12v-6v?

[Skittle]

So I got this fan, its pretty small. A desktop fan, anyway, its battery operated and it can operate on a 6v ac adapter. Well, I found a 12v adapter lying around and I was wondering will it destroy the fan, or just be bottlenecked?

[WaffleBaron]

I would assume its just a simple DC motor so it would burn it out after it ran faster than normal, not to mention you would have to match polarity as well.

[Skittle]

well, I had a universal plug once where you can switch polarity. I know it wouldnt work period if the polarity was off... so if I plugged it Id know immediately.

So do you think the motor would burn out instantly? eh.. I hate buying accessories for stuff.

[PumpPlayer]

Possible solutions:

Hook up two fans in series to run on the 12v.
Add a resistor of equal impedance as the fan and place it in series.
Get the correct adapter.

It may run on 12v but it'll shorten the life considerably if in fact it lasts long at all.
What happens when you apply excessive voltage to a motor is that it punctures the insulation on the windings and you get sparking and it eventually fries. You can puncture insulation instantly upon applying voltage though the motor may continue to run for a while as the hole grows. 12v isn't going to puncture most insulation but I don't know how the fan is constructed. All I can say is, it may very well work fine but don't try it unless you're willing to risk losing the fan.

Good luck.

[Skittle]

Possible solutions:

Hook up two fans in series to run on the 12v.
Add a resistor of equal impedance as the fan and place it in series.
Get the correct adapter.

It may run on 12v but it'll shorten the life considerably if in fact it lasts long at all.
What happens when you apply excessive voltage to a motor is that it punctures the insulation on the windings and you get sparking and it eventually fries. You can puncture insulation instantly upon applying voltage though the motor may continue to run for a while as the hole grows. 12v isn't going to puncture most insulation but I don't know how the fan is constructed. All I can say is, it may very well work fine but don't try it unless you're willing to risk losing the fan.

Good luck.

thanks for that explination. I really see whats going on now.. I dont want to risk loosing the fan because it lights up and makes cool designs. Looks like i'll have to spring a few more bucks for a good adaptor.

[Jonno06]

do it, and take pics.

[devildog]

you can hook it up to 12v, it will be fine. it will spin faster. it wont burn out right away, but wont last as long. we're talking 3 years instead of 6. it will still last a long time.

[Skittle]

you can hook it up to 12v, it will be fine. it will spin faster. it wont burn out right away, but wont last as long. we're talking 3 years instead of 6. it will still last a long time.

ah sweet, thats glad to know. I dont want my house to go down in flames.

[ScatterPlot]

Polarity shouldn't matter. If it's like a normal fan, it should just spin backwards- but you said it lights up and all, now there you might have a problem. You might fudge those electronics pretty good- depending on the voltage regulator installed. If you wanted to get this deep into it, you could open it up and find out the max rated voltage of the regulator- I assume it has one, since "lighting up and making cool designs" would probably require at least some circuitry, which is probably at 5 volts or so. Then again it might not have a voltage regulator and depend on being fed 5 volts (6 wouldn't hurt probably). If you gave it 12 without something to regulate the voltage there goes the fan.

[Skittle]

I was inspecting it last night, it seems that the motor and the lights arent connected. the lights seem to be installed in the fan blade and when it spins it makes thelights come on, like the light up yo-yo

[ScatterPlot]

Well again they don't have to be connected. The power supplies most likely come from the same place. If the lights are induction powered, i.e. the fan spinning supplies the power, you will have overages since it would spin faster, but most likely not enough to hurt them. Do the lights connect to ANYTHING that could EVER go into the wall?

[Skittle]

I dont think so. I had to attach the blade part to a small part on the fan itself. To turnm on the lights theres a button on the blade part where you can turn the lights on or off (watch battery type deal, I guess) The fan itself has a seperate power button to turn it on to make it spin. However, the lights on work if the fan is spinning.

[ScatterPlot]

Ok cool well it sounds like you should be good from the standpoint of the lights. I don't really know about running motors on higher volts- probably just go real fast for a shorter life, like already been said. Now I can't really say HOW much shorter, I don't really know. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

[Skittle]

thanks for all your help guys, I'll let you know how it pans out.