can a switching pwr supply withstand 60 on/off cycles a day?

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the fan in my freezer was rattling like a diesel truck. so i put in a surplus ball bearing 4" 7watt pc fan($5.99) for the 12v i used a panasonic 120-12v ps. will they last long?
 
Matt Gruber said:
the fan in my freezer was rattling like a diesel truck. so i put in a surplus ball bearing 4" 7watt pc fan($5.99) for the 12v i used a panasonic 120-12v ps. will they last long?

Could last for years imo i have some fans here 10 years old that have seen 24/7 service for a number of years

KiM
 
Matt Gruber said:
the fan in my freezer was rattling like a diesel truck. so i put in a surplus ball bearing 4" 7watt pc fan($5.99) for the 12v i used a panasonic 120-12v ps. will they last long?
If the mains is being switched off externally to the power supply then there are no gaurantees. It is dependant on the design of the power supply.
If it has some decent inrush protection than it would be ok but if its cheap it might eventually kill the input diodes and main capacitor due to the repeated inrush currents each time its powered up.

Computer fans themselves would probably be fine as they are just brushless dc motors.
 
Nice to hear from you Matt.

I think you'll be fine. As long as the on/off cycles aren't in rapid succession, there won't be any heating from them. 7W is not that much.
 
guys
thanks for the encouragement! fridge sounds more like a desktop pc however :lol:
.
ricky
ps does not spark when u plug it in, so it is better than those cheap ones. neighbor gave me a dead DVD player so i got it for free anyway.
.
fechter
good to "see" you too!
still have the same prius?
 
UPDATE:
it works great 1 year later!
in fact, the freezer is colder than it was brand new! now 23 years old!
the factory fan was ~35 watts and this is 7w with permanent magnets. fan is in freezer, so less waste heat in freezer.
lowest monthly electric bill was 143 kwh(~$15), so who says old fridges have to waste lots of power? how much could a new fridge possibly save? $3/mo? it might even use MORE :lol:
 
Hi Guys!
Another year, still working!
fridge 24 yrs old!
Newest mod:
made a "cold shelf" (the freezer was plenty cold, but the fridge was about42F and some things spoiled)
So i boxed in the top fridge shelf to make 2 zones. top shelf is 33-37F, and everything else is 47-50F. I mainly store things that are not open plus fresh potatoes in the warm section.
So the run time is reduced to 35% in winter and 40-50% in summer. Was around 60% before.
 
charging it now.
red scooter still works! SLA's 9 yrs old!

2.2 cents/mile doesn't sound too bad for your car.
 
UPDATE: 7+ years and it is still working great 8)
How many have a fridge 29+ years old?
 
Matt Gruber said:
UPDATE: 7+ years and it is still working great 8)
How many have a fridge 29+ years old?

haha,

this story Is almost similar to my Liebehrr fridge made in West Germany (so before URSS collapse).

I replaced the failed mechnical thermostat with a cheap thermocouple PID + SSR.

I also put a PC 12cm fan inside (there was none before) and 2 other on the heat exchanger on the back.

Cooling speed was almost doubled and got me 3 ±1.5°C instead of 5 ± 6°C (+ which was forcing thermal shutdown of the compressor and sploiling / freezing everything).

Also pimped the interior lightning with LEDs :mrgreen:
 
Thanks for the long term test report. We don't get many 7 year long tests.

I had a brushless fan go out in a little cube refrigerator after a few years. I just replaced it with one from an old computer and it's been fine for years. I always wondered how the oil behaves at super cold temps, but I guess it works OK.
 
FWIW, in the little cube fridges and freezers, if you use a 5" 12v computer case fan running off a 5v USB / phone charger wallwart, fan mounted down where it blows across the compressor body, the fan runs silently (if slowly) and moves just enough air all the time to keep the compressor cooler, which both lengthens it's lifespan and lets it cool the contents of the fridge/freezer more effectively. If you have one that didn't keep stuff as cold as you like before, it might after. Leave the grillework off the fan for more efficient and quieter airflow, if you have no kids or pets with curious fingers or paws or noses.


