Quantum Aquaria June 2, 2009 June 2, 2009 okay... ok... i admit.. i'm electronically challenged and anything with electrical wires scares the jeepers out of me... that said, I'm in the process of building a canopy for my new metal halide retro and wanted to get a couple of those fans from my spare computers to use. If anyone has any "how to wire fans for idiots" guides, that would be awesome. thanks Steve
Brian Ward June 2, 2009 June 2, 2009 okay... ok... i admit.. i'm electronically challenged and anything with electrical wires scares the jeepers out of me... that said, I'm in the process of building a canopy for my new metal halide retro and wanted to get a couple of those fans from my spare computers to use. If anyone has any "how to wire fans for idiots" guides, that would be awesome. thanks Steve Those fans use DC power. Your wall has AC power. You'll need an AC to DC converter and you can get them from Radio Shack. You'll also need to solder a DC plug onto the fans. You can wire all the fans in parallel to the DC plug and then use a single AC to DC converter to the wall to power all of them. But ... you'll need to be sure the AC to DC converter will source enough current to power all your fans. You'll need to get the polarity right (though I think they'll just run backward if you reverse it). So ... We can help but will need much more information. Alternately, you can buy AC fans from radio shack and wire them to lamp cords and just plug them into the wall. That's what I'm using
bankyf June 2, 2009 June 2, 2009 +1 on the Radio Shack AC fan. With one of those and a heater attached to the AC JR on my 29 gallon seahorse tank the temperature has not varied by more than the .5 degrees + or - from the 75 degrees that it is set for. Before the fan it would easily hit 78 where the AC JR would shut down the lights to cool it off. Fan is installed in the hood blowing down on the water. Those fans use DC power. Your wall has AC power. You'll need an AC to DC converter and you can get them from Radio Shack. You'll also need to solder a DC plug onto the fans. You can wire all the fans in parallel to the DC plug and then use a single AC to DC converter to the wall to power all of them. But ... you'll need to be sure the AC to DC converter will source enough current to power all your fans. You'll need to get the polarity right (though I think they'll just run backward if you reverse it). So ... We can help but will need much more information. Alternately, you can buy AC fans from radio shack and wire them to lamp cords and just plug them into the wall. That's what I'm using
Quantum Aquaria June 2, 2009 Author June 2, 2009 i heard that i could just use a spare ac adaptor\transformer that i have laying around... is that true... for example, i'm looking at one right now... it indicates this on the back: PLUG IN CLASS 2 TRANSFORMER MODEL NO. :DC120300 INPUT: 120VAC 60 Hz 8w OUTPUT: 12VDC 300mA is that good enough? It's from an old router i had.
Brian Ward June 2, 2009 June 2, 2009 i heard that i could just use a spare ac adaptor\transformer that i have laying around... is that true... for example, i'm looking at one right now... it indicates this on the back: PLUG IN CLASS 2 TRANSFORMER MODEL NO. :DC120300 INPUT: 120VAC 60 Hz 8w OUTPUT: 12VDC 300mA is that good enough? It's from an old router i had. I'm not sure what the voltage on your fans is. If your fans are 12V and the combination of all the fans you want to use is less than 300mA of current, then yes you'll be fine.
Quantum Aquaria June 2, 2009 Author June 2, 2009 ok...let me go home tonight and rip into my old pcs to see what i've got in there. I'm not sure what the voltage on your fans is. If your fans are 12V and the combination of all the fans you want to use is less than 300mA of current, then yes you'll be fine.
astroboy June 3, 2009 June 3, 2009 Look up the resistance of your fans. If you're hooking more than three or four in parallel you'll almost certainly need an adapter that will supply around .8-1 amp in current for them to run at full speed, otherwise they might just barely turn over. You'll likely need to order such an adapter online but they run only about $20. I've been quite pleased with Sharkoon 2000 Silent Eagle fans. They're for computers (80 mm in diameter, I think there's a 120 mm model), but I have six wired in parallel on my 75 (360 watts of CF lights and the usual number of pumps in the sump) and they'll easily cool the water to about 2-3 degrees below the room temperature. Without them, the tank runs 5-7 degrees above the room temperature (over say a 70-82 degree range) which turned out to be an expensive lesson on what my corals would tolerate. They don't move alot of air compared to many other fans, but they're *extremely* quiet and effective. I think their design results in air flow that is either more turbulent (or laminar?) than conventional fans, so even though the amount of air moved is less it seems to cool the water more efficiently. I tried using conventional computer fans and an AC fan from Radio Shack, and there's just no comparison in either noise or cooling effect. Sharkoon all the way, say I. Arrgghh. I run the fans so that they blow directly down onto the water. In the original setup they were about an inch below the bulbs and an inch above the water. Because of "bounce back" (ground effect? any aerodynamic engineers reading this?) from the water and hood the air flow was weaker than it should have been. I changed things so that the space between the fans and water/bulbs was about 2.5 inches and it works great now. ok...let me go home tonight and rip into my old pcs to see what i've got in there.
Quantum Aquaria June 4, 2009 Author June 4, 2009 So I found this site that makes AC Fans and the AC plug... all ready and wired to go ... good for us knobbs who just don't have a clue... http://www.coolerguys.com/ac120vfans.html ranging from $14.95 - $16.95 and $2.95 for the cord... what do you guys think? I might order a couple just to see what it's like... they also have a bunch of cool stuff on their sites as well
rioreef June 5, 2009 June 5, 2009 I was going through the website in the previous post and they have some neat stuff. Here is multi-fan power port for up to six fans running off the same plug (in parallel). No splicing of wires as the 3 pin plugs from the case fans plug into it and get one of their AC/DC converters to handle your load. Great way to put in fans if you are not confortable doing your own wiring. I would make sure this device is away from moisture though.
Quantum Aquaria June 11, 2009 Author June 11, 2009 or I can let someone else do all the work and just pay for it just saw this on Ebay... what do you think? 4 fans that are linkable... $25 shipped http://cgi.ebay.com/Fan-Cooling-System-Aqu...%3A1%7C294%3A50
rioreef June 11, 2009 June 11, 2009 You get what you pay for. Regarding electrical devices near water is not a place to go on the cheap.
Quantum Aquaria June 11, 2009 Author June 11, 2009 You get what you pay for. Regarding electrical devices near water is not a place to go on the cheap. how did i know that comment was coming... i guess you got a point
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now