Problems w/ extra fans for Cigar Oasis XL Plus

[paris1129]

I purchased 3 additional fans for my cigar oasis xl plus in my montegue cabinet humidor. After spending this morning trying to get everything set up, I have noticed a couple of things that bug me about this setup. I am hoping that someone out there has hooked up extra fans to the same unit that can perhaps answer/comment on some questions/observations I have, as I cannot seem to find any info on adding fans to the oasis on google search, and the mfg website doesn't have any info on adding fans, either!

1. Each time I add a fan, the other fans get slower, I presume because the same amount of power is now split between more fans. Is this supposed to happen? It seems to me like this sort of defeats the purpose of having more fans if each fan blows 1/2 to 1/4 of what one does by itself...

2. The digit display goes out now that I have extra fans plugged in. Is it supposed to do this? If I press a button it comes back on, but if left untouched for 10 seconds, the display just shuts off. I assume this is due to the same split electricity thing from above. Is it supposed to do this, and are there long term consequences from this happening(like shorting out or something)? I am also concerned that maybe the sensor won't work properly without enough electricity, so it may not shut itself off once it reaches the right RH% (it hasn't stopped running yet, but could be because it will take longer to go back up to the RH setting since the fans are blowing so slow!).

3. The ribbon cord and connectors for the fans don't seem long enough to do any good, as the extra fans can only be a couple of inches away from the main unit since they are so short! How are some of you folks hooking your extra fans up? I had wanted to put one fan on each shelf (I have 3), but I can see now in practice that I can't do that unless I get much longer ribbon cables.

4. Speaking of ribbon cords, cheaphumidors (where I bought the kit from) said that the hydra kit only needs 1 ribbon cord, but the cigar oasis kit is the same thing but includes an extra ribbon cord that is needed for this unit. I have yet to figure out why I need 2 ribbon cords, as one worked just as well as using two. I have both plugged into the same outlet on the side of the oasis, as you can see in the photo below. But there is also an outlet on the back of the unit, but when I plugged the fans into that slot, it didn't work, so I assume I did this correctly. I cannot find instructions anywhere online on the proper way to add fans to a cigar oasis, just hydra and others. Can anyone shed some light on if I did this correctly?

5. The fans do not stay in place. They don't work well if I place them flat on the shelf, as they seem to need to circulate air from beneath the fan and blow it out. How are some of you locating your additional fans to actually achieve improved airflow? Right now, I used match sticks to stick in each corner so it is like they are on a little stand. You can see what I did in the picture below. It also shows how close together I have to place the damn things instead of being able to place them on the shelves above.

[Wharf Rat]

(1) and (2) mean that you are trying to pull too much power and the voltage is dropping. Either your wall circuit or something in the humidor is overloaded. Is a wire or transformer somewhere getting warm? Its not supposed to be a heater.

[paris1129]

I went to check, and sure enough, the plug adapter itself was pretty warm. I have unplugged it and will wait for it to cool off, and then I will plug it into another outlet in my house and see if the extra fans still make it run slower.

[paris1129]

Well, I just tried it in another outlet in my house (another room entirely without anything else plugged in there) and the same thing happened: each time I added a fan, the other ones got slower, so I don't think its something specific to the outlets in my humidor or what I have plugged in there...

[Rabidsquirrel]

Look at the adapter and tell us what the wattage is on it.

Right off the top I would say you don't have the amperage to drive all of that with that transformer.

[paris1129]

Originally Posted by Rabidsquirrel

Look at the adapter and tell us what the wattage is on it.

The adapter that came with the Cigar Oasis?

[Rabidsquirrel]

Yes.

[paris1129]

The adapter says:

CLASS 2 POWER SUPPLY
MODEL: KU1B-120-0200D
INPUT: 120V 60Hz 6VA
OUTPUT: 12VDC 200mA

- -C- +

[paris1129]

The adapter is no longer warm to the touch when running only the cigar oasis by itself without the extra fans.

[Wharf Rat]

First, you really should check with the manufacturer. Chances are, you need an individual adapter for each fan.

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by paris1129

The adapter says:

CLASS 2 POWER SUPPLY
MODEL: KU1B-120-0200D
INPUT: 120V 60Hz 6VA
OUTPUT: 12VDC 200mA

- -C- +

The power supply for my Hydra puts out 1000mA and powers all three fans just fine. The power supply does get warm (not hot), but it is warm regardless of whether I use no fans or all three fans.

I used some silicone adhesive to lightly glue the fans to the side of my coolidor. This seems to work fine and I get plenty of airflow throughout:



Here is a close up of the fans and you can just barely see the adhesive: