christony420
Member
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO CONNECT A 4-WIRE PC FAN TO A 2-WIRE AC ADAPTER?? THE 4-WIRES ON DA PC FAN ARE BLUE, RED, YELLOW, AND BLACK... THE AC ADAPTER WIRES ARE BLACK AND BLACK WITH WHITE WRITING... PLEASE HELP 
How to connect a 4 wire pc fan to an ac adapter
- Thread starter christony420
- Start date
RanTyr
Active Member
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO CONNECT A 4-WIRE PC FAN TO A 2-WIRE AC ADAPTER?? THE 4-WIRES ON DA PC FAN ARE BLUE, RED, YELLOW, AND BLACK... THE AC ADAPTER WIRES ARE BLACK AND BLACK WITH WHITE WRITING... PLEASE HELP
Don't do it. You will blow the fan. It's a DC unit and not meant for AC power. Either buy a converter (adjustable preferably) or just buy a cheap radio shack AC fan. Those move more air and last longer anyway. I think I got one for seven bucks.
giantart
Well-Known Member
Take the two wires from the AC adapter (It WILL NOT HURT IT becasue it is now converted to 12v DC) and just try combinations with the four wires until the fan works. The other wires on the fan are for control and aren't needed for your purpose. This is an easy thing to do and should only take about a minute to hook-up. Good luck!
robert 14617
Well-Known Member
what is the voltage and rating of the fan
robert 14617
Well-Known Member
turn a PC fan into an exhaust or intake fan
How to turn a PC fan into an exhaust or intake fan?
How to turn a PC fan into an exhaust or intake fan?
How to turn a PC fan into an exhaust or intake fan?
How to turn a PC fan into an exhaust or intake fan?
Contributed by: Flowerman
Images archived: 2001
Just for fun, I wanted to show how easy it is to turn a PC fan into an intake, or into an exhaust fan. The fan I am using is quite small, but the objective is still the same. The first step is to find or buy a 12v DC plug adapter. This fan here is rated at 80cfm, which will work for a small box set-up.
Here's is some info on the 12v DC adapter: (Model 420A4141)
Output (DC) 12.0V @ 500mA
Output Voltage VDC(1)
Input 108VAC
Output Volts @ 100% Load 10.20
Input 132VAC
Output Volts @ 100% Load 13.60
Input 132VAC
Output Volts @ 10% Load 17.40
UL(2) UL*
CSA(3) L
Plug(4) 1
Simply cut the wires at the end, and strip down about a ¼ inch of bare wire is showing.
If you don’t know which wire to wire up, for instance they’re all black wires, don’t worry, it will only work one way, and if wired wrong, will simply not work at all. But the idea is, black to black, red to red. This one here that I used, had one black and one red coming from the fan, and from the adapter, one black and one black and white. The black and white wire from the adapter got wired to the all black wire from the fan. And the all black wire from the adapter, gets wired to the all red wire from the fan.
To add another fan, just connect the wires of the same together. All black goes with black, all red goes with red. So you would still only use 2 connectors all together. Here’s a few more pictures. But for the most part, I just wanted to show how simple it is. Make sure you get an adapter which is rated DC for the output.
Finished
Testing
Also a worthwhile consideration is places like radio shack and grainger also have nice 4" muffin fans that move as much as 200 cfm and more, which run on 110 vac. They come with a handy power cord that has a special connector on one end for the fan and a plug on the other end for plugging into the wall socket or humistat / thermostat.
Images archived: 2001
Just for fun, I wanted to show how easy it is to turn a PC fan into an intake, or into an exhaust fan. The fan I am using is quite small, but the objective is still the same. The first step is to find or buy a 12v DC plug adapter. This fan here is rated at 80cfm, which will work for a small box set-up.
Here's is some info on the 12v DC adapter: (Model 420A4141)
Output (DC) 12.0V @ 500mA
Output Voltage VDC(1)
Input 108VAC
Output Volts @ 100% Load 10.20
Input 132VAC
Output Volts @ 100% Load 13.60
Input 132VAC
Output Volts @ 10% Load 17.40
UL(2) UL*
CSA(3) L
Plug(4) 1
Simply cut the wires at the end, and strip down about a ¼ inch of bare wire is showing.
If you don’t know which wire to wire up, for instance they’re all black wires, don’t worry, it will only work one way, and if wired wrong, will simply not work at all. But the idea is, black to black, red to red. This one here that I used, had one black and one red coming from the fan, and from the adapter, one black and one black and white. The black and white wire from the adapter got wired to the all black wire from the fan. And the all black wire from the adapter, gets wired to the all red wire from the fan.
To add another fan, just connect the wires of the same together. All black goes with black, all red goes with red. So you would still only use 2 connectors all together. Here’s a few more pictures. But for the most part, I just wanted to show how simple it is. Make sure you get an adapter which is rated DC for the output.
Finished
Testing
Also a worthwhile consideration is places like radio shack and grainger also have nice 4" muffin fans that move as much as 200 cfm and more, which run on 110 vac. They come with a handy power cord that has a special connector on one end for the fan and a plug on the other end for plugging into the wall socket or humistat / thermostat.