Computer Fan Wiring

Askelluk

Askelluk

Well-Known Member
just made mine, from a old power supply fan and a old DC wire i had around the house... works a complete treat thanks guys :)
 
skippy pb

skippy pb

Well-Known Member
I have fans in the mail and a fan control box coming too. The control box is goin right next to my keyboard and computer screen (attached to my desk) and then the fans will be in all my stealth box's, which are far away from my computer 15 ft of wire maybe. I need to run the wires from the fans to the control box, so would anyone tell me what the standard wire is called. The black and red (positive/negative) wire is called and what gauge i should be looking for?

Could i use speaker wire?
 
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born2killspam

Well-Known Member
I have a few of those.. They come with interchangeable dc plug tips.. 300mA isn't alot though.. Some 12V fans will overheat and fry that by itself..
Go to some kind of thrift/pawn shop like Value Villiage.. They usually have bins of assorted adapters for less than a dollar..
Seriously though, isn't everybody pretty much tripping over old renegade dc adapters? I kinda thought thats why they had those bins..:)
 
HazeyWorld420

HazeyWorld420

Well-Known Member
Hey guys just to let everyone know, you can get fan controllers for computers that will enable you to change the speed. Like here Micro Center - 3.5" Fan Control Panel with Illumination & Sound Sensitivity Control Black. Then you would just need to hook up one power supply to it and it would controll 4 fans. You can also get one with a ac/dc adapter built in and there would be no wiring to do. Micro Center - iXtrerma Pro External 4 Channel Fan Controller with AC/DC Adapter. I have one of the controllers hooked up to a old router power supply and it works great! Pretty cheap too.
 
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born2killspam

Well-Known Member
DC fans also act like resistive loads, so you can use Ohm's law to slow a fan with a resistor for basically free.. AC motor speed control is complex, but DC not so much..
 
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kurafi45

Active Member
mogie said:
How to turn a PC fan into an exhaust or intake fan?


hi. i am a little bit new to all this, can you help me with getting the right cell phone charger or dc adapter, can you post some close up pictures of that charger you have posted with your helpful information? i can do with a name of the charger, and its model number. thank you, i appreciate your information but i am just having the problem of finding the right cell phone charger or dc adapter, since i dont know what to look for in the information written on the cell phone charger or dc adapter. blessings with you.
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born2killspam

Well-Known Member
Your 12V fan should be labeled with how many amps it will draw (if plugged into 12V).. Same goes for a 5V fan, but those are pretty puny..
Your charger/adapter should be labeled with its output voltage, and maximum current draw in Amps.. This number should be bigger than the fan's current draw to stay within rated power specs..
 
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unity

Well-Known Member
FallenHero said:
This is posted other places i'm sure but latley i have been saying this over and over again, and i havent really given full instructions, so i'm going to write a diy here for it.

You will need:

Electric Tape
PC Fan(s)
Cell Phone Adapter
Something to strip wire. (i use needle nose but you gotta be good to do it properly)

I'm going to wire two pc fans at once, for the heck of it. I'm no electrical expert, so you may want to look this up further - but i have had no problems yet. you want to match the voltage, and outputs from the fan, to the cord, as close as possible, i havent had a problem with any cell phone charger yet.

Here is the cell phone charger:




Here are the fans i will be using, if your fans have a yellow wire, ignore it, we are only worried about black and red here.



Now if you look close, on the cell phone charger, one of the wires has a white line, this has gone both ways before, but it's susposed to tell you what is postivie (black) and what negative (red). As i said it's gone both ways, but don't worry - it will only work one way, so before you tape them up and call it done, make sure it works, if it doesnt, switch them around. I reccomend trying Red to the white lined wire first, as so far for me it's mostly been negative(red).

Now you need to strip the wires on the fans, like you should have already done with the charger.



You can connect them with the wire connectors at a hardware store - but we are homeade here, a little electric tape will do, match your wires up, make sure black doesnt touch red, when you tape them you will do so seperatly, like in the image below, now remeber to make sure it works before you go taping it up, but dont touch the wires when you plug it in.

Now mount your fans wherever you want. Tell me if i missed anything as i just threw this together real fast.
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Sorry mate, but this makes no sense?! Why not just use the computer power supply, that way you can daisy chain them. All you have to do is jump 2 leads in the plug that would usually go to the mother board. Green to any Black will do (do a google search for a tutorial)
 

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born2killspam

Well-Known Member
With DC power the math works out to V^2/R, so at 5V with a 12V fan you're looking at roughly 1/6th the power (25V^2/144V^2).. It will blow, but not too hard.. I'd look for a 12V adapter atleast.. 9V really quiets up most fans if thats an issue.. You can run a 12V fan up to 25V normally.. I've always found 25V caps, not 16V's.. And you can run them as low as you want, so long as they turn (fast enough)..
Just don't cook your plants.. Find the beefiest adapter voltage-wise you can that runs the fan quiet enough, and make sure you aren't drawing too much current through it unless you want to walk in one day to find burnt out adapter/plants..

Edit: Actually, some 12V fans don't even turn at 5V, but most do..
 
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born2killspam

Well-Known Member
tittles said:
Hey sorry for the bumb

I havent read this whole thread but I use a regular power supply from a computer to use computer fans. I wired my old power supply to hook up my 1000watt amp to run my 12's from my car in my room

http://www.ehow.com/how_4448174_subwoofer-computer-home-theater-system.html

just read the instructions on what to do to the power supply

Sorry if this has already been said
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Umm, quite misinformed.. I don't know where to begin.. Well first off, those 12V rails are supposed to stay isolated.. The psu in there should be driving no more than 144W continuous at 12V.. Secondly psu's are deesign to run with a minimum current through the 5V rail to stabilize the 12V rail, and are likely to fail if too much is drawn through the 12V without enough for the 5V.. Almost any sub will draw too much at peak, and quite often.. And I don't know if its even possible to be discomforted by 12V without sticking the leads into your veins.. (That last one is an aside.. But don't stick 12V into your veins across your heart!!!!)
 
letsdickcheney

letsdickcheney

Member
found a old nidec alpha v TA450 cpu fan. the fan is AC (ac is always red alpha,dc is green beata right?) found the old specs online V=115 mA=110/104

adaptor is from old modem
ac adaptor input=120vac 100mA output= 12vdc 500mA

i'm going to strip both and match wires.

Q: the fan has another wire the ground and the adaptor has only two wires should i just leave the ground wire alone ?

thanx
 
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