachj

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2022, 10:41:55 AM »
I just got done taking down my station and examining it. Can't find any problems with the fan -- it just no longer works. I think its dead!

Found a suggestion to use tooth paste on the plastic coverings of car headlights and decided to try it on the solar panel covering. It WORKS great! Clear them right up.


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Offline Jim_S

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2022, 02:23:19 PM »
I just got done taking down my station and examining it. Can't find any problems with the fan -- it just no longer works. I think its dead!

Found a suggestion to use tooth paste on the plastic coverings of car headlights and decided to try it on the solar panel covering. It WORKS great! Clear them right up.
Did you check the voltage going to the fan? Is it getting power.

Good tip on the toothpaste. Thanks!

Offline worachj

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2022, 02:58:04 PM »

Did you check the voltage going to the fan? Is it getting power.

Good tip on the toothpaste. Thanks!
I would, but I don't own a voltage meter. Don't know how many times I needed one, maybe some day I'll get one.


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Offline Jim_S

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2022, 04:24:18 PM »
I would, but I don't own a voltage meter. Don't know how many times I needed one, maybe some day I'll get one.
Go get one.

Seriously. If nothing else get  one of these.  I have several that I got for free (with any purchase) but I haven't seen that deal in a while.

I'll add that I'm a retired electrician and own several high end, high accuracy meters but mostly I just use the little cheap one. There's one in the garage, the shop, the office, the junk drawer in the kitchen. You never know when a meter will come in handy.  :grin:

Offline worachj

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2022, 04:54:09 PM »
And I go to Harbor Freight a couple of times a year. Just put it on my Harbor Freight wish list!


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Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2022, 06:35:09 PM »
A wire could be detached, (I had one come off a solar cell) or the motor is just shot. They are cheap enough to replace.

Offline worachj

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2022, 09:58:29 PM »
A wire could be detached, (I had one come off a solar cell) or the motor is just shot. They are cheap enough to replace.
Do I need to pop off the solar panels to check? Or can I get by just taking the four long screws out and separating the bottom and upper half. I'm not going to pop it open unless I get a voltage meter.


« Last Edit: June 12, 2022, 10:01:38 PM by worachj »


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Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2022, 07:31:23 PM »
So, my temperature was starting to run too high. I took the station down, and sure enough the motor was barely turning. I put a new motor in I had from a previous single solar panel. You can see the wires to the solar panels after taking the third section out. Another way is to just pry them off the housing. The wind spindle bearings I had put on several months ago were already dirty, so I cleaned them up too. She spins good again. These things get filthy inside.

Offline worachj

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2022, 08:27:07 PM »
Thanks for your update. I'm a little bit lazy right now and since I really don't use it there's no motivation to continue looking into it. I've sidelined it for a fall project.

But you got me thinking of trying to replace the fan and doing a thorough cleaning on it.



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Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #11 on: June 20, 2022, 11:32:45 AM »
The readings are much better today, so the fan was operating, but not enough to do the job it was meant to. It can be hard to tell if it's going fast enough just looking at it. If your temperatures seem 3 or 4 too high, the fan is likely in need of replacement. If you don't like breaking down the whole unit and replacing each part, you can buy the whole head. I would change them every year just to be safe. The bearings do not last at all in these things.

Offline Glenn

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2022, 02:50:09 PM »
Both my stations have noisy fan motors; you can hear the units from inside the sheds they are mounted too. Anyone have luck with a new motor from Amazon or know of a replacement that will work?
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Offline karss

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2022, 02:15:35 AM »
I have a 5-in-1 that is six years old, since I live in a hot, humid and dusty area the fan used to fail very often and I had to replace the dc motor frequently. Since, I got tired of the frequent replacements, I took one dead motor and sprayed copious amounts of WD40 through the holes on the dc motor and connected the terminals to 1.5V dc battery and allowed it run for sometime, initially you might need some push to start the motor. Repeated the process once again with WD40 to wash the dust out from the motor, after this I left the motor run for an hour and fixed it back in my 5-in-1 unit. Its now two months since I fixed it back and the fan is running fine.

The main problem here is dust which gets trapped inside the dc motor and the resultant friction stops the motor from running, if you can get rid of the dust from the motor it will work fine. This is where the WD40 comes in handy, you can also supplement the cleaning by blowing air through the holes. I used a small aquarium air pump to finally get rid of any excess WD40 from the motor.

Hope this helps

Offline CW2274

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #14 on: October 24, 2022, 04:19:35 AM »
Since you didn't specify, I'll assume you're speaking of the standard WD 40, which is a dust magnet and will do nothing but exasperate the problem. I highly suggest you re-do with a dust free lube such as this..

https://www.wd40.com/products/dry-lube/

Offline karss

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #15 on: October 24, 2022, 06:38:31 AM »
I used the WD-40 Multi Use Product

https://www.amazon.com/WD-40-Multi-Use-Lubricant-Smart-Straw/dp/B00IOX8M0A/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2AH30B2128B2V&keywords=wd-40&qid=1666607818&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjIwIiwicXNhIjoiNC42OCIsInFzcCI6IjQuNjIifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=wd-40%2Caps%2C519&sr=8-2&th=1

I will wait and see for how long the fan works, at least the standard WD-40 helped me to reuse a dead dc motor. 

Additionally, I also put a filter in front of the motor to filter the air getting in.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2022, 06:50:24 AM by karss »

Offline jhudson7583

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Re: My 5-N-1's fan has stopped working.
« Reply #16 on: November 02, 2022, 12:34:06 PM »
I just got done taking down my station and examining it. Can't find any problems with the fan -- it just no longer works. I think its dead!

Found a suggestion to use tooth paste on the plastic coverings of car headlights and decided to try it on the solar panel covering. It WORKS great! Clear them right up.

oh yes, i did this on some really bad car headlights years ago, works great!