Wiring a car radiator fan to PSU - Help!

[>:() - Tiki Man]

I was planning to purchase a 12" car radiator fan as a massive intake on the side of my case. Thing is, i have no idea how to wire it to a comp psu. Its a 12V, 8-10amp fan, and it has two leads coming off of it. I am a total noob at wiring, so dont assume anything when responding :D.

Thanks alot for any help :)

[Cricket]

8 to 10 amp draw? Most case fans draw less than 1 amp. I wouldn't try it.

:) Cricket

[>:() - Tiki Man]

8 to 10 amp draw? Most case fans draw less than 1 amp. I wouldn't try it.

:) Cricket

so ur saying that theres nothing i can do about this? theres got to be some option. . . what about a fan controller or something?

tnx

[sgtspector]

Perhaps a 12 volt power supply (not a pc PSU) like the ones used for mobile equipment like cb's. It isn't going to be cheap though.

[>:() - Tiki Man]

to all: i dont intend to run it at full speed, which would make about 2000cfm, i was just planning to run it alot slower so that it was silent but still moved plenty of air.

[stealthsniper96]

or just buy a but load of fans designed for comps

[Mr.Ferrari]

Dude..at 2000cfm your..just asking for some seriously messed up computer parts..capacitors will be pulled off lol.

How bout a ac-dc converter so that you can run it outside the case maybe?

[Lamp_light]

it sounds like a bad idea... but iuf you really want to do this, take your fan, and make a stand for it, you'll want to leave it with space between it and the side of the comp, so that the air has a place to escape .
Second, you'll have to find a way to attach it to a wall outlet, don't even thing of using the PSU, use the outlets that comes with your house.
Lastly, if you can control the fan speed, ( and it sounds like you can, ) start at the vary lowest, and begin increasing the speed until there are no heat problems and then stop, like said above, to much can be a bad thing.

[Cricket]

If you do mod this fan to your case, post some pictures in this thread.

:) Cricket

[sgtspector]

Now that I think of it that fan should have a clutch on it. If it is from a recent car it will have a thermostatic clutch which means it will only come when the preset temp is reached. Also I think there is relay involved in the normal wiring of those fans. I don't know how these issues will affect the situation and I am not trying to talk you out of it, quite the contrary, but they are questions you want to answer before going forward.

[>:() - Tiki Man]

Now that I think of it that fan should have a clutch on it. If it is from a recent car it will have a thermostatic clutch which means it will only come when the preset temp is reached. Also I think there is relay involved in the normal wiring of those fans. I don't know how these issues will affect the situation and I am not trying to talk you out of it, quite the contrary, but they are questions you want to answer before going forward.

the fan i was planning on getting was a replacment fan for a car radiator. its just the fan by itself, no clutch or anything. just a fan with two leads coming off of it: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/12-ELECTRIC-COOLING-FAN-PRO-SERIES-RADIATOR-STREET-ROD_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34201QQihZ016QQitemZ260112031601QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

[FLG]

I already beat ya to it awhile ago...but later scrapped the fan (check sig for link to pics). BTW, the fan was hooked up to an external 36A 12v power supply i used for my CB radios, i had to flick the fan on and off to get it going...it draws about 42A from a dead stop (though mine was a much bigger 18in or so) either way, you need an external PSU.. Trust me, between mounting it and the noise, its not worth the trouble.


heh, its quite funny...all that modding and i still never had the time to really OC this rig.

[glfredrick]

I was going to share what FLG did... Those fans take a LOT of amperage, and are high on initial draw. Even on cars, they use a relay to draw power straight from the battery, as they would eat switches for lunch.

I wire them in on my off-road projects all the time, and they are huge power users, even on a car system.

[Floppyman]

If that fan has no speed control, your house will sound like a 747 preparing for take off. I take it you have heard what a car fan sounds like running at full speed? And that's usually in an ambient environment (i.e outside). 8-10A is A LOT of current, don't even try to run this off your computer's PSU. Even if you power it off a normal outlet, if the current draw is too high you might blow a fuse -- not a good idea.

Overall this doesn't sound like a good idea to me, have you looked into alternatives at all that might be a bit more feasible?

[Cricket]

Check out this big fan in a case. (http://www.envador.com/cases/PVCII/)

:) Cricket

[FLG]

Cricket, if im not mistaken...thats a standard 110v box fan. Makes life ALOT easier, mount it as you want and plug her into an outlet. Though your not going to get all that CFM and pressure a car radiator fan would output, but it will do.

[Cricket]

Cricket, if im not mistaken...thats a standard 110v box fan. Makes life ALOT easier, mount it as you want and plug her into an outlet. Though your not going to get all that CFM and pressure a car radiator fan would output, but it will do.LOL...and all they want to do is to keep a computer cool...don't know why they can't just use standard 80mm, 92mm or 120mm fans to do the job.

:) Cricket

[FLG]

They will do just fine...though its sometimes fun to play around with things. Ive done it and found my radiator works just fine passively.

[Brad the best]

i wouldn't recommend this but if you have to look at something like a older ford taurus fan , they are two speed , just go to a junk yard and rip one out of a taurus .

a 120 mm is personally a big fan in a computer , do you actually need this ? or do you just want the biggest fan ?

you could always hook a electric motor up to a 671 roots blower and have that pump boost into your computer , if you want to be the talk of the town that is .

[>:() - Tiki Man]

I already beat ya to it awhile ago...but later scrapped the fan (check sig for link to pics). BTW, the fan was hooked up to an external 36A 12v power supply i used for my CB radios, i had to flick the fan on and off to get it going...it draws about 42A from a dead stop (though mine was a much bigger 18in or so) either way, you need an external PSU.. Trust me, between mounting it and the noise, its not worth the trouble.


heh, its quite funny...all that modding and i still never had the time to really OC this rig.
see, i was thinking of wiring it up to a pwm controller. i was not planning to run it at full speed. im looking for quiet computing not max air flow. do you happen to know how to wire it to a high quality pwm controller?

tnx

[Brad the best]

even at low speed that fan will be loud compared to a computer fan the humm alone will be louder

[>:() - Tiki Man]

actually, ive been reading around, and many have said that if u undervolt a fan like that (~300mm) to around 4V, they are almost silent. I was thinking that was actually a viable option, and i know i need to use a resistor, but im not in the least bit sure what kind of resistor to use. Does anyone know how to undervolt a fan, and if so, what kind of resistor is necessary to undervolt an 12V, 8-10AMP fan to around 4V?

Thanks for the hlp

[Brad the best]

i would use a pot

v
I R

ohms law

[>:() - Tiki Man]

i would use a pot

v
I R

ohms law

whats a "pot" im a noob at this...

[Cricket]

whats a "pot" im a noob at this..."Pot" is short for potentiometer.

What is a Potentiometer? (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-potentiometer.htm)

:) Cricket

[>:() - Tiki Man]

"Pot" is short for potentiometer.

What is a Potentiometer? (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-potentiometer.htm)

:) Cricket

ooooo... tnx

[Brad the best]

sorry about that . thanks cricket