[Solved] Replacement fan for Sapphire PURE 1050 W (SFI1050AWT)

[Dr. Dro]

So, here's a fun one for the new PSU Forum. Was working on one of my rigs today and noticed that the PSU was quite hot. Turns out, the fan is no longer spinning. Who knows how long I've run it that way.

Seems to be a 135 mm fan, but it's stylized in a fancy chromed color. Best of my knowledge, it is an old Enermax Revolution 85+ platform. Keyword being, old. Most sites that carried reviews of either this specific Sapphire-branded unit or Enermax's reference platform have long since left their image hosting die, so it's usually the review's text that was left behind.

The PC Perspective review almost had a trace of what I was looking for (connector type), but alas, only the thumbnail seems to be left, the enlarged image is nowhere to be found:

The platform reference design uses a SILENCE RL4Z-B1352512LB-3M (DC 12 V, 0.28 A) that seems to be sourced from Globe Fan, but due to this power supply's sheer age you simply won't find one out there, never mind Sapphire's custom fan. I don't need it to be the same fan, but just a functional replacement. That, or coming up with a way to repair its motor by using a donor or something. Probably not doable.

Normally I wouldn't hesitate to replace the entire unit, considered I've owned this thing for the greatest part of the past 15 years, but it's in great shape, perfect working condition (voltages, currents etc. all within spec, does not cause PC to malfunction), but as you can see, it's a pretty lovely unit, and there's no real need to bin what otherwise works just fine. Call it a bit of an attachment if you will.

Might open it up and take pics later, but I was hoping to avoid needing to do that until I have a replacement or solution on hand.

So, would appreciate any suggestions before I head out and buy a cheap and arguably worse PSU to replace it. Thanks!

Seems like my second post in the thread got merged, but here is the update nonetheless!

Felt like doing some DIY and took it into my own hands to get it done. I've successfully repaired it with a donor fan from a dead EVGA 1000 P2 I had around. It required some minor adjustments as the connector is different. Cut the connector plug off both fans and resoldered the smaller one.

I had to resort to good old zip ties as the original 140mm fan had the 135mm mounting holes (Probably an adaptation from the original Enermax model) to fix it in place but it's fully functional again.

For anyone interested, it is a Power Cooler PD1402512H fan and it contains a tachymeter cable, a power connector for the lighting band and a small 2 pin connector. Of course, I've lost the white lighting band and the ability to read fan speed but it doesn't really matter.

Extracting the fan from the P2

Finished result

Tested it and the fan spun up normally. We're back in business boys

 

[TimatPSUTest.com]

If the old fan attempts to move, you can usually disassemble it and add grease:

I've seen a number of complaints recently about users experiencing problems with the fans in their system.

Most fans are serviceable by design. Whether they're a case fan, a fan mounted on a CPU heatsink or a fan mounted on a GPU heatsink, the vast majority of fans can be serviced.

Today, I'm going to show, with photographs, how to reoil/regrease a fan bearing.

Have selected a pair of fans I've had for years. Neither actually NEED servicing, but for the purpose of today's demonstration, they will make for a good showing.

The first up is a CoolerMaster 120MM model.
View attachment 291969View attachment 291970

Let's begin by pealing up the label, but take care not to pull it completely off.
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Most fans have a rubber or plastic gasket covering the bearing chamber. It needs to be lifted up.
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I use a razor blade to gently lift it up but a small flat-tip screw driver should do the trick as well.
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Now that we have direct access to the bearing chamber, we can apply the lubricant. I use a special blend mix of 10W40 motor oil and Dielectric grease in a 50/50 ratio.
However, any quality oil will work fine. Try to avoid spray-can lubricants as they can be very messy to apply. WD-40 and similar spray fluids should be avoided as they're not designed to be a bearing oil and degrade/break-down easily.
View attachment 291973

It's easy to apply and only 3 or 4 drops are needed.
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Not shown is how work the lube into the bearing shaft housing. Holding the frame of the fan with one hand and the fan hub in the other and work the fan hub in and out a few times. Then spin the fan a bit. Then pull the hub in and out a few times. Repeat that cycle a few times and your fan bearing is now well lubricated. Put the gasket back in place and seal the label back up.
View attachment 291975
And you're done!

