Not so Flippin Fast

[All U Get]

Hi all,

Since I've read a few posts about 12V fans recently I remembered the two fans sitting near the Nav. station waiting to get tossed. When we had the fridge replaced 4 years ago I noticed one fan wasn't working in the freezer section. Bought a 4X4" 12V fan from Radio Shack and its been working fine. I bought a 2nd one to replace the 2X2" fan in the fridge section and it didn't work. Over the ensuing years my wife asked me if I was going to toss them since they were broke. My reply was "I can tear them apart to see why they're broke, no risk there.

Not sure why but I brought them home this week and sat the on the kitchen counter so I could stare at them every morning while sipping coffee. Today I went on Amazon and ordered two 12V 4X4" fans in case the ones in fridge quit. Now lets take a look of the broken fans. My wife said "Just toss them". That usually inspires me to make a huge mess and then declare victory as I lord over the remains.

Well not so flippin fast. I got out the jumper wires and an old battery to connect to. The 4X4" fan spun several times. OK charged the battery and tried again. Nope, didn't work but for grins I switched polarity. Spun like a (well) fan. My wife then offered "Try the other one". Sure enough they both ran when the polarity was right. So who switched the red and black wires back on the boat fridge fan switch? Another mystery which my wife hates because I now justify my "Saving Junk" obsession. I'm cool with that. With 4 fans I'm very cool.

All U Get

 

[Mikem]

Good man!

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

So who switched the red and black wires back on the boat fridge fan switch?

Happens to me all the time . I put a tool down while working and almost immediately, someone steals it.

Weird how these things happen .

 

[bawlmer]

Sometimes when you leave something alone long enough it manages to fix itself. Good story.

 

[Ken13559]

There's a saying "When it's broken don't fix it"

 

[woodster]

There's a saying "When it's broken don't fix it"

i think that's ..."When it ain't broke don't fix it."

 

[Charles Erwin]

If it ain't broke keep fixing it until it is broke.

 

[Ken13559]

I'm correct, when its broken don't fix ....it'll fix itself....or buy new

 

[jssailem]

If it ain't broke open it up to see why....

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

What's more important, who's on first ......................... ?

 

[All U Get]

So it didn't end there (it never does). We have an old 12V cooler to keep sodas etc. cool while we sailed in our old Catalina. Got it out, dusted it off, and plugged it into the cars' 12V socket. It promptly started to melt the plug end. That end got snipped and tossed. I tried to take apart two other plugs from old spotlights but wound up buying one from the local auto parts store.

I put the new plug together and the fan wouldn't run inside the cooler. With my new-found knowledge I took it apart and reversed the wires. Putting it back together, it ran for the trip from NH to Ct and back in the back seat of the car. So now it will be hard to resist the urge to keep it in the cockpit of the boat while we travel.

All U Get

 

[Jacktar]

Hey the wire thing can make you crazy, previous owner had the steaming light wired with two red wires run from the panel to mast connector. Peeled off the tape on the connector to find one white and one black wire going up mast. Since it is a regular festoon no big deal but the other ends just drove me crazy til I found he had put a tiny piece of black electrical tape around one of the red wires and that traced back to a ground or negative side of the battery. He had created a postive bus from all the red (well usually red) wires with ring connectors stacked on a bolt with a nut and run to positive side of battery, no repeat no fuses inline anywhere except one on panel which did not work and did not connect to any harness. So there boys (and girls).