Hello everyone!
I am attempting to build an LCD projector and was wondering if someone knew whether I could soder the wires of a computer fan to a power adapter (from Radio Shack)?
If so, should I use a 3V, 9V, 12V... power adapter, and what should the "mA" be (i.e. 500mA, 300mA)?
(i.e. power adapter: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=273-1773)
Also, what wires should I soder to the Adaptaplug (also from Radio Shack)? I noticed that most computer fans have three different wires: (1) blue, red, and black or (2) red, yellow, and black. Where on the Adaptaplug do I soder each of the colored wires?
(i.e. Adaptaplug: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=273-1722)
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I am attempting to build an LCD projector and was wondering if someone knew whether I could soder the wires of a computer fan to a power adapter (from Radio Shack)?
If so, should I use a 3V, 9V, 12V... power adapter, and what should the "mA" be (i.e. 500mA, 300mA)?
(i.e. power adapter: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=273-1773)
Also, what wires should I soder to the Adaptaplug (also from Radio Shack)? I noticed that most computer fans have three different wires: (1) blue, red, and black or (2) red, yellow, and black. Where on the Adaptaplug do I soder each of the colored wires?
(i.e. Adaptaplug: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=273-1722)
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Depending on the fans you have 9 or 12 would be a good choice, all computer fans I know of are designed to be run at 12V, that voltage difference is usually across the Red and Black wires, yellow being the RPM sensor used by some motherboards. Most computer fans will run well anywhere from 5V-14V, some take a little extra juice to get spinning but will run at a lower voltage, the advantage to running fans below their spec. is that thier sound output decreases, but so does their airlfow (CFM -cubic feet per minute) Personally I don't liek fan noise so I probably wouldn't use a 12V supply, most of the fans in my computer are running below 9V but then... I'm H20 cooled 😛
As for the amperage, 500mA is 0.5A some fans will have the amps they require written on them, my 120mm fans take about .45A each, where most 80mm fans are somewhere between .1 and .2A if it's a really high CFM 80mm maybe .35A, but that rating SHOULD be listed on the fan, the only fan I foudn lying around that didn't have that just now was a TMD fan, and it's.... ghetto so... who cares. SO basically you wont be able to run 5 .2A fans on one 500mA power adapter, but you could probably run 5 .1A fans on a 500mA adapter.
As for the Blue wire - in newer fans that blue wire is synonymous with the yellow wire (RPM Monitor) in older fans however the blue wire is sometimes the ground, and can also be positive, back in the good old days noone thought people would take computers apart except technicians, so if your fans are really antique, watch out.
Another note, it's quite difficult to damage a fan when using a DC Voltage near the spec. (~12V), just try what works with the wires, then solder - if you have a multimeter handy figure out which connecter on your power adapter is + and which is -(or ground) and then hook up the black wire usually to the - (ground terminal). If you touch the wires of the fan to the wrong terminals nothing drastic should happen, it will either spin backwards, or not spin at all - whatever you do though DO NOT try AC - it will bust your fan.
Hopefully that helps. - If I glazed over anything let me know.
As for the amperage, 500mA is 0.5A some fans will have the amps they require written on them, my 120mm fans take about .45A each, where most 80mm fans are somewhere between .1 and .2A if it's a really high CFM 80mm maybe .35A, but that rating SHOULD be listed on the fan, the only fan I foudn lying around that didn't have that just now was a TMD fan, and it's.... ghetto so... who cares. SO basically you wont be able to run 5 .2A fans on one 500mA power adapter, but you could probably run 5 .1A fans on a 500mA adapter.
As for the Blue wire - in newer fans that blue wire is synonymous with the yellow wire (RPM Monitor) in older fans however the blue wire is sometimes the ground, and can also be positive, back in the good old days noone thought people would take computers apart except technicians, so if your fans are really antique, watch out.
Another note, it's quite difficult to damage a fan when using a DC Voltage near the spec. (~12V), just try what works with the wires, then solder - if you have a multimeter handy figure out which connecter on your power adapter is + and which is -(or ground) and then hook up the black wire usually to the - (ground terminal). If you touch the wires of the fan to the wrong terminals nothing drastic should happen, it will either spin backwards, or not spin at all - whatever you do though DO NOT try AC - it will bust your fan.
Hopefully that helps. - If I glazed over anything let me know.
Thanks Mr.Kh.
I actually have another question.
I'm planning to use a new fan that I bought from CompUSA. This fan consists of a red, yellow, and black wire. At the end of these wires is a reddish plastic with 3 holes (3-pin?). Another wire also came with the fan. These wires are also red and yellow, but also include 2 black wires. At both ends is a clear plastic, one with four holes and the other with four pokey silver things. Then out of one of the clear plastic ends comes a red and black wire connected to a white plastic with 3 protruding pokers.
So would I be able to just take the red, yellow, and black wires connected to the fan and solder that to the Adaptaplug? Or, would I need to connect the other wire (the thicker one) to the wires connected to the fan and solder that to the Adaptaplug.
This is not the actual fan, but the wires (and their colors) connected to the fan and the separate thicker wires are exactly the same:
http://www.pctoys.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=125
Thanks again for the help.
I actually have another question.
I'm planning to use a new fan that I bought from CompUSA. This fan consists of a red, yellow, and black wire. At the end of these wires is a reddish plastic with 3 holes (3-pin?). Another wire also came with the fan. These wires are also red and yellow, but also include 2 black wires. At both ends is a clear plastic, one with four holes and the other with four pokey silver things. Then out of one of the clear plastic ends comes a red and black wire connected to a white plastic with 3 protruding pokers.
So would I be able to just take the red, yellow, and black wires connected to the fan and solder that to the Adaptaplug? Or, would I need to connect the other wire (the thicker one) to the wires connected to the fan and solder that to the Adaptaplug.
This is not the actual fan, but the wires (and their colors) connected to the fan and the separate thicker wires are exactly the same:
http://www.pctoys.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=125
Thanks again for the help.
OK, black = ground, red = +12 V, yellow = tacho signal(you don't need that one). So, solder the black wire from the fan to the - side of the adaptor and the red wire to the + side. That's it.
Yeah, the 3 pin connector is usually hooked up to a computer motherboard which has fan speed sensing (this is the yellow wire) The 4 pin connector is a molex connector which hooks directly up to power - the yellow wire is not needed in your application - so just hook the red and black up respectively as sikkek pointed out, unfortunately the adaptaplug looks as though - and + aren't well labeled, in which case you can try the two combinations and see which one causes the fan to spin.
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