12v CPU fan powered without cord. HOW?

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Ya... I'm just gonna get an apv 12-12. My 2 fans I'll cut and strip the wires on, and just wire nut, or probably just crimp the negs and pos together on one end, and run the driver into the other end. The ac side will just go right into where the COB driver will onto the main wall cord. That's simple enough for me.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
Ya... I'm just gonna get an apv 12-12. My 2 fans I'll cut and strip the wires on, and just wire nut, or probably just crimp the negs and pos together on one end, and run the driver into the other end. The ac side will just go right into where the COB driver will onto the main wall cord. That's simple enough for me.
Wago's man!

222-412's


I just bought some of these new ones though, the 221 series, little slimmer from Russia with love :peace:
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Wagos are nice. But I'm not going to need to reuse them.. once it's wired up, it serves a single continuous purpose. I'll never need to undo them because I can't find another one haha. Crimps look so much cleaner to me.
Either of these options look great. With fans especially the wire size is much smaller on fans than the opposing driver leads. So they'll both fit perfect in the tube style . But metal crimps, and heat shrinking is a simple beautiful thing.
 

Attachments

Fastslappy

Well-Known Member
that one Amazon link is coolers guys ,
shop around on cooler guys as you can do better on price if yer google happy on some of their shit !
not saying their bad they are Not ! They are great actually .
I've dealt with them for years they cool my HT gear ATM
 

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
Wagos are nice. But I'm not going to need to reuse them.. once it's wired up, it serves a single continuous purpose. I'll never need to undo them because I can't find another one haha. Crimps look so much cleaner to me.
Either of these options look great. With fans especially the wire size is much smaller on fans than the opposing driver leads. So they'll both fit perfect in the tube style . But metal crimps, and heat shrinking is a simple beautiful thing.
I always have trouble (loose connections) with thin wires and butt crimps. may as well solder them, if you want it permanent.
 

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
Wagos are nice. But I'm not going to need to reuse them.. once it's wired up, it serves a single continuous purpose. I'll never need to undo them because I can't find another one haha. Crimps look so much cleaner to me.
Either of these options look great. With fans especially the wire size is much smaller on fans than the opposing driver leads. So they'll both fit perfect in the tube style . But metal crimps, and heat shrinking is a simple beautiful thing.
and.....this was my old method....:) what a waste of time and effort personally....both electricians in the family also skip that stuff these days....
 

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
I just hate terminal blocks. They look tacky imo. I need wires and that's it.
terminal blocks are a "temporary" means for a permanent connection....Twist terminals aren't really a great option for a Permanent connection, that's all I am arguing...proper function 1st then aesthetics...
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Then soldering and heatshrinking would be the best thing for a permanent. I understand the want to be able to switch drivers out, but I'm building my light with 2100mas for 3 cobs dimmable. All I gotta do is dim. No need for a different driver.I'd never go higher than 2.1
 

nevergoodenuf

Well-Known Member
I have been using these from Lowes on all my drivers. Strained wire you need to tin the wire so it will grab. Everything else is soldered and heat shinked.
 

J-Icky

Well-Known Member
that one Amazon link is coolers guys ,
shop around on cooler guys as you can do better on price if yer google happy on some of their shit !
not saying their bad they are Not ! They are great actually .
I've dealt with them for years they cool my HT gear ATM
Yeah I know I could've found the stuff for cheaper else where but it was just convenient to get it all from the same place.

That covered unit is nice but I paid about half and wasn't worried about it being enclosed since I plan to build or place a case on my L-channel frame to "hide" all the wires and driver anyway. I also don't think it would allow the 4-pin molex power supply to plug directly in so I would've needed an adapter anyway.
But for someone running off a MW driver it would be cleaner to just snip off the connector and wire to driver and give a nice clean look to the build. Its also nice that it has the 4-pin fan slots for those out there building larger units so thats one less thing to worry about modifying. Not to mention it doesn't take away the fans full features and gives more option if they wanted to do a pwm speed controller with some temp sensors.
 

Fastslappy

Well-Known Member
flexible is key for me
Hey Sorry about the Fan fight I started
LOL I should know that a whole bunch of ya build PC & game on them
& you guy can argue fans till the sun comes up
I posted that for the noobs (who can't tell a shit fan from another)
not for you PC Fan Boi guys ,
I love the guys who can state their static pressure on each fan they use
I'm Not Knockin' you guys soo flame down
I got whole case of Cougar Germany CF-V12H 120mm VortexHD8 1200rpm @ 17.7dB v6-13
that go on my lights , left overs from my PC buildin
got a bunch of Yate Loons (low draw high flow ) as well
 

FranJan

Well-Known Member
You guys know there are things called buck drivers that allow you run your fans off your LED's driver? They even have little IC ones. You just wire them right into the circuit. I've had cheapo LED spotlights with a buck driver wired into it to get the correct voltage from the POS driver they used. Hans' panels use them too to run his panel's fan. I myself haven't built anything using one but do a little reading and you'll see there is no mystery about them. They also won't hurt your COB's efficacy and the system's efficiency hit is minimal since some of these are 95 to 98% efficient. You just have to find the one that works with your design and a plus is some of them are dirt cheap. Even cheaper than a wall-wort, unless you have a wort lying around :p but if you want to run a LED rig with one power supply this is THE option to look into IMHO.

http://www.getfpv.com/12v-step-down-voltage-regulator.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=CjwKEAiAw4e1BRDfi7vghaWU9jESJACzo9ju2OjdnYRB71vUrgDnF25zzBd-8KVwCvw0iFSTr-s4OhoCsqLw_wcB

For this example this one does:
"The compact step-down (or buck) voltage regulator takes an input voltage between 15 V and 42 V and efficiently reduces it to 12 V while allowing for a maximum output current of 600 mA."

http://www.linear.com/products/step-down_(buck)_led_drivers
http://www.mouser.com/Optoelectronics/Drivers/LED-Lighting-Drivers/_/N-7zi53
 

Isawthelight

Well-Known Member
Just as the thread name states. I just want an easy answer on how to power a 120mm 12v fan off a meanwell hlg185h-c1050b driver running 5 36v cxb3590s? It can run 5.6 per supras chart. How can I so when I plug in the 3 prong US cord into the wall, run my lights AND the fan without using a seperate old phone charger cord or the like to power the cpu fan?
5 x 36vdc = 180vdc. The c1050b can output 190vdc. Add three XM-L2 or XP-L LED stars to your series wiring and their voltage drop sum will be about 9vdc. Wire your fans in parallel with these stars and the fans will run at 9vdc and be powered by your hld185h-c1050b. http://www.rapidled.com/cree-xm-l-neutral-white-led/ http://www.ledsupply.com/leds/cree-xlamp-xp-l-high-density-led-star

**** I have not tried this. I've ordred the -c1400b & 4 cobs. *****
 
Last edited:

FranJan

Well-Known Member
There ya go :clap:. We need more of these kind of drivers and even more sophistication in our DIY stuff. We gotta keep our edge folks :). But what ISTL is talking about above always gives me the willies. I'm always scared that I'm gonna fuck up the math and burn shit out :(.
 
Top