An unusual autopsy on a dead server fan that was killed by the placement of a huge magnetic field outside the case it was in.
This fan was sent to me (packed carefully in chocolate coated marzipan) by two Danish YouTubers who had inadvertently caused it's demise in a collaboration they had done together involving some servers and the biggest neodymium iron boron magnet they could find. You can see the original video here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvyWGq3fn7k
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
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17 thoughts on “Dead server fan autopsy. unusual circumstances.”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Alex Loktionoff says:

    Overengineered schematic, isn't ZVS generator based on two MOSFETs with few resistors and capacitors enough?

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Charles Hepplewhite says:

    Love the show, keep it up. It could have been induces voltages from the magnet passing over the motor windings thereby obliterating the zener diodes. Wonder if the motor had an all metal case that the Faraday cage would have saved it?😮

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Justin-TPG says:

    The real tragedy with these four-pole magnets is that they trim the two easts and wests off in the factory and just throw them away

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars dmacmakes says:

    My first thought (before you checked components) was that the magnetic fields of the rotor magnets was altered by the enormously stronger neodymium magnet, giving the sensors conniptions.

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Alex Mac says:

    This motor arrangement is similar to my underwater ROV. Gladius Mini. . . . . awful for fine sediment and even dried salt to dry out between parts. Become quiet good at stripping and cleaning, also regimental at post dive cleaning procedure involving a soapy-bath. . . . Commercial Divers and Iridium magnets have become inseparable, due to their portability and strength. . . . used with a short lanyard to stay on location around Oil-Rigs or ships. . . . . . Nightmare for me when using Induced Magnetism NDT techniques, as they tend to leave a residual footprint. . . . . (ACFM or Eddy-Current)

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars roger russell says:

    Ave has a sheet of green plastic which detects magnetic fields ..perhaps he'll let you have a borrow of it

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars David Wise says:

    moving a very intense magnetic field across the windings may have induced a very high voltage which fried the zeners and the other "transistor". Who knows??

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars carlu bambi says:

    don't mess with magnets .There are some old speaker that used to destroy tvs and watches quarts and mechanical .The old CRT or plasma screens are absolutely destroyed by them .Old hard drive magnets were deadly on your fingers pinching them and when they slamed against eachother they would make a huge spark !

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars dilly says:

    I’ve known about these magnets and exactly how terrifying they can be for a while, but a thought popped in my head while watching this that never occurred to me previously. How in the bloody hell are these things made? I mean, for fuck’s sake, it’s not like they’re only produced one at a time per room in a factory, right? I can’t even imagine what kind of injuries have occurred in the field of neodymium magnet manufacturing. I suspect that either there are some seriously cautious individuals making these or all of it is done in China.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars cj691 says:

    MRI rated ambulance? xD

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Eldestisland says:

    I suppose that, if they were moving the magnet really fast, they might have induced a current in the windings, like a generator

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jester says:

    Is there a 'Forensic Electrician' job? Because that's the vibe I got from this video. Love it!

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jimmys fans and more says:

    Aww poor cute little server fan

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Gabriel V. says:

    Nice!

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ben Coss says:

    Well I really don't know what to say about damn things and why do we need magnets as strong I'm sure there's an application, but strong enough that you can't get them apart and have to amputate a baby's limb or an appendage because you can't get them apart! That is surely Ludacris.

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Wilbur Jaywright says:

    “now that may seem like a lot for a magnet, but when you when you realize it was the biggest magnet…” ohoh YEAH, that country secret spice recipe German neodymium magnet, literally every magnet science YouTuber uses to demonstrate why neodymium magnets are to be FEARED, yeah that one “…you really begin to understand.”

  17. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hex says:

    I think their magnet actually would have induced current in the disks as they spun.

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