Rack Cooling

Danger Phoenix · 28 Mar 2015 at 19:34

I have a wall mounted Allrack rack which has cut outs for fans at the top (screw holes at 100mm apart). None of the fan trays I have seen line up with these holes so I was thinking of buying two case fans, and using a UK 3 pin plug to molex power adapter to power them.

This would mean that the hot air is expelled directly out of the rack without just circulating inside.

Does this seem feasible? Does anyone have any better ideas?

Danger Phoenix · 29 Mar 2015 at 14:21

ace-rimmer said:
you could use usb to molex and the in plug in a fans

Won't the voltage be too low?

Danger Phoenix · 29 Mar 2015 at 14:33

ace-rimmer said:
oh yeh i guess, trying to think of a tidy way of doing it

No worries, it wasn't a daft suggestion

Danger Phoenix · 29 Mar 2015 at 15:34

visibleman said:
Looking at doing the same to my Allrack cabinet and was ideally after 230/240v AC fans but it seems nie impossible to find anything like that.

So i was just wondering what 100mm fans and PSU you were looking at?

I've seen a few 100mm Scythe fans but they don't really seem to be suitable for the job.

Have also been looking at fan trays but as you say, the holes in the cabinet wouldn't line up but the Allrack/LMS Data units are reasonably cheap (Dap Audio also do a temperature controlled tray but it's £100) and i'm thinking it might be the easiest (aka, quick and dirty) option.

PSU wise I have a UK plug to molex lying around from when I used to have a lot of internal hard drives to play around with. I am planning on using that.

As far as the fans are concerned, I haven't found any decent 100mm ones, but what I have noticed is that most sites say "92mm/100mm". Does that mean 92mm will fit?

/Edit: Just done a quick check with a 120mm fan I had lying around (LI121225BL) and it fits the cutouts at the top of my rack

Danger Phoenix · 29 Mar 2015 at 23:36

visibleman said:
All four screw holes line up on the 120mm fan? I wonder if any other 120mm will work?

Although i'm sure it was 100mm when i measured the cut-outs

The 120mm one I mentioned fits without issues, however when I measured the distance between the holes at the top of the rack it came to about 105mm and the holes on the fan were about the same distance apart.

Now I just need to find the 3 pin to molex cable I have somewhere before I can set the fans up

/Edit: Just found this online:

105mm between screw holes 120mm fan size

Danger Phoenix · 5 Apr 2015 at 12:03

Still a bit of a mess (everything for the entire house comes into here, including Sky and telephone cables), but here it is with 2 x 120mm fans fitted