TF01Fan Blower

Disclaimer...

In case you are asking. I bought this product with my own money. This is a purely honest review of a product that I got from ebay.

And no, if you click on the link that takes you to the product page I will not be getting any cent from it.

Summary: Should you buy this Blower?

If you’re thinking about buying this blower just because you might need a blower, then no!

But if you know you need a blower (AND don't have space for a compressor) for example: to blow dust off your photographic gear, electronics, sound system, the spark plug hole when swapping a spark plug, or any other job where you’d otherwise need an air can or compressor then yes, I can recommend this product. If you want to know why I recommend it and what gave me the peace of mind to suggest it to you, keep reading. I did a series of tests (but I’m no specialist), that gave me enough confidence to give this product a green light for safety and performance.

Yes, this blower can replace air cans for blowing dust! In fact, this blower costs about the same as 12 air cans! And yes, I find air cans absolutely useless. I’ve never used one, but just the idea of trapping air in a non-reusable aluminum can gives me a headache! I used to use a bicycle pump or a compressor to blow dust off the stuff I mentioned earlier (though you’ve got to be careful with compressors, as they tend to blow oil or water along with the air). And now, this little blower has totally replaced those other devices for me.

But if you have room for a compressor, go buy one instead, you can find them for cheap around 100Euros! at Ebay
https://www.ebay.de/itm/305825043067
https://www.ebay.de/itm/224809989846
https://www.ebay.de/itm/302801680341
https://www.ebay.de/itm/386208474182

Safety: Will it Blow?

It has a lithium-ion battery in it, so It might blow as far as I know... The same way even high tech products like electric cars or smartphones blow or catch fire... But to make sure the developers have taken some precautions for the blower not to blow, I did some testing...

What battery is in it?

The brand name is XYZ, and I’ve never heard of it. But after doing some research, it turns out to be a Chinese brand. China is the place for lithium-ion batteries, good or bad ones... So, feel free to do your own research, but I feel confident enough that the battery inside this product is safe enough. That said, I can’t guarantee it won’t burn or explode.

Is there short-circuit protection? I haven’t tested that. I didn’t want to take the battery apart, but based on the tests below, it seems like the BMS (Battery Management System) is located inside the blue battery pack.

Is there a cut-off voltage to avoid over-discharge?

Yes, there is,around 5.35V, which works out to over 2.5V per cell. That should be fine. I’d prefer if it were 6V, but I made things a bit more interesting by running the blower on low speed right after charging it for about 30 seconds. This tricked the Battery Management System (BMS) to see how it would react. For this test, I started with a "dead battery" and a non-working blower. I then plugged it in for about half a minute, unplugged the charger, zeroed my meter, and set it to log the minimum and maximum voltages. The meter showed a starting voltage of 6.126V, and after I started the blower at its lowest setting, the lowest voltage recorded was 5.356V.

Most interestingly of all, after a while, the battery voltage kept dropping. I assume what I was reading was the capacitor discharging. Connecting the blower to a USB-C charger instantly brought the voltage back up, and after a couple of seconds, the blower was operational again.

By the way, does anyone know what the capacitor across the battery leads is doing? Is it there to filter voltage spikes from the blower motor?

Of course there is a Max. Voltage cutoff, around 8.22V, but I had also measured 8.35V at one time... All Below the 8.4V, so again we are safe here.

Performance: Does it suck?

Not really! It kinda blows quite strongly! It managed 125grams on the scale, how much that is in more useful numbers I have no idea. One thing is for sure, the images shown on the ebay are simply for marketing! I have not tested the blower in any situation similar as the ones shown there, but I doubt one could use it to blow snow or leaves off a windshield... But after some expectation management, this little blower is good for blowing dust out of optics and electronics for sure!

And how does it power the motor

For that an oscilloscope was attached to one of the three leads (U, V, W) that go to the electric motor.

At the lowest speed one can look at a 10khz Signal with an 8.8V pk to Pk and 2.59V RMS.

At medium Speed still 10KHz but the Pk to Pk has increased to 9.2V and a 3.89V RMS.

At high Speed things become more interesting! My scope skills were able to register 15KHz, the Pk to Pk remained at 9.2V but with a 4.80V RMS. Unfortunately the Frequency and the Period don't make any sense.

Quality: Meh... but Good enough for the price

Considering the €36 shipped price tag, the quality is good enough!

But if we’re looking at the quality alone, without factoring in the price, well… it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s no Toyota, that’s for sure. You can tell this product was streamlined down to the last cent to make it as cost-efficient as possible. Honestly, for a home-user tool, I think that’s okay.

The manual it comes with is written in good-enough, understandable English, though ChatGPT might have helped a bit here and there to get things just right. Nevertheless, it’s easy to understand.

The slow and medium speeds can be left running with one button press to turn the blower on, and another press to turn it off. But the fastest speed requires you to press and hold the button for it to operate. This leaves me thinking... will it blow? Or catch fire? Well, so far the only useful speed for me is the fastest, so I’ll make sure to keep you posted if anything happens.

That said, and ignoring the price, the fit and finish could definitely be better. And no, the product doesn’t look or feel quite like it’s shown on the eBay page. It feels like it could have been heavier, maybe with a better battery, that might have been achievable.

Design: Effort was made + Magnets!

The different nozzles attach magnetically! That's a cool design feature

Some cars have fake exhausts that are just for show. This blower, on the other hand, has vent ports that actually serve a purpose. They blow off air, presumably to cool down the components inside the handle, the electronics and the battery. The vent ports even come with a mesh to keep larger objects, especially metallic ones, from getting inside and causing things to go boom!

USB-C is a huge plus, and yes, I tested it with a 5V 3A charger. Even though the tool is rated for a maximum of 5V 2A, it doesn’t blow up.

Price: 36 euros shipped, size is king

Kinda expansive if you think about what you are getting and compare it with a compressor, even the cheapest compressor for 80 Euros will be better than this little blower at everything! But it won't be small nor will it be portable nor will it be "always ready" as compressors need a couple minutes to fill up their tank.

For blowing dust off optics I would still recommend a hand blower, I own one and carry it around with my gear, it works all the time and does not need a battery to operate. But yes this fan blower can blow faster, stronger and for a lot longer than one could with a hand blower.

So if you need a small footprint or if you need portability or if you aim a more efficient device to blow air, this little blower will do the trick for you.

Thanks for reading and let me know if I missed anything!