Fan failure 6600M

Gary NC3Z

Well my fan has gone bad and started causing my 6600M to shut down on it's own and flash the power light red.

I can find the exact replacement on Amazon for about $18, but is there a better replacement, or can I expect that these go bad periodically?

Due to all the other issues and flakiness of SSDR the Flex has been moved to a position of rarely being used so it does not stay on much.

KC2QMA_John

Here is some info on the Fan.
https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/6600m-fan-speed-questions

Gary NC3Z

I know what the OEM fan is, was hoping for a better replacement. That thread shows a possible replacement but there were issues with it.

KC2QMA_John

Before the Trolls come out of the wood work let me just say the Stock fan is a good fan it is just my opinion that there could be a better quality fan used.

I believe New Egg online has some of the original fans left.

Joe N3HEE

I think the stock fan has gone end of life and Flex is working on a replacement.  I replaced my 6600M fan about 16 months ago and it is still running.  Radio runs near 24/7.  Not sure what is causing them to fail ?

Bill -VA3WTB

A couple thoughts, I don't know if Flex has found a new fan or not because of failures to the original ones. I think the % is higher than they expected.

Try to contact Flex and discuss it with them ans see what they suggest. In some cases people have been sent a fan and they replaced it themselves.
Keeping in mind many of the 6600M radios are on most the day without any issues so there seems to be some good stock fans out there.

Gary NC3Z

I can stick with the stock fan, Amazon has them still for $18. Could get 1 or 2 as a spare. They are easy enough to replace, even if you have to do it every 2 years. Until a better fan is identified.

I was also surprised that the fan and inlets had no particle filters. The fan did have buildup on the blades of very fine dust (we do get heavy pollen in the spring). I removed the fan and cleaned each blade separately and cleaned the venturi. That did get rid of the noise, but for how long I do not know, but will hold me until I get a replacement delivered.

Bill -VA3WTB

A little drop of 3&1 oil would have been good for it as well.

Ed Stallman

Can someone post a link to the Fan's at Amazon ? I do a search for "AeroCool Shark 140mm fan" and I see to many choices .
Tnx Ed N5DG 

Gary NC3Z

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00432R068/?coliid=IHC1F5D3Z20UQ

Tim K9WX

Will this fan also work for the 6600 or is it unique to the 6600M?

Tim K9WX

Ed Stallman

Gary , tnx , I should have ask with my first message . Do I only need to buy one ?
Tnx Ed N5DG

Gary NC3Z

Tim, the 6400, 6400M, 6600 and 6600M are all the same chassis and same fan.

Gary NC3Z

Ed, that's up to you, but with the failure rates I am reading about, I would.

Bill -VA3WTB

Who knows,,the fan you buy may last the life of the radio now. If it's cheap,,then buy 2...lol

Dan-N7HQ

Folks,

Please keep in mind a red-blinking power button (single red blink) indicates the fan is not rotating when firmware expects it to be.  Yes, this could be a fan failure, but it is far more likely to be another problem.  In the past 6-months, I've seen the service team deal with only a single fan replacement for the 6600 and 6400 radios. And that replacement was preventative, due to the radio being used in an exceptionally dusty/dirty/smoky environment.

Please open a helpdesk request. Where Tim and Ken can assist in the diagnosis.

73,
Dan

N1DZ

I had a fan failure or so I thought on the 6400 and it was a corrupted firmware.
Service of Flex was great.

Gary NC3Z

Dan, I removed the fan and cleaned each fan blade and the venturi thoroughly. There was a slight build up of dust (why is there no filter?). After reinstalling the noise was gone and the 6600M has not shut down since. I still will buy a backup fan since this seems to be a simple point that can fail and take out the radio. So I really dont want to bother the HD on something I can fix, plus I have enough open HD tickets for software bugs I need them to work on first.

As for the dirty fan I also checked my desktop PC and my Apache's fan, none of them had any build up like the Flex. 

Dan-N7HQ

Hi Gary, 

The most common cause for fan noise on an M-model is one of the cables to the front panel (usually the network cable) can occasionally move and touch the fan.  It would be odd to see a slight build-up of dust involved. I'm glad to hear your noise was resolved with a simple cleaning. 

If you would like to purchase a backup/replacement fan, please open a helpdesk ticket and ask for one, it's no bother at all.  Tim and Ken are there to help.

73,
Dan

Gary NC3Z

You know I did notice how dang close that network cable was and that is the first thing I touched and moved out of the way as I thought it was way too close. That may have been the issue all along and cleaning the fan may have been a red herrings. In any case I did bend the ethernet cable out of the way before reassembly.

Ed Stallman

Gary , Bill sri I ask the question wrong . I got it now thou, the case only uses one fan 
Tnx Ed N5DG

Dan KB6NU

A couple of days ago, my Flex 6400 decided to quit working, with the apparent reason being "fan failure." After turning the thing off and on, I got the flashing red light (single flash). I submitted a tech support request, and after a couple of exchanges with Ken Wells, he decided that the problem wasn't actually a fan failure but probably a bad SD card. A new one should be on its way shortly.