Did i break my fan? So puzzled :S

Jay85

Jay85

Jay85

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I painted 4 of my fans today and after painting the shrouds, 2 of my fans now don't really work.

Let me explain how...

My first dodgy fan is a sharkoon SE fan with modular cables. When i plug it into my fan controller *scythe Kaze Master 4 channel* the rpm fluctuates from 390 to 650 but before i could keep it at a steady 900rpm... now i can't even get over 650!

The second dodgy fan is a Enermax Magma fan in red. I painted 2 of these however one fails to work with my fan controller while the other will happily work with it. It will spin up when i power up my system but then it will just die and stop dead... If i unplug it and plug it into a power supply then it will go as normal at full speed as it should.. why the heck is this?


can spray painting cause damage? I masked up all the circuit boards and wiring so i dont see how paint can damage it.


I'm lost for ideas here, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jay
 
the impeller is probably off balance due to having slightly more paint on one of the blades. when u plug it into the psu does the fan vibrate, if it does then it means its off balance

edit: oh wait nvm its the shrouds you painted. ignore my post =x
 
Yea it's just the shrouds i painted so i was hoping i didn't muck up the pcb or wiring but i was careful when masking them up. I tried the fans with the psu on full and they don't vibrate much, quite steady.


I'm starting to think maybe it's my fan controller :S
 
Its just weird how they worked before but not now....

I've ordered some new fans to try it out otherwise i guess its a new controller :(
 
Thats a an odd one. I spray painted my Noctua's but I used very thin layers of paint just enough to colour the fan. I made sure it was applied evenly by keeping a good 18" - 2' away from it. They work fine I've had no trouble over the last couple of years in use.

So long as all the electronics are masked up I can't see how it could have caused problems. Has the paint all dried up completely? I suppose it's possible the paint solvent has somehow gotten to the PWM sensors but that seems unlikely.
 
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Painting the shrouds shouldn't affect the fan itself. Never has any of the fans I've painted.

Maybe you got some paint on one of your gremlins :eek:
 
Blackjack Davy said:
Thats a an odd one. I spray painted my Noctua's but I used very thin layers of paint just enough to colour the fan. I made sure it was applied evenly by keeping a good 18" - 2' away from it. They work fine I've had no trouble over the last couple of years in use.

So long as all the electronics are masked up I can't see how it could have caused problems. Has the paint all dried up completely? I suppose it's possible the paint solvent has somehow gotten to the PWM sensors but that seems unlikely.
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I honestly don't know but your diagnosis seems most likely. I did mask them up with masking tape however i applied a fair few coats onto the shrouds to make sure it would be evenly coated. 2 layers of plastic primer, 3 layers of colour. Is there anyway of repairing it?

doyll said:
Painting the shrouds shouldn't affect the fan itself. Never has any of the fans I've painted.

Maybe you got some paint on one of your gremlins :eek:
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Haha what blackjack said really, anyway of fixing this? Seems a waste of throwing away a good fan.
 
First you need a gremlin trap. No idea where you would find one.. I've been looking for one for years. :D

I don't see how solvents in the paint could be the problem.. but suppose anything is possible... especially with gremlins about.

Leave fans out in nice warm place and see if drying out more might help.
 
doyll said:
First you need a gremlin trap. No idea where you would find one.. I've been looking for one for years. :D

I don't see how solvents in the paint could be the problem.. but suppose anything is possible... especially with gremlins about.

Leave fans out in nice warm place and see if drying out more might help.
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Bloody things! Just wait till i get one of them... i'll make sure to keep it away from water. On a more serious note, the only thing i can think of is when i sprayed some solvent leaked into the connector for the modular cable which now has increased resistance so my fans aren't functioning properly. I tested my controller with 2 Gelid fans and they work fine on all channels.
 
Just a note, i think its either solvent or something paint related thats got onto the pwm sensors because on both of my painted fans its happening now.

i did a simple test where i cut the pwm part of the cable and plugged that back into my controller and wollah it works again.


Guess i need to brush up on my masking skills.
 
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