DIY Wiring : CFL Lights and fans!

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

Fuck. I double posted the Fan wiring shit. But as a special gift, heres how I wired my CFL bulbs in my grow , as the title of the post says I would instruct :

Enjoy and happy smokin!

wiring your lights in parallel is a little trickier, but the result is if one light burns out, the other two will still work (and actually work better).

If you wire in series, however, (which is quicker and easier and produces a nicer end result) when one bulb burns out, they will all turn off.

Conclusion : Use parallel.

Bomb.

Great diagram, thanks.

This is good shit. I've been looking for a step by step guide on wiring the fans.
I need one on wiring the CFL's now, and how to incorporate them into just one power cord.

Could you post that up?

Great! +rep for your fan! Definitely gonna rig something like that up.

? Would wiring two 9v fan onto one 12v cord slow both down enough to make them last or would it kill them both to quickly? I'm just curious.

You have given me more questions with the answer to just one.

nice thread, very informative.

i have 2 questions:
1. can you use say a 15v adapter and wire 2 x 12v fans to it or would that burn em out?

2. i dont understand how you can wire to more than 1 light fixture at a time.
i bought 2-core Flex and 4 CFl fixtures but i cant seem to figure how i can incorp all of the fixtures into 1 plug.

no you should not wire 2 fans to a 15v adapter due to the fact that there is more volts going into the fan than the fan alows so you will burn your fans out very fast, you should use a 12v DC adapter to wire them up not a AC adapter, also you would need to wire them in parallel so that they dont lose power when you wire in series you generally tend to lose power the more devices you use, with that said its the same concept with your lights you need to wire them in parallel not in series there are some youtube videos that show you how to wire parallel lights up and explains it very nicely you should research them also another note about the fans AC adapters produce more heat than DC adapters AC = automatic current meaning no matter what your fan does there is always the same current running to the fan which in theory creates extra heat because there will be unused electricty that circles back to the adapter which in return heats up the adapter, DC = Direct Current meaning the adapter only puts out the current that the fan uses up so in theory you only use the electricty that the fan needs and there is no extra power that circle back to the adapter which keeps it much cooler ... hope that helped out anyone good luck