Modding a fan controller for use within shelving

Riggy

Riggy

Riggy

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Hello everyone,

A little bit of back story first:

I'm getting a shelf made up to house my consoles and amp and the way the shelves are made up, the equipment will be enclosed. I don't really want to keep them enclosed without enough ventilation. So I'm planning on using 40mm computer fans either side of each console and amp, so I'll have an intake and exhaust with a couple of fan controllers on the bottom shelf to control all 7 fans in total.

BUT, how do I mod the controller so I can just plug them straight into the wall rather than having to go into the computer to power them?

I have made a few searches on google but I can't find much on how to do it :/

Thanks
 
Easiest way I can think of would be to use a PSU (any old cheapo will do) to power controller. If you have room consider using 120mm fans.. with filters.. as they are much quieter and move more air.
 
I could use a PSU but the gap between each shelf will only be around 100mm unfortunately, so I'm limited on what I can put on the shelf. I don't actually know the dimensions of my spare PSU, I'm pretty sure it's more than 100mm though :(

Yeah I've got filters in mind, thanks :) 40mm not that quiet then?
 
120 fan will work fine with a little overlap top and bottom. Fans are actually 115mm housing inside diameter and 108-109mm blade diameter.

Cheapest 500w (not needed) measures 150 x 86 x 140 mm (WxHxD) and bottom fan in exhaust out back (normal flow) Any old computer PSU.. like a 10-15 year old case setting in the loft is plenty of power. Clean it up and use it. Check and see how loud PSU is too. Maybe there is a used PC shop near you who would give you an old PSU out of their junk pile.

Example
40mm fan
RPM: 5000 RPM
Air Flow: 6.24 CFM
Noise Level: <21 dBA

120mm fan
RPM: 1200 RPM
Air Flow: 49.0 CFM
Noise Level: 20.1dBA

6 times as much air and same volume noise. Idle it down and it's get much quieter. ;)
 
Awesome Doyll, I'm tempted to change the dimensions. I was going for quiet as possible, though I'm pretty sure the xbox's jet engine of a fan would drown any noise coming from them anyway :D

And Gary, thanks for that link!! That is very near the perfect solution I was looking for :D If only it had two Molex sockets :D
 
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You can pick up 12v 1 Amp plug in adapters for about £3. That'll be sufficient for a few 120mm fans and probably loads of 40mm ones. You would just need to do a bit of soldering to attach the controller and adaptor together.

Id not consider 40mm fans though. If you have 100mm of space then 80 or 92mm would be the best idea. Less noise, more airflow, lower pitch sound. Win.

The PSU thing to Molex thing is dual voltage, 5v and 12v so is a bit wasted to just power a 12v fan controller.
 
Well I'm actually thinking of upping the gap to 150mm, so I can fit 120mm fans in. but that's 7 of them then. Isn't it a little overkill? I don't think it'll be overkill for the amp as that does get pretty hot.
 
Tealc said:
You can pick up 12v 1 Amp plug in adapters for about £3. That'll be sufficient for a few 120mm fans and probably loads of 40mm ones. You would just need to do a bit of soldering to attach the controller and adaptor together.

Id not consider 40mm fans though. If you have 100mm of space then 80 or 92mm would be the best idea. Less noise, more airflow, lower pitch sound. Win.

The PSU thing to Molex thing is dual voltage, 5v and 12v so is a bit wasted to just power a 12v fan controller.
Click to expand...

As Tealc says. All you will need to do is either terminate the adapter with a molex plug, or solder the wires together (make sure of polarity!)
 
Good find Gary!
It's rated 90w so should be safe to 50-60w. 120mm fans are usually less then .5a = 6w... so 6-8 fans should be no problem. too slow on the draw here.


Okay so we've solved the fans and power in... how do you intend to vent the hot air out?
 
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You can get 12v 5A 60W power supplies (intended for things like laptops or LCD TVs) for around £7 but if you want to spend £22 to have it with a Molex shoved on the end then that's fine too.

2x 120mm fans, even at low speed will be sufficient I'd have thought to remove the hot air, after all we only really need one or two case fans on our PCs and they produce a load of heat. Your amp may get hot but then it's probably designed for passive cooling and will therefore get hot.

I made a 120mm hole in the back of my cupboard that houses the xbox360, Sky HD box and Wii and that lowers the temperatures by 15 degrees just allowing the heat to escape between the warm inside and the cooler outside.

If you get a fan controller with thermal probes you could have it so that they speed up and down in relation to the temperature.
 
Tealc is right. We are over-engineering this. A couple / three similar to Antec TriCool fans (3 speed switch built in) with a simple power supply is all you need.. Set it and forget it!
 
Cheap PSU probably under a tenner, a couple of 120mm fans a couple of quid each, 10 Min's to do a 7 or 5 volt mod on their molex connectors and Robert is your fathers brother.
 
bru said:
Cheap PSU probably under a tenner, a couple of 120mm fans a couple of quid each, 10 Min's to do a 7 or 5 volt mod on their molex connectors and Robert is your fathers brother.
Click to expand...

Would work a treat if PSU fits.. and Bob was my mother's brother.:D
 
Tealc said:
You can get 12v 5A 60W power supplies (intended for things like laptops or LCD TVs) for around £7 but if you want to spend £22 to have it with a Molex shoved on the end then that's fine too.

Your amp may get hot but then it's probably designed for passive cooling and will therefore get hot.

If you get a fan controller with thermal probes you could have it so that they speed up and down in relation to the temperature.
Click to expand...

Could you hint at where I could look at these power supplies? I'll try a google search in the mean time, no doubt that'll work.

The amp itself has a fan on it to remove the heat, so I'm putting a hole above that with a grid. So that eliminates the build up of heat there.

I know maybe having an in and out for each consoles seems a lot, but I kinda want the project :D I get bored quickly you see
 
I just search the well known auction site for stuff like this. I've bought loads of simple bits and bobs like this and never had any trouble with them.
 
you can use a mini psu something like a dedicated gpu psu like the thermaltake 250w ones or a 12v tranformer and take the power from that
 
So if I was to use a laptop supply how would I connect that molex socket?

Molex has the 12V, Ground x2 and the 5v line. The laptop has live, neutral and ground right? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm kinda guessing here with very limited research I've done in the spare 5 minutes I've got at work :D)
How would connect the live and neutral to the molex? Or is the L,N,G wiring set up only from the wall socket TO the power supply which then changes to some other wiring set up?

Sorry about all the questions. I think I'd rather wire up a supply with a molex and give it a try myself. It sounds fun!
 
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You don't need the 5v line for 12v fans so don't even concern yourself with that.

Your laptop/LCD/LED power supply will probably come with one of these.

dcplug35mm.jpg


Cut it off (allowing a few centimetres wire on the end) and keep for a future project.

Join the positive 12v wire coming from the PSU to the Yellow of one of these..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-006-GE&groupid=1929&catid=153&subcat=

molexsplitter.jpg


You'd need one of the connectors on the right hand side of the image, or if you have any spares from Molex to fan splitters or something they'll do too.

Then join the negative ground wire from the PSU to the black wire on the Molex (the one next to the Yellow in case the fan controller doesn't common them ).

Insulate and it's good to go.

Just watch your polarity. Most PSUs will have a little white stripe on the positive wire but it's not always the case. If you have a multimeter you can check the polarity easily enough.

The PSU will have an AC 240v input and a low voltage 12v DC output. There'll be the usual 3 wire input and 2 wires output. All voltage on the 2 wire side will be low and safe.

PS-61.jpg
 
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