Ping Charger 2.5 amp; Safe to Disconnect Fan?

[freshforce]

Hey everyone,

Been following Endless Sphere for quite some time now and had a question. I recently got one of Pings 36v 10ah v2.5 batteries and I am impressed with what Ping puts out. Only thing is the fan noise is too loud for me and where I charge it. So I opened it up and disconnected the fan and now it's silent. I haven't been able to test how hot it gets but at 2.5 amps, should I be concerned?

I may remove the grill since I've read here that that may help reduce sound. I also wanted to know if it would be a good idea to have a knob to control fan speed. Not sure how I would go about doing that but an idea that I had. Thanks for any help provided!

 

[dnmun]

it is even quieter if you leave it unplugged.

 

[amberwolf]

Let's see: 2.5A x 36V (probably higher than that, though) = 90W. Let's round that up to 100W.

How hot does a 100W incandescent lightbulb get, without a fan blowing on it, inside a plastic box?

That should tell you why there is a fan in there.

 

[dogman dan]

If you remove that fan, you will need to drill holes in the case till it looks like swiss cheese. It will then be able to move a bit more air by convection.

I don't know about your climate, but in my warm in summer climate I did this to all my chargers that came with no fan, and some small vent holes.

A lot of 1/4 inch holes in the plastic cases really helped remove the heat from those chargers. But too small holes for a finger to poke in, for example. It really helped, you could feel the air coming out at a much lower temp than before.

 

[Punx0r]

Amberwolf, surely some of that 100W is being transfered to the battery!

freshforce, perhaps consider running the original fan through a potentiometer so you can reduce its speed and balance the charger temperature to something suiting prevailing conditions. Or consider replacing the original fan with a larger, slower fan. It'll move the same amount of air much more quietly.

 

[heathyoung]

Of course it is.

Put a 9.1V zener diode in series with the fan (its a 12V one right) - will slow it down and make it a bit quieter. Get a few values and try see which you are happy with (and the fan starts reliably with)