how to wire pc fans

intensive

Well-Known Member
hey do i need a resistor or anything to wire a computer fan up for my cabinet. im a mech. in training and with dc current to much voltage is bad, so is the fan capable of handling wall socket voltage and amps or what?
 

wookieweed

Active Member
Your over thinking it. Goto Walmart and buy a 12v AC adapter from the electronics department. There about $12 a piece. It actually has a switch to adjust the voltage from 12v, 6v, 3v, etc..

Once you have that your set. Just cut off the pigtail connector from the pc fan wire. On the fan you should have either 2 wires or 3 wires. You want the Black / Red wires. If you have a third wire which is yellow just tape it off (thats the fan speed wire for the motherboard on the PC).

Just splice them all up and twist together. Add some electrical tape to seal it up and your set. If it does not work then you might have to swap the wires. Sometimes on the AC adaptor end its hard to see whats positive or negative.

Hope this helps.

edit: Radio Shack sells them for about $24 so go to Walmart if you have one in your area.
 

intensive

Well-Known Member
dude ur awesome, i figure i should just set the voltage adapter to the voltage needed for the fan on the back of the box? o and can i use the adapter for more then one?
 

Melthius420

Well-Known Member
thats exactly what i did make sure u get those wires twisted together real good my adapter got hot to the touch and started melting becasue one of my wires was loosly connected im lucky i didnt start a fire
 

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
You can also add a resistor or run them at 3/4 to half their rated voltage if you don't need full airflow or want to use more to have the same airflow but make them silent.

Check the watt rating on the fan and see if the wall wart has a higher rating. Needs to be that way. If you use a .5 wat wall wart with 1 watt fans it's going to run too hot and fail.

They are very unlikely to start a fire though, they're UL rated to fail gracefully.
 
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