Bummer fan from an internet auction site

[wshytle]

I bought a high velocity fan from an internet auction place the first week of July. My old one I've used for 25+ years finally bit the big one. The new fan is about as cheap as you can imagine. I gave the seller a neutral feedback and he contacted me. I told him I paid $50 for a $30 tops fan. He offered a 50% discount which I took for a positive feedback instead of the original neutral I gave. This morning I'm out getting ready to work on the tractor in this Carolina heat and I plugged the fan in just to hear it pop and stop. Now I've paid $25 for a worthless fan.

Anyway, I got the ohmmeter out and unplugged the fan to try and find what shorted. It has this component and I have no idea what it is for. The switch seems to work ok, the cord is good, and the motor turns freely so this leads me to wonder if there is something wrong with whatever the hell this thing is.

Could some of you electronic buffs ring in and tell me what this is and whether or not it's something that can be burnt? I'm assuming Radio Shack would have a replacement if need be.

Please excuse my electronic ignorance.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Looks like a start capacitor for the motor. The "8uF" is the capacity of the cap and it's rated for 300V AC.

Under edit:LINK

 

[wshytle]

Thanks Kraig-

I thought about a capacitor when I read the CAP on there. Do you know how these things are tested and whether they are a likely component to go bad? I know capacitors can hurt you and I obviously don't mess with electricity much. What ever happened to simplicity?

 

[mgwin]

Wayne,

You could probably find a capacitor replacement at a local electric supply business. What kind of fan are you talking about?
The capacitor will not hurt you if it is discharged. All you have to do is put a cheap screwdriver stem across the two leads coming out of the capacitor. This will discharge it. How big is this capacitor? When a capacitor goes bad, it usually swells up some.
Also make sure the windings in the fan were not shorted out. If you have an open or shorted winding, the motor is no good anyway.
I hope the best for you.

 

[wshytle]

Marty-

This is a fan I got off of "the" auction site and originally paid $50 for. I ended up getting half of that back and wish now I'd just sent it back. It's all Chinese and it shows. It's a 20" high velocity which is what I've used for over twenty years and just needed/wanted another one. It's a must living here in the south as you know I'm sure. If nothing else it keeps the skeeters at bay.

It has a small capacitor. The stats can be seen in the pic I posted. It's probably toast now. It popped the other day so I jiggled the wires and it came back to life. When it popped this morning it stopped and was dead. Nothing I did mattered.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Wayne, you mention that you "jiggled the wires" seeing that it brought it back for a short while leads me to think that it could be a bad crimp on one of the 1/4" spade "quick" connectors. In your photo there appears to be heat shrink over the crimp connector. Does the wire feel firm in the area of the crimp or does it feel weak and floppy?


BTW, there are some replacement caps on evil pay under ceiling fan caps...