Last night I got an urgent call to come check out another faulty standing fan. But this time around it was an electronic standing fan, unlike the previous one I worked on which was purely electrical. Just to get things clarified to someone who might be wondering what the difference between an electrical and electronic fan is, or even wondering if there is a thing as such. Well, from my observation/experience so far in this field, an electrical fan uses purely alternating current (AC) for it mode of power and utilizes mechanical part for it mode of switching/control, (i.e. such fans can be powered on by an electrical power source only). Meanwhile, an electronic fan uses both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) for if mode of power with the aid of electronic components to conveniently switch between this two modes of power and it also utilizes digital signals for it mode of switching/control.

The fault experienced by the standing fan was a continuous electrical spark whenever the power cord is being connected to it. The spark was as a result of partial contact on the copper clad board which led to the inability of the fan to properly stay powered on. There was a break in connection in one of the copper that led to the base the power cord receiver (socket), and in the process of trying to conduct electricity into the other part of the circuit, it gave off sparks.

All I had to do to fix this fault was to create a form of linkage from one end of copper to the base of the socket. The best way to do this would be by soldering, I thought to myself. So, I firstly got rid of the burnt copper residue still laying on the clad board because for a solder to properly stick, it has to be free from dirt/impurities.

After clearing the board's surface of the burnt copper residue, all I had to do next was create a linkage with the solder. I immediately plugged in my soldering iron into the wall socket an waited few minutes for it to get properly heated up. As soon as it reach the appropriate temperature for soldering, (nothing to indicate that though, just mere insight). I picked the soldering iron up and brought the solder close to it and melted a large chunk of it across the connecting copper to the socket's leg then waited for it to cool.

It took less that a minute to get this done. I plugged in the power cord to test the fan and it worked perfectly fine. So I proceeded with coupling the fan back which took about five (5) minutes or more to finish coupling because of the weakened state of the fan's casing. Coupling the fan marks the end of the job 🙂

I concluded within myself that some fault are easy to locate and also easy to fix as I smiled feeling accomplished by the success of another job. Got another job coming soon. Its a mini wall mounted fan service. Hopefully I'd be able to document the process and share it here on my blog. Till then, stay blessed!