Those tiny crappy fans. What makes them fail so easily?`

[scootchu]

The fans in the smaller inflatables are so prone to failure, and I am assuming because of water, but why? I have replaced a few with donors from other non-yard worthy inflatables and some last and some don't. Is there something that I could spray in the internals of the fan to keep them from corrosion or water damage? WD-40 is meant for keeping water and corrosion away would a shot of that help?

I suppose once they're dead they're dead? Sometimes they'll pulse a bit, but nothing brings them back. I have had an inflatable revive itself after an hour or two, only to die the next day.

There has to be a cheaper source for these 12v .5 .25 amp fans. They should be only $3-5 realistically.

[timpwk]

Just had one die today, the first year I displayed it. It seems the AC adaptor is the issue. I also like the older non LED AC powreed fans.

[Creativedesign]

Www.yardinflatables.com for replacements


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jmruth72]

Scootchu,

I have way to much experience with troubleshooting and repairing / replacing these 12 volt power supplies and fans. The first thing when diagnosing them is to determine whether the issues is a bad fan, a bad power supply, or both. This is a lot easier if you have several in the same amperage range and have at least one that is working correctly. So that leads us to troubleshooting and this is how I do it.

1) Take the power supply from the known good unit and plug it in to the inflatable that is not working. Does the bad inflatable work now?
Yes, good replace the power supply.
No, the fan is bad.
2) Take the power supply from the failed inflatable and plug it in to the inflatable that is working. Does the good inflatable still work?
Yes, good the power supply is ok.
No, the power supply is bad.

I know that sounds really simple, but you would be amazed at how many people would not think to do that. Now for the bad news;
1) You can pull the fans apart, clean the bushing and put a dab of oil on it and it may work. However it will fail again and usually in short order. It may or may not get you through a display season. I have tried this and found that it is generally easier to just replace the fan which has the benefit of coming with a power supply. The good news is that if the power supply for that inflatable was still good you now have a spare.
2) As an electronic tech it is my opinion that the power supply's are garbage. I bought 11 new ones this year to repair all of the inflatables that had either completely failed or were having issues and I was sure that they would not make it through the season. We got hit with a lot of rain and 7 of the new power supplies failed due to water intrusion. I am therefor going to build a DC distribution system in an outdoor rated enclosure and custom extension cords. That way I get rid of all of the POS power supplies.

Hope this provides some help, sorry for the bad news. Just stating my observations.

Regards,
John.

[Wolfie]

Or you could simply wait until after halloween and buy up all the extra blowups at walgreens at about $8-$10 ea on clearance and have all the extra fans you want. And you will get extra fabric to make repairs on any blowups that have the same color patches as the after season ones. The cheap ones rarely come with metal stakes but you can also salvage the webbing loops and lines from these sacrificial buys.