Instead of the quiet whirring sound of a fan when in float stage, the charger has recently begun emitting a louder "whining" sound. The fan's revolutions also seem to slow down when this happens. It returns to normal if I insert a finger quickly and contact the fan. But it often resumes "whining." At this moment, it's nice and quiet, but the noise mode is occurring more frequently?
Is this damaging or dangerous? Does it need a new fuse? Thanx, Jack
If you'd like to change the fuse, go ahead. Or you might put a new thermostat in the living room. But if it was my gadget, I'd do neither of those. I'd do something much more likely to fix the problem.
Yes, it's damaging. Yes, it can well be dangerous.
Well, you found the problem, the fan bearings needs some oil. Unless you fix it, it will seize one day, maybe burn out, possibly start a fire, but unlikely. A new fuse will do nothing since it is already working (getting electricity). Why the hell would you have a fan in the charger, or is it a separate fan that goes on when the batteries charge?
Take the charger cover off, put 2-3 drops of 10 weight oil (or Turbine oil if you have some) on each end (bearing) of the fan motor, spin by hand, blot to remove the excess oil. Probably will fix it for another few years. Otherwise, buy a new charger/fan. Whatever floats your boat.
What's kind of charger uses a fan anyway? I have an old Sears auto charger, 2/10/50 amps. The 50 amps is for temp starting only, but 10 is continuous and it has no fan. I wouldn't think you'd need one too much bigger for use on sump pump batteries.
It's a real small charger that fits into the palm of your hand, but the damn thing has a fan inside. You can view it through a slot. I blew into the slot and the whining noise stopped but it'll start again; I'm sure of that.
Haven't a clue what's going on.
The manufacturer is Schauer but they don't respond to emails.
Jack
Unless it is code to have a fan in the area of your battery, and that charger doesn't seem like it would satisfy that requirement, now is a good time to replace with a fanless charger. I have a Schumacher 2/12/75 amp battery charger and it has no fan and a small 1-1/2" x3" trickle charger that has no fan. A fan on float charger is bad engineering, it should have no moving parts. You can buy all sorts of trickle and float chargers for less than $25 that should last your life time with no maintenance.
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