Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Do you have a Fisher Price cradle swing with a dead motor?
Do you want to spend $9 instead of $50+ dollars to repair it?
Even better, do you have a working Air Wick Freshmatic (or Freshmatic Express) air freshener laying around?
If you answered yes to those questions, then read up, cause I'll tell you how to replace the main motor in your swing with the motor from the air freshener... cause they are THE SAME!
Besides the above items you will need:
1x Small flathead screwdriver
1x Small Phillips screwdriver
1x Medium Phillips screwdriver
1x Soldering gun + solder
1x Wire strippers/cutter
Some electrical tape, or if you wanna be fancy, heat shrink tubing.
Do you want to spend $9 instead of $50+ dollars to repair it?
Even better, do you have a working Air Wick Freshmatic (or Freshmatic Express) air freshener laying around?
If you answered yes to those questions, then read up, cause I'll tell you how to replace the main motor in your swing with the motor from the air freshener... cause they are THE SAME!
Besides the above items you will need:
1x Small flathead screwdriver
1x Small Phillips screwdriver
1x Medium Phillips screwdriver
1x Soldering gun + solder
1x Wire strippers/cutter
Some electrical tape, or if you wanna be fancy, heat shrink tubing.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Rip apart your air freshener
Did you run out and buy the air freshener or have one laying around? Sweet, you are good to go.
1. Open it up, I used an old one laying around, so I pulled out the batteries and can, if it's new, you may be able to skip this step.
2. Get a small flathead screwdriver and remove the 2 triangular screws in Pic 2.
3. Using a Phillips, remove the 3 screws in Pic 3. The 2 large gears slide off their posts easily, using a flathead screwdriver, pry the small gear off the shaft of the motor.
4. Remove the 2 screws in Pic 4 and unclip the power cord to the motor seen in Pic 5.
5. Snip off the plastic clip and that's it! This motor will be replacing the dead one in your swing.
Pitch all the leftover parts of the air freshener, or use it for crafts, whatever floats your boat. The AA batteries should be fine, AND you can still use the can of freshener manually!
1. Open it up, I used an old one laying around, so I pulled out the batteries and can, if it's new, you may be able to skip this step.
2. Get a small flathead screwdriver and remove the 2 triangular screws in Pic 2.
3. Using a Phillips, remove the 3 screws in Pic 3. The 2 large gears slide off their posts easily, using a flathead screwdriver, pry the small gear off the shaft of the motor.
4. Remove the 2 screws in Pic 4 and unclip the power cord to the motor seen in Pic 5.
5. Snip off the plastic clip and that's it! This motor will be replacing the dead one in your swing.
Pitch all the leftover parts of the air freshener, or use it for crafts, whatever floats your boat. The AA batteries should be fine, AND you can still use the can of freshener manually!
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
Will this same method work for the mobile as well?
Background history on my swing: I was given a swing in which the mobile doesn't work,. I've since converted it to electric and if you wiggle the control switch it will reset the music (which happened before conversion) and sometimes the music will continue to play and the light will stay on instead of shutting off.
Any tips/advice is welcome! :D
My motor was failing but the failing symptom is that it blew up the transistor on the control board. I replaced the transistor once and it ran for a couple of hours before it blew up again. The brushes must be starting to short out internally. My external power supply showed the current jumping around.
So if you replace the motor and it still won't run, trace the yellow wire to the circuit board and follow the trace to the transistor. Mine had an old 8550 PNP transistor. I replaced it with the closest I could find which was an updated SS8550 from Mouser for $0.03, I bought a couple just in case, good thing because the first one blew up because the motor was failing.
Mine ran with this replacement motor for another 6 months before my son out grew the swing.
The swing motor has a freewheel diode (the back cylinder) and noise suppression capacitor (the brown disk) soldered to the terminals. These are important and must be transferred to the new motor in the same orientation.
The motor turning direction isn't critical, but it's probably best to retain the original clockwise rotation. The new motor has a round depression and subtle '+' mark near one terminal. This connects to the yellow wire. The other side, grounded to the metal case (see below) connects to the green wire. If you lose track, the white band of the diode goes toward the yellow side.
One lead of the capacitor extends over the edge and is soldered to the motor case. This isn't critical for swing operation but reduces radio interference. Try to duplicate it if you can.
While the swing is apart and you have the soldering iron out, it's a good time to install a wall brick power option. The best way to do this is with a power jack with built-in switch. This will let you use an unmodified wall brick, give the option of disconnecting it, and automatically disconnect the battery when you plug in. Radio Shack is still good for this type of part, try #274-1565 (5x2.1mm), #274-1583 (5.5x2.5mm) or #274-1582 (5.5x2.1mm).
Is that the same as a busted motor and would the air freshner fix it? Or is this an entirely different animal? And if so, is it possible to fix?
Thank you for your help.
I should add that you don't need heat shrink for the motor replacement. Solder the original green and yellow wires directly to the motor terminals. You'll be transferring the diode and capacitor over to those terminals anyway.
The new motor is faster and louder than I remember the old one being. It may break in with use and become quieter. I suspect that it's a RF-500TB-12560 motor instead of the original RF-500TB-18280. The motors are same dimensions, but have different current and torque characteristics.