Hello, I have a cinema camera that uses two BFB04512HD-TD59 motors that are making bearing noise. The motor has a red, black and blue wire. I cannot find that part number anywhere. The one you sell similar is BFB04512HD-R00, only the last 3 digits are different. Is it safe to use BFB04512HD-R00? Not sure if the OEM motor is locked rotor sensor or tachometer. Is it safe to use a locked motor sensor in something that was designed to use tachometer? Will it function the same? I don’t want to damage my camera. The camera’s settings for fan is “normal”, “high on standby and then spins down to low when recording”, and “low” setting. Not sure if these settings would work differently if I use the wrong motor.
Thanks
Hi,
Welcome to the Digikey tech forum. I wasn’t able to find what the TD59 suffix calls out. I would say this is a custom part made specific for the application. The locked rotor sensor signals whether the fan is spinning or not, a simple on/off signal and the tach sensor detects the speed of the fan and uses different circuitry so the function would be different. I did check for possible alternates and didn’t find one to offer for this.
Thanks for the quick reply Steve. If I tried and wired the generic BFB04512HD-R00 motor, do you think it would damage my camera?
Assuming the failing units are not seized, a person should be able to easily check this by applying power to the fan and observing the signal present on the remaining lead(s); a likely third option is that this is a speed control input; if four wires are present, one is likely speed control and the other non-power lead either tach or locked rotor sensor. A description of common DC fan signals can be found here.
Substituting a fan with locked-rotor feedback for one with a tach signal (or vice-versa) will not necessarily result in damage, though it may also not work or not work properly depending on how said signal is used. Fan failures in improperly protected equipment can result in damage due to overheating, and it’s conceivable that a replacement fan drawing more power than the original could cause damage to the fan drive circuit, though within reason this seems an unlikely result to me.
Best bet would be to do a bit of homework/measurement and find something that’s as close a match as possible.
Thanks. See picture. I’m going to give it a shot and wire it in. The fan looks identical to the one you guys sell (BFB04512HD-R00). The voltage is the same except that the original was made in Thailand. Thanks.
Well, I wired it up and the fans worked, but the camera gave an error saying that the fans where obstructed or not working. So I guess the OEM fans must have tachometer sensor instead of locked rotor. Thanks for your help.
BFB04512MD-F00 and BFB04512VHDX01 are a couple in stock currently that look like they may fit and have tach function. The latter is a higher-output model, and probably the one I’d try were I in your shoes.