PC fans.. How to wire?

Rottedroots

Well-Known Member
I have access to the fans but am curious what the best method is to wire them up using household juice. Can I just splice onto 9V transformers? Can I link a couple? Hints suggestions folks would be very cool and appreciated. I have but a small box and am just looking to hook up small intake and exaust fans.
:dunce:
 

Nusky

New Member
yea a 9 volt will work fine, but you should use a 12 volt to get the best speed. Any more than 12 will ruin the fan over time. Just strip the wires, attach and plug it in. If it doesn't work swap the wires and try again. If its a 3 wire fan, one is ground one is power and one is the speed of the fan information. You only need 2 wires. The colours of the wire can change so I can't really say which is which
 

jagle

Active Member
i use phone chargers, or any wall wart adaptors, 400-800 ma output is enough for most fans, and 9-12v dc, just wire positive to positive and neg to neg, not hard, and you cant really fuck it up
 

Rottedroots

Well-Known Member
Cool Budski's.. Nice simple info. Just what I like and I know I have a few different transformers laying around I can try. I'm sure I have cell phone chagers!! Everytime I get a newthe bastards force me to get a new charger too. WTF.
TY
 

ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ

Well-Known Member
i cut the wires of the fan and strip them usualy the black and red wires are the ones you want. then take a phone charger (9v output or 12v out put) and cut and strip those too. connect the wires and test, if the fan doesnt work unplug it and switch the wires. then when you get it just rapp with electrical tape and your set
 

GSTrichome79

Well-Known Member
Rottedroots,

What Nusky said about the voltage is correct, it's how a computer would adjust the speed on a 3-wire fan with 12V DC being the max. The white or yellow wire is probably the one you won't need since that would be the wire the computer uses to detect fan speed, but like previously stated, the colors vary.

The amperage is what you want to look out for, don't undershoot it as it can and will burn your fan out. The rule is that you can have more, but not less, and with hooking more than one fan up, sure you can, but you have to add the amps each fan requires together and make sure your adapter puts out at least that much. A bit more is actually better since those adapters don't push the kind of constant power a fan motor wants, and sometimes the fan won't work if your adapter is maxed out or close to it.

For example, if you hook up two .470 amp fans, you'd want around a 1 amp (1000 milliamp) adapter or more. Just splice the second (or third) fan directly to the two wires from your adapter like you did with the first. This is known as a parallel circuit where the voltage is the same for each fan, and the available amps are divided between them.
 
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