DIY Wiring : fans!

Katilah

Active Member
HOW TO WIRE THOSE DAMNED COMPUTER FANS TO A WALL SOCKET!


K guys. I am baked. but I will try to instruct you all on this sunday afternoon of how to properly wire a 12v computer fan to a standard 9v power supply from a cell phone.

Yes. this is 3v lower then what the fan says.
This will slow the fan a bit and lessen the noise! trust me its awesome!

If you wire a 9v fan to a 12v power supply you will smoke your fan faster than a waterfall bong. Dont do it.


Materials:
-Scissors (If your really fancy, wire splicers. expensive, but strip a real nice wire)
-12v Computer fan
-electric tape.

Step 1 : Gather materials.

Step 2 : Remove any input end from the adapter. doesnt matter what the tip is as long as your power supply has 2 wires (copper or silver) and your fan has 2 wires.

REMEMBER: Your supply must be a Lesser voltage than your fan or you will BURN YOUR FAN OUT.



Step 3 : Your fan will have 2-3 wires. Red and black are important, Yellow is speed control. I dont know how to wire that one, so Just tie it off for now. Strip all 4 exposed ends (2 from ac adapter, 2 from fan(red and black)). With scissors, simply cut through the plastic without cutting through the metal. this can take patience. I use scissors as I am too cheap for wire cutters. This wire is ready to have the plastic coating pulled directly off.

When you are done , you should have this.

Step 4 : when you have your wires stripped , you can now test the charge of your fan.
Warning: Shock hazard.
Plug in
your ac adapter, being careful not to touch the exposed ends of power. Now touch one ACend to the black wire on the fan and one ACend on the red wire. If the fan turns, you have the wires correct. Some fans will turn both ways, some wont. Some turn better one way. some dont matter. figure out which cable goes to which side and tape it off.

(p.s. if you shock yourself with a 9v power supply, itll be about the same as sticking your tounge on one of those batteries. not pleasent, but not deadly. I strongly discourage electrocuting yourself in any extent however.)



Step 5: Braiding wires :
Now that you have your wires figured out, start by making one turn around a wire midway through both of your stripped ends.

Tip: The more exposed end you have, the better a braid you can make. however the harder it will be to cover up later, and make look sloppier. I recommend an inch.

Step 6 : Continue to wrap the exposed wire around the opposite wire, living 1/2 the wire free and unwrapped above your braid.

Step 7: Once your first braid is complete, fold back your loose end and braid it overtop of the braid you've already done.

Step 8 : Take a small Piece of electric tape, putting the wire as close to the edge as possible. Now carefully wrap this around till you have a secure seal over the plastic. Ensure that there is electric tape overlapping platic wiring on EITHER side of your braid. the more, the merrier.

What you should have now :


Step 9 : Cleaning it all up : This is where you can do what you will, mount it to a hood, light, anything. always keep common sense in mind. lights are hot. wires are not meant to be. don't put wires directly on bulbs or in huge heat areas!.
Hereswhat I did with mine. It will be blowing directly on the plants, So I just needed to clean up my wireing and ensure no loose ends. here it is :


Step 10 : Self Explanatory

 

KingOfBud

Well-Known Member
Nice. Its not the hardest thing to wire these babies, but yet we still get questions? Hopefully this will sort those out.
 

rkm

Well-Known Member
The yellow wire generally ties into a thermostat. Some computers will use variable speed fans. The hotter the computer is, the faster the fan spins.
 

Katilah

Active Member
yes , if going into a computer power supply like I have some of my fans on in my grow, you can use the yellow one. for going into outlet power I dont know if you can porperly wire a thermostat.
 

xbravoz

Well-Known Member
This works well for vibrator/dildo as well....for those of us that have girlfriends that can go through a drawer full off batteries in a single night....(she sure loves her toys)
 

coolman1a

Well-Known Member
Hey is there a way that i can wire my 3 fans onto the same 12v adapter? The fans arent too big and I was thinking of geting seperate wire and wire the ends of all the fans until theres only 2 wires, red and black of all the fans, as in all the red wires of all the fans connected to a single wire and then to the adapter and same thing with the black wires so that it would be like just having 1 fan, not sure if you understand but is this possible?
 

coolman1a

Well-Known Member
Hey is there a way that i can wire my 3 fans onto the same 12v adapter? The fans arent too big and I was thinking of geting seperate wire and wire the ends of all the fans until theres only 2 wires, red and black of all the fans, as in all the red wires of all the fans connected to a single wire and then to the adapter and same thing with the black wires so that it would be like just having 1 fan, not sure if you understand but is this possible?
Anybody ???
 

joeshmo

Active Member
What about the Amps? My fans are 12V 1.5A, so does this mean its possible to run 2 fans off of a 12v 3a power adapter and 1 fan off of a 12v 1.5a adapter? I think I remember that current can be split like this when u wire it up in parrallel but was wondering if anyone really knew?????
 

Mr. Vapor

Active Member
I also have a question:

12v 120mm fan. my old celly charger is a 12v output. is this safe? i dont want to cook the fan or burn the place down.
 

sTOKEd

Well-Known Member
I also have a question:

12v 120mm fan. my old celly charger is a 12v output. is this safe? i dont want to cook the fan or burn the place down.
As long as the total amperage draw is less than the amp output of the power supply (in this case, the charger), then yes, you'll be safe.

Most 12v power supplies are between 500mA to 1.5A and most 12v PC fan's draw less than 0.1mA, therefore with a 1.5A power supply, you'd theoretically be able to run 15000 fans off it!

So it's safe to say you could run several 120mm 12v fans off any 12V power supply without any concern.
 

sTOKEd

Well-Known Member
What about the Amps? My fans are 12V 1.5A, so does this mean its possible to run 2 fans off of a 12v 3a power adapter and 1 fan off of a 12v 1.5a adapter? I think I remember that current can be split like this when u wire it up in parrallel but was wondering if anyone really knew?????
If you wire in a series, they will share the 12v - i.e. run at only 6v each and the total draw will be 1.5a.

If you wire in parallel, they will each run at 12v and the total draw will be 3a.

You want a power supply beefier than 3a though if you were to run them in parallel - you need some headroom, so something like 5 or 10a would be better.
 

surculus

Well-Known Member
(light and wipe) Just burn the ends of the wire with a lighter and after it catches fire blow out the flame and take a paper towel and wipe the burnt wire off fast and you will have a perfect stripped wire (takes 5 seconds )
 

ManikMarijuana

Well-Known Member
i still wanna know if its possible to wire up 3 12v pc fans to one cellphone charger cable or does the power supple/charger hav to be a certain voltage to do that?
 

jnuggs

Well-Known Member
I would say look around for any friends who have old chargers rather than splice that many wires together in your grow op. That's just me though, I think I'd feel safer not having 3 fans on 1 supply.
 
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