You mean if you flick the fan blades it while it's off? That's normal. What you're feeling is a magnetic cogging in the motor that makes the fan want to prefer certain positions evenly spaced around it's rotation while at rest.
I uploaded a video.
It's like it doesn't stay on constantly and only spins every second. 12vdc 1Amp fan connected to a 12vdc 1amp adapter. What am I missing here?
I uploaded a video.
It's like it doesn't stay on constantly and only spins every second. 12vdc 1Amp fan connected to a 12vdc 1amp adapter. What am I missing here?
I see no video. But it sounds like it's having trouble starting up. Does it start running okay if you take a pencil and flick the blades to get it going? (don't use your fingers!)
And how many pins are on the fan? And are you plugging into a motherboard or straight into a battery or other power supply?
It sounds busted to me then unless it's a new fan or your wall adapter is somehow a bit too finicky (too much ripple messing up the startup or something like that) or insufficient current for the fan.
Well try plugging it into your motherboard or a different adapter. Sometimes, cheap wall wart power supplies don't always supply the thing we think they do.
The fan startup current is greater than its running current. During startup, it might be driving the power supply into an overcurrent shutdown and automatic restart.
As suggested above, connect the fan directly to the power supply, then spin the fan blades by hand to get them going.
So every once and a while if I keep tapping the power source it will build fan speed and run properly. So am I going to have to get some capacitors for a cap start set up? Is there anything else I can do?
So every once and a while if I keep tapping the power source it will build fan speed and run properly. So am I going to have to get some capacitors for a cap start set up? Is there anything else I can do?
This is a DC-fan it's not a "cap-start" in the sense where you need to produce a phase shift between voltage and current to begin to get a motor spinning. A big cap could help the wall-wart deal with that initial inrush current but I'm feeling it's probably going to need to be too big. I would just try another wall-wart.
What are the specs writen on your wall-wart anyways? Or just use some batteries to test it.