Fan, on LoraWAN HAT for Raspberry Pi, failed
It worked normally for roughly 4 days non-stop. Now it makes a screeching sound from time to time and it episodically comes to a stop. In a more regular way it works with a quite audible "kicking" sound.
The place IS clean. It is made specially to hold such machines. Anyway, I tried a dust-off gas baloon, without any success at all.
I usually met such problems with similar fans after several months to a year. I have had several on my Raspberry and Orange machines (more than ten fans already). Small fans are known not to live long but this one broke all records.
It is hard to find here a replace for such fan. The closest is this one (5 Volts!):
https://aliexpress.ru/item/4000819692335.html?sku_id=12000036788235180
However, this is half the rpms announced on the original fan. Will it be enough? I really need this shield working, so I am waiting a reply.
Comments
Hello ektanoor, a slower rpm will affect the heat dissipation. Looking through your link, the fan is not the same size as the original. So you may not be able to use that fan. In addition to the size fan interface specifications (1.25mm*2P male) and parameters such as anode and cathode should also be consistent.
Just for your attention. I have had some discussions here with colleagues and came to these conclusions:
A little fan is no solution to the problem we have. In short time it will break and break suddenly, as usual. And when that happens, the Rpi/Orange/Repka board will be exposed to the thermal conditions of the moment. Which can be quite harsh in summer.
Several boards have internal means to mitigate thermal conditions, but they also fail in some common situations. So, a cooling solution is needed anyway.
We decided that the best solution, for the moment, is installing a "normal" computer fan, of medium size but from better known cooling solutions. It shall blow upwards. We remove the small fan and install a radiator over the Rpi main processor.
There is a problem that 5v fans is not so easy to find. Yet, the main trouble is on how to create the mechanical support for this fan.