Electronic board fan

I was wondering how essential a fan blowing on the electronics is. I think my fan connection has shorted out so the only way I’ll be able to get a fan on it is just hook it up to a 9v battery or something while I’m running. This seems like kind of a hassle so I’m wondering if it’s necessary or if the board will stay in operating temperature range while printing.

Thanks for any input.

Chris

If the stepper motor drivers overheat it can cause issues. What happened prior to the fan failure?

Here’s what happened… I was switching out the small 40mm fan for a bigger 120mm fan to quiet things down a bit. When disconnecting the 40mm fan, I saw it spark across the two fan pin terminals on the board. Now either of the fans won’t work and the stepper motors won’t activate (I can’t move the nozzle through PrintRun anywhere). Obviously, I’m more concerned about the stepper motor failure right now. I’ve been trying to troubleshoot it, but the only thing that seems like a logical explanation at this point is that there was a short somewhere that affected all the motors, including the extruder. Is that possible?

Have you checked the fuses? http://reprap.org/wiki/Rambo#Fuses

You are a lifesaver. I didn’t even realize there were fuses on the board. I used DMM and verified there was no continuity across the motor fuse. I then switched the two fuses (just to verify that the motors were still working properly) and the motors worked. Looks like I just need to replace a fuse. Thank you for your help!

Awesome. Glad to hear it.