how to wire up a pc fan???

whitewidow2

whitewidow2

Well-Known Member
Hi guys

First post and i have been looking thru everything but cant seem to find the relevant info i need to wire up a pc fan to the mains supply for the purpose of keeping the noise down and circulating air in a relatively small grow room. Ideally i want to use pc fans for blowing on the plants, and two separate ones in the side of my cupboard for air intake and air exhaust - at the moment im just using a simple small fan inside and i open the cupboard doors from time to time to expel warm air.

I am a total newbie to this so any advice/help/info you can give me would be greaty appreciated . Thx

I should also say that its a uk plug i need to wire it to thx.
 
DodgeDread

DodgeDread

Well-Known Member
use an old 9v adaptor (eg phone charger) cut the wire, join the two together making sure they're connected the right way around and tape up the joins.
 
Solstice07

Solstice07

Well-Known Member
DodgeDread said:
use an old 9v adaptor (eg phone charger) cut the wire, join the two together making sure they're connected the right way around and tape up the joins.
Click to expand...
Whoa, there! First we need to know what voltage the pc fan runs on. It will be printed on it somewhere.
 
whitewidow2

whitewidow2

Well-Known Member
Solstice07 said:
Whoa, there! First we need to know what voltage the pc fan runs on. It will be printed on it somewhere.
Click to expand...
Ok so lets say i go to my local currys/dixons and buy a 12cm case fan which it says has a 3-4 pin adapter and i find out the voltage of the fan (hopefully the same as the phone charger or something similar) - how do i go about connecting it all up? What colour wires am i looking for to connect to which ones in the phone charger.

Also if im looking to do this for more than one pc fan in the grow room is there any other way of doing this?

This has gotta be a hot topic as im sure there are lots of people out there wanting to do this.
 
DodgeDread

DodgeDread

Well-Known Member
you can just buy an adapter that switches between 3,6,9 and 12 volts for about a fiver from any electrical shop. most computers will use 9v or 12v fans. I use 9v to run both, just makes one go a bit slower.
 
H

howhi

Active Member
whitewidow2 said:
Ok so lets say i go to my local currys/dixons and buy a 12cm case fan which it says has a 3-4 pin adapter and i find out the voltage of the fan (hopefully the same as the phone charger or something similar) - how do i go about connecting it all up? What colour wires am i looking for to connect to which ones in the phone charger.

Also if im looking to do this for more than one pc fan in the grow room is there any other way of doing this?

This has gotta be a hot topic as im sure there are lots of people out there wanting to do this.
Click to expand...
Ok. The charger is likely to be enough juice to get it moving its. from memory, running at about 12v on a pc motherboard (but i may be wrong there).

You are likely to find that the colorings as described in the last post are the same as its universal coding so you will notice the fan you buy will most likely be red/black wires and the charger will have red/black and poss white or yellow for the earth wire (which you wont need to use.

Basically what you are doing is making a loop for the current to go through if the loop is right it will move if its wrong it wont.

If you want to connect multiple wires to the same socket you can pick up a connector from B&Q / Homebase etc for less than a quid.

Here is an example from wickes

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Electrospares/Chocbox-Connector-Strip-Enclosure/invt/199778

Its the little bit in the middle that you put the wires into (no specific way so long as the correct wires are parallel)
 
whitewidow2

whitewidow2

Well-Known Member
howhi said:
Ok. The charger is likely to be enough juice to get it moving its. from memory, running at about 12v on a pc motherboard (but i may be wrong there).

You are likely to find that the colorings as described in the last post are the same as its universal coding so you will notice the fan you buy will most likely be red/black wires and the charger will have red/black and poss white or yellow for the earth wire (which you wont need to use.

Basically what you are doing is making a loop for the current to go through if the loop is right it will move if its wrong it wont.

If you want to connect multiple wires to the same socket you can pick up a connector from B&Q / Homebase etc for less than a quid.

Here is an example from wickes

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Electrospares/Chocbox-Connector-Strip-Enclosure/invt/199778

Its the little bit in the middle that you put the wires into (no specific way so long as the correct wires are parallel)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info man, i looked for ages on here and couldnt find what i needed... yeah ive been looking online and it seems that most of them are 12v indeed so at least i know thats what voltage adaptor that i need.

Good stuff.
 
H

howhi

Active Member
whitewidow2 said:
Thanks for the info man, i looked for ages on here and couldnt find what i needed... yeah ive been looking online and it seems that most of them are 12v indeed so at least i know thats what voltage adaptor that i need.

Good stuff.
Click to expand...
Anything from 12v or below will be fine if you have one lying about thats only 5.9 volts for example will still run it but wont give as much juice as poss... Think about getting some oil to put on the ball bearings before fitting it... will help make it run for longer and not jam.

I haven't ever done this myself but thinking about it I have a few PC fans kicking about somewhere
 
sirus420

sirus420

Well-Known Member
Okay i use three pc fans right now and they are fuckin incredible easy. Best thing to use is old cell phone chargers (99% are 12v) then you attach the red to teh red and black to black,, if you have a white or yellow wire like someone else mentioned you just leave it be. done, should take you no longer than 5 mins a fan.
 
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