Stupid fan wiring...

[Myka]

Thanks for the help Mike, I'll test with a 9V battery. Good idea! At least then I should be able to figure out if the LEDs are on the third wire or not. The wires don't have color coding - they are wrapped in clear wire coating and I can see the bare wires through the clear coating. The fan is not rated for moist environments, and I don't expect it to last forever, but for $7 I can replace it once a year if I need to. It's going in the back wall of my stand to help move moisture out of the stand.

[babnika]

I am currently running 5 120 mm fans off one of these power supplies.these were purposefully built with the molex connector already built on. your fan should have come with an adapter they also carry them there plug & play

[Myka]

Originally Posted by babnika

I am currently running 5 120 mm fans off one of these power supplies.these were purposefully built with the molex connector already built on. your fan should have come with an adapter they also carry them there plug & play

It might not work because only 2 of the 3 wires go into the Molex. If I use the Molex, the third wire is still to be accounted for. If the third wire is indeed for speed control, and not the LEDs, then I'm golden. I'm going to do the test Mike mentioned with the 9V battery, then take a trip to my electronic shop and see what I can fabricate.

[WarDog]

Mindy, don't worry about the number of wires. The third wire is nothing to be concerned about. One is + and one is -. It really is plug and play with the power supplies that are linked at the beginning of the thread. Just need to use the supplied 3 to 4 pin molex (supplied with fan) and plug into power supply. I went through all this when I installed mine. Only problem I had was I needed to switch one of the pins on the molex to line up with the molex on the power supply. Its really easy peasy!

[WarDog]

Here are the only two pics I have of the install. You will be surprised how hard it is to find the power supply at any local electronics store. The Source store is a joke now-a-days, much better when it use to be Radio Shack, for electronics anyways. Lots of power supplies on Ebay, but who wants to wait that long? I ended up getting the power supply from my local NCIX, and just added the extra unused hardware to my computer junk box.

[newsaltfan]

Mindy, take a trip to B&E electronics. Those guys will help you out. well I'm guessing they will, the guys that were in the Regina store helped me on several occasions.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by newsaltfan

Mindy, take a trip to B&E electronics. Those guys will help you out. well I'm guessing they will, the guys that were in the Regina store helped me on several occasions.

^ This! Looks like these folks will have pretty well anything you need. No need to wait for shipping with online shopping for these kind of parts since you have a bona fide electronics supplier in Saskatoon. I see they have an online presence as well & stock molex connectors. Molex parts will only cost a few bucks, then all you need is any small 12 volt power supply. They should even have the special tool to remove & insert Molex pins. Either cut the connector off, replace with molex or get an adapter like I linked to & cut the molex off your fan. I've recycled a few small power supplies from obsolete equipment that are 12 volt. I'd be surprised if most of us don't have one or two cluttering up a junk drawer. Just need to make sure of the +- wire polarity when you hook it up.

http://www.be-electronics.com/Search...p?Search=molex

Humidity shouldn't be too much of an issue in your stand & yeah, for $7 not a big deal if the fan bites it after a year or even months. The B&E guys can probably recommend some better moisture resistant connectors for you. Next thing you know, you'll be fabricating bigger & better electronic thingys.

https://youtu.be/L8Mfvv1PqpY

[Myka]

Thanks guys! I'm actually pretty good at soldering and connecting and working with shrink tube and all that. I had to re-wire lights on my logging truck trailer every month or so (they vibrate around and wear off the coating and short out on the frame eventually...always fun finding exactly where the problem is with 110 feet of truck and trailer). The difference is that I just had to cut out a bad section and re-connect, so I knew what I was doing. As long as I know which wires do what, I'll be fine. The only reason this isn't completed yet is because B&E isn't open on the weekends. The guy at OTV Technology where I got the fan told me to go to B&E for a power supply. I didn't want to wait, so I tried about 6 other places, and wasted a bunch of time. I can't believe how hard it is to find a simple 12VDC power supply these days! I'll use the Molex power supply if the price is reasonable, if not, then I'll just buy a power supply with a barrel connector, cut it off and splice in my fan.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Myka

As long as I know which wires do what, I'll be fine. The only reason this isn't completed yet is because B&E isn't open on the weekends. I can't believe how hard it is to find a simple 12VDC power supply these days!

You don't have a Can Tire or Wal Merde in Saskatoon? $s to donuts they'll have a 12 volt wall wart. They will probably also have a cheap digital multi-meter for sale. A useful tool for figuring out polarity, i.e. which wires do what. You're not really going to hurt anything with 12 volts DC if you get the polarity wrong, especially with the 9 volt battery scenario. If you reverse the polarity, the fan will either run in reverse or not at all. LEDs as well, they are essentially diodes, so correct polarity, they'll conduct (light up), reverse polarity, they won't. You'd have to apply a very high voltage to cook them in reverse polarity.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by mike31154

You don't have a Can Tire or Wal Merde in Saskatoon? $s to donuts they'll have a 12 volt wall wart. They will probably also have a cheap digital multi-meter for sale. A useful tool for figuring out polarity, i.e. which wires do what. You're not really going to hurt anything with 12 volts DC if you get the polarity wrong, especially with the 9 volt battery scenario. If you reverse the polarity, the fan will either run in reverse or not at all. LEDs as well, they are essentially diodes, so correct polarity, they'll conduct (light up), reverse polarity, they won't. You'd have to apply a very high voltage to cook them in reverse polarity.

Neither Crappy Tire nor Wally's had a 12VDC power supply. So you owe me donuts!!