I was visiting with our friends Amy and Ryan the other day and noticed a laptop cooler in their garage (a Targus Lap Chill Mat). I asked whether it was any good (as I’m considering getting one for my laptop) and Ryan said that it was but the cord was broken. He was going to repair it eventually (as he’s certainly qualified) but hadn’t found the time. So I took it home to see if I could repair it.
The laptop cooler.
The broken cord, right at the grommet junction. The Amazon reviews show that some people have this problem.
The screws for the cooler grill are inside the case…
Ryan had started to pry it apart but experience led me to believe this was the wrong way to start.
The cover seems to just be a round sleeve.
So I tentatively started peeling it up. The adhesive was not strong.
I was particularly careful when peeling the narrow bits.
The top and bottom pieces that tuck under the grill have a toothed piece attached.
All peeled up.
The USB cable goes through this notched piece that slips around the grommet.
Naked cooler. There are two rows of four screws top and bottom.
Top row.
The screws removed and the fan housing exposed. It is held by 5 screws.
The USB cord strain relief at bottom. 5 screws removed from the housing.
Two dirty fans.
Untangling the cord from the various strain relief posts and tabs.
The fans are liberated.
The grommet doesn’t seem to move on the cable, so I snipped it off at both ends of the grommet.
Done.
I drilled out the bit of cable left, it seemed to pop out.
Slid the grommet onto the USB plug end. Notice the fans have been cleaned…
Stripped the cable ends. This is a power cable so it only had two conductors. There was annoying nylon stranding with the copper that I had to separate and cut off.
Twisted together and ready for soldering.
Testing!
I insulated the soldered wires with little pieces of electrical tape. I need to buy some tiny shrink tubing.
I used shrink tubing over the whole length of the splice.
I reassembled (in the reverse order of disassembly) and massaged the cover back into position.
All done. It works.
9 comments:
Nice Job! very informative. I have another issue with this product tho, the usb end broke off, so i cut a usb phone charger in half and tried to splice but had no success and i dont know much about it but do you know what kind of usb cord i would need?
You should be able to use any USB cord. You need to splice the +5V and ground wires from the cable you are using, and make sure the other two cut wire, if they are there, are insulated so they don't short out. There's a "pinout" here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus
okay, I didnt realize the red was positive, and the black was negative with the wires coming from the fan, Ive got it spliced now red-red and black-white. the fans are running but they seem really weak? anything i can do for more power or?
They don't seem to be particularly powerful fans, since likely run at 5V and are kept slow so they'll be quiet. Not many options with USB power.
Nick
Alright thanks a lot!
That's exactly what I was looking for. Very informative (by the use of pictures). Thanks a bunch.
shortly after my initial problem, I ran into this one! so thanks x2!
thank you so much!! I had no idea how to remove the cover but the step by step pictures helped out a lot.
3/7/2013 Thanks for taking the time to post this. I also had not been able to figure out how to get this thing opened, and was so frustrated with Targus as I've had multiple pads quit within a couple of months of purchase. I almost threw it out years ago in anger, glad I didn't. I didn't follow your entire process as my issue was a little different and I took some shortcuts and also replaced fan assembly (with a $7 double fan netbook cooling pad from Big Lots..) Once you showed me where all the screws where, I was able to slit the fabric just under the top row of screws, spread the wide end just enough to get a stubby screw driver in and managed to get the fan assembly out without having to uncover and unscrew the narrow end of Chill pad. Was able to fit the new fan inbetween the screw posts to old fan, which help secure it in place. It could be centered but I was able to offset to the left, where all the heat generates on my 17" HP, so this will work better for me then the original.. New cord is short,fed out the right side opening, drectly under the USB port, with just enough length to nicely reach. Now don't have to deal with tangles, or hanging cord when not in use. The end attached to fan is protected within the Chill pad shell. I screwed shell back together, used two sided tape to close the fabric slit..its not as quite as nice as removing it, but much faster and the seam is hidden under the laptop anyway.
So,my $45 Chill Pad is now working great and the best part is that when it gets clogged up with dust I will now be able to just take out the 4 screws on the shell and remove the fan for vaccuming, instead of trying to poke dust off through the grate with q-tips and screwdrivers. So Thanks again !!
JM
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