You can also use another fan inside the fridge/freezer for air circulation, but I recommend leaving the grillework on that one. ;)


If it's pretty warm in the room it's in, you might need to use closer to or at the 12v the fan was made for, to keep the compressor cooler.

Since the coils are usually built into the body of the whole fridge/freezer nowadays, there's no way short of disassembly to do the other tricks that used to work, of moving the coils farther from the back and adding more insulation, and adding slow fans to move air across the coils, etc. :/
 
Thanks for the posts, guys. not many work on a fridge 8)
.
Fechter- how about an update on that rebuilt hybrid battery for your honda? did it last? :?:
 
Matt Gruber said:
Fechter- how about an update on that rebuilt hybrid battery for your honda? did it last? :?:

It lasted about 4 years and got close to 100k miles before it started to throw codes. Here's the last pic of the odometer before I sold the car:



I grid charged the battery to get it balanced and drove the car enough to reset all the emissions monitors so it would pass the smog check, then sold it before the check engine light came on again. Guy who bought it is still driving it but the IMA light is on.
 
sounds good 8)
Did you ever estimate the savings compared to driving the non-hybrid model :?: some say the extra cost of the hybrid is hard to get back, especially with any hybrid repairs, like the battery :?:
inquiring minds want to know :)
 
I did the math on it a long time ago and seem to remember the break even point was a fuel price of about $2.00/gallon. It has always been a lot higher than that over the life of the car, so I came out ahead. This was comparing the cost of the non-hybrid Civic vs. the hybrid. I replaced the front brake pads once (and they still had about 1/2 left) and never had an alternator or starter motor issue since those functions are done with the IMA. About the only real failure other than the IMA battery was the air conditioner compressor clutch bearing, which I replaced.
 
so what did you buy to replace it?
 
Matt Gruber said:
so what did you buy to replace it?

A Toyota Prius.

I really wanted an electric car, but my commute is just a little too far for any that I an afford. a Prius is next best thing.
 
fechter said:
Matt Gruber said:
so what did you buy to replace it?

A Toyota Prius.

I really wanted an electric car, but my commute is just a little too far for any that I an afford. a Prius is next best thing.
Great choice!
Toyota has amazing reliability 8)
Have you seen this near million mile Lexus? :twisted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyB63m-iiOU
 
fechter said:
Matt Gruber said:
so what did you buy to replace it?
A Toyota Prius.
I really wanted an electric car, but my commute is just a little too far for any that I an afford. a Prius is next best thing.
I got a Prius Prime last year and it's been a great car for me. I use about a gallon of gas a month. My biggest issue with the car is planning engine run times that are long enough that I can get most of the water out of the exhaust system.
 
Matt Gruber said:
UPDATE: 7+ years and it is still working great 8)
How many have a fridge 29+ years old?
that was 2018.
2022 and still working great! 11+ years. fridge now 33 :shock: the 12v DC surplus pc fan deserves credit too!
 
fridge is now 35 and still working :bigthumb:
But i could not resist the black friday $198 Frigidaire so i have a spare right here in the kitchen. It is only 7.5 cu. feet and does NOT use any fans :cool: manual defrost so not much to go wrong. Very quiet without any fans :cool:
 
That’s pretty great! Thanks for all the faithful updates.
 
I have the best/worst fridge in the world, wandering through a seears in the 90's saw the biggest fridge they sold (32CuFt?) also had a lil bitty door in the front for fetching drinks/milk/formula (was a brand new dad not fully hit by the fact that before she turned a year old I was gonna be doing this solo.)

I bought it right there. worst economy I have ever had, I have had AC units that burned less electrons. But man that thing is a beast...

I still have it... out in the garage, in the corner, behind the Industrial 4 door unit we now have. I still miss that quicky door, but evidently it was a power eating piggeh.

Hmm.. maybe a big solar array....
 
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