How to replace the FAN of a ZWO Astrophotography Camera

In this video, I show my attempt to replace the broken fan of my ZWO cooled Camera. Hope this is useful for anyone who deals with a broken or intermittent fan on his/her ZWO astrophotography camera.
Clear skies!
Wido.
Replacement FAN is about $15 and can be bought here:
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[@ADifficultQuest]

I noticed when you remove the old fan, you accidently remove the plastic housing that connects the fan to the circuit board as the pins were exposed. Normally, there would be a plastic connection spot. Did you check the old fan? Around 1:30 is when the whole housing and connection was removed.

[@avt_astro206]

Great Tutorial!! I didn't Know We Could Replace The Heatsink Fan?🤔.. Informative Video!!

[@AstroForumSpace]

Thanks man!

[@TheAnoniemo]

The flat-head screwdriver on the philips screws was a good start. I wonder if a Noctua fan would bring any improvements, as they often do.

[@AstroForumSpace]

TX for the suggestion. I may try that one!

[@sandb1867]

The Noctura seems to be the way to go but I think the vibration problem (egg shaped stars) will be more noticeable with higher magnifications and higher resolution cameras.

[@alfreottero2015]

Using a flat head screwdriver to take out the phillips screws.

[@AstroForumSpace]

Yes yes, my sincere apologies 😉

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks Wido for this informative video! Cheers and clear skies!! 🌠🎆🍻

[@AstroForumSpace]

Thanks Chris!

[@scottrk4930]

Did the new fan work ? Was the old one just noisy or did it not spin at all ? Reason I ask is that you could have had a bad circuit board or a bad solder joint on the connector on that board . I would have tried the fan before putting all the screws and plates back . Hope everything is working now,./SRK

[@AstroForumSpace]

Yes, and good suggestion. Clear skies!

[@grabbit9215]

thank you for sharing this.

[@AstroForumSpace]

You're welcome!

[@OlliesSpace]

I feel like there must be a fan joke in here. Maybe "if you replace every ZWO fan there will be nobody doing astrophotography". Nice vid Wido.

[@AndySupraTT]

Is the fan spinning the correct direction? I noticed that the wires were the opposite way around (probably because you also removed the female end of the fan connector at the same time as the male end). Might not make any difference to the cooling to be honest.

[@AstroForumSpace]

Hmm, good point. I'll check it out.

[@kalon9999]

Did you match the direction of the airflow? You wouldn't want to be blowing external air on to the heatsink, but rather creating negative pressure to extract warm air away from it.

[@AstroForumSpace]

There's a sticker on one side of the fan so you can remember how to place the new fan in the same position

[@RobertKarlBerta]

The label is on the inside facing the heat sink. There was a molded in direction arrow on the fan showing air flow which blows on the heat sink. Vibration shows on these resulting in softer image in some cases. Any recommendation for high quality fan replacement and source? Is this a generic size...think 50mm?

[@jeffballphoto]

Thank you for sharing that helpful info.

[@AstroForumSpace]

Thanks Jeff! Good luck with your livestream. Happy to do a collab! What timezone are you in?

[@jeffballphoto]

@@AstroForumSpace eastern daylight time right now.

[@jedidiahwest4619]

I’m guessing your warranty was expired. Wondering how long the fan usually last and if I should buy the extended warranty. But of course with this easy fix it was probably faster to just order a new fan.

[@AstroForumSpace]

Hi, yes. I've had this camera for over three years. Clear skies!

[@fazergazer]

Very neat. Here in USA if these go bad they are sent back to China to repair, which takes 9-12 months…..!

[@AstroForumSpace]

Hmm, that's terrible. I can probably do it inside of 1 or two months :-).

[@Mrpaulgs]

I didn't see the elastomeric washers (o-rings) during disassembly, did you add those?

[@AstroForumSpace]

Probably, can't remember...

[@AstroQuest1]

Nice and informative video Wido. Take care of that nose. - Cheers Kurt

[@AstroForumSpace]

Maybe I should call myself astrorudolph the red nosed reindeer. How are your Kurt? Hope everything is ok. Clear skies!

[@AstroQuest1]

@@AstroForumSpace Ha Ha, Thanks Wido, really busy now - summer break is coming to an end. - Cheers

[@AstroForumSpace]

@@AstroQuest1 I know what that feels like. Good luck.

[@AncalimeNL]

Wido, is it a 3pin or 4 pin connector?

[@AstroForumSpace]

honestly, I can't remember. Would need to open it up again.

[@valentinotera3244]

But is this problem so frequent? I mean this is scaring the sh*t out ofme if I'm going to spent 2 grands for a MM cooled camera.

[@AstroForumSpace]

It happened to me once in 10 years 😀