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Jul 28, 2019 - 2 minute read - Comments - Not security Hardware

Disabling Cascade Fan's Beep

TL;DR:

  1. Open 11 screws.
  2. Remove the cap on the buzzer.
  3. Done.

The Cascade Personal Fan has a very loud beep. I disabled the beep by removing the cap from the buzzer. I am documenting my steps because in my quest, I saw a lot of people with the same issue.

We got a 2-pack from Costco and while the fan is very quiet, the beep is quite loud. Seems like everyone else has the same issue with this fan. All we need is a number 3 Philips screwdriver.

The box The box

There are two of them in the pack (because of course, it's Costco):

One fan One fan

First, we start with these four screws in the back.

Four screws in the back Four screws in the back

We can see the control board:

Back opened Back opened

We need to remove another three screws:

Closer look at the top Closer look at the top

Can't really remove the connection with the board screwed to the top. We need to remove four more screws:

Top detached Top detached

A closer look at the board (open the image in a new tab for a larger view):

Control board Control board

On the back of the board, we see:

  • Home Star international Ltd
  • 25400640000 V002
Back of the board Back of the board

We see a Piezo buzzer (I had to Google the type) marked with ZLFY. Looking around the internet, it seems like many household items use these buzzers and a lot of people are annoyed with the sounds. I saw guides on how to remove these buzzers for many items.

Buzzer Buzzer

The second result for searching ZLFY is the datasheet. It appears to be a ZLFY ZL-YDW12055-4005PA-7.5:

I used a flathead screwdriver to pop the buzzer cap:

Buzzer's cap Buzzer's cap

Having given away my soldering kit before the move, I was thinking I needed to unsolder the buzzer but the cap was actually easy to remove:

Buzzer's cap is a moved a bit Buzzer's cap is a moved a bit

And done:

Cap removed Cap removed

Enjoy no beeps and add Hardware Hacking to your resume /s.