Now we're going to look at a fan that is NOT easily serviced. This is uncommon, but they do exist. This example is from a Sparkle GeForce GTX560 2GB model.
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Here is the fan dismounted from the heatsink.
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And again we lift up the label.
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Here I had to use a drill to remove some of the plastic frame to get access to the bearing chamber.
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With this particular fan, the spaces in the bearing chamber housing are smaller and as such, less lubricant will fit in. I used 2 drops in this case. Worked the lube into the bearing by spinning the fan and doing the pull/push thing on the fan hub, then put in one more drop. Then I sealed up the label again.

Anyone is invited to pose questions and ask for advice on how to perform a fan servicing. Photo's are always helpful and encouraged. Please limit resolution to 1920x1080ish and use the "Attach files" button to post photo's directly in the forum post. External image hosting services can be troublesome.

As far as the "best" lubricant to use, I use something special and I can give a guide on how to make it, but any bearing oil you can find at a hardware store will do the job well.

So there you go folks, be courageous and service your fans with confidence! Cheers All!

@Greenslade

While I created this guide for everyone, you were the motivator for this thread. I hope this helps with your fan issue.

 

[Dr. Dro]

If the old fan attempts to move, you can usually disassemble it and add grease:

Sweet! I recall @lexluthermiester's thread. It's a great resource!

Unfortunately in this case the fan doesn't seem to spin at all anymore, there's no resistance in the bearing (movement is smooth and there is no creaking or odd noises). I think the motor croaked from old age or an electrical failure.

The fan I've adapted works well, though.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

Found this to be useful...

 

[Dr. Dro]

Found this to be useful...

Will definitely give this a watch, but in my case there was/is no issue with the supply itself, it was just a fan failure.

It's great to see a PSU outliving the fan without issue, Enermax created a solid, if a little weird platform. As you can see in the pictures in my post that was merged with the OP, this one has 6 12V rails compared to the modern day single rail designs.

 

[TimatPSUTest.com]

The larger 10-inch Nidec UPS fans had a similar failure mode. When the ball bearing grease went bad the driver chip overheated and failed.

 

[Dr. Dro]

The larger 10-inch Nidec UPS fans had a similar failure mode. When the ball bearing grease went bad the driver chip overheated and failed.

Yep, looks like that is what happened with this one. There seems to be an IC on a small PCB that is clearly toasted, or at least something right next, looks scorched around it. Can't see very well, the thing is glued tight. Wonder how that happened?

 

[Veseleil]

I use P14 fans (not PWM) on both of my PSUs for years now. The problem is to find a fan that will actually spin at idle, because the most I've tried out there just won't.

Is what makes P14 usable for my PSUs. They don't have the idle RPMs like the original PSU ones, but they're pressure optimized fans to compensate. Never had any issues so far in years, nor heard them being loud neither.
There's also to consider that most PSU fans are 135mm, so you'd have to ghetto a few new mounting holes on the fan itself.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I use P14 fans (not PWM) on both of my PSUs for years now. The problem is to find a fan that will actually spin at idle, because the most I've tried out there just won't.
View attachment 352797
Is what makes P14 usable for my PSUs. They don't have the idle RPMs like the original PSU ones, but they're pressure optimized fans to compensate. Never had any issues so far in years, nor heard them being loud neither.
There's also to consider that most PSU fans are 135mm, so you'd have to ghetto a few new mounting holes on the fan itself.

Nice, I'll keep this in mind. I wonder about the connector issue I ran into. The Power Cooler fan that came with this PSU uses a very tiny 2-pin connector by comparison, while the Globe that I took from the EVGA's connector is easily twice as large. Did a nice solder job on the cable to get it to fit, put it on a heat shrink and isolated with electrical tape to make sure it`s perfectly safe.

I used some overtightened zip ties to workaround the 135 vs 140 mm thing. Used two zip ties, one side is just the "head" - tightened these and it worked fine to hold it in place.

 

[Veseleil]

Yeah, I saw you did your ghetto thing.
The fan that has <2V starting voltage would be ideal. I was afraid the cooling wouldn't be sufficient, but I barely push my PSUs over 50% load anyway. So I'm not recommending this (to be clear), just sharing my experience and observation. There's always a risk involved, though the PSU would just shut down if it's overheating. As long as I feel the air is coming at a decent flow rate from the exhaust (by putting my joined fingers near it), I say it's fine.
And I can't really remember, but I think I did solder the OG fan's connector on one of them, and just used the P14's fan connector on the other, because it kinda just fits.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Unfortunately in this case the fan doesn't seem to spin at all anymore, there's no resistance in the bearing (movement is smooth and there is no creaking or odd noises). I think the motor croaked from old age or an electrical failure.

The motor windings might have broken, overheated, or might have shorted somehow. It happens. Glad you got it working man!