Using PC case fans, questions on wiring multiple fans

Is it possible to power multiple PC case fans in series off a single DC power adapter? If so, any pointers on how to do this? I'm planning to start construction on my new keezer this weekend and will be using multiple case fans to cool the coffin box as well as to move air around the freezer skin (building a cabinet around it with a 3.5" gap). If possible I would like to run 3 fans with one power supply... I'm pretty much a total electrical novice...

You should wire the fans in parallel, so that each fan gets the full voltage from the power supply. The important thing to remember is that the sum of the current ratings or wattage ratings on the fans MUST be less than the current or wattage rating of the power supply.

Exactly.

I just wired one up. Works great.

ChuckO said:

You should wire the fans in parallel, so that each fan gets the full voltage from the power supply. The important thing to remember is that the sum of the current ratings or wattage ratings on the fans MUST be less than the current or wattage rating of the power supply.

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Not to hijack the thread but I'm in the process of doing this myself and found a power supply "an old cell phone charger" that has the same wattage rating as the fan. I did a quick check to see if it would work and the fan fired right up when plugged in. I'm a complete novice at wiring anything so just curious if this will be ok for the long haul....

Brewski1975 said:

Not to hijack the thread but I'm in the process of doing this myself and found a power supply "an old cell phone charger" that has the same wattage rating as the fan. I did a quick check to see if it would work and the fan fired right up when plugged in. I'm a complete novice at wiring anything so just curious if this will be ok for the long haul....

Click to expand...

Same WATTAGE or same VOLTAGE? They are distinctly different things.

If the output voltage of your power supply matches the input voltage of your fan, this will work great as long as the rated wattage (or "power capacity") of the supply exceeds the power requirement of the fan - which is highly likely.

If the supply wattage rating matches with the fan but the voltages are different, it gets a little more complex... If the supply voltage is higher than the fan voltage, you might end up burning up your fan prematurely; if supply voltage is lower, your fan will simply run at a slower speed and move less air.

Assuming that you mean the voltages match (likely at 12VDC) and the power supply wattage is sufficient to drive the fan, this should work great. Just be sure that your connections are secure (think solder or at least wire nuts) and you should get great performance this way.

Allright, so I bought a bunch of fans today and also picked up some 12V power supplies from Goodwill.

Will someone with more electrical knowledge please tell me if this is correct... The fans that I am using are here:

http://www.link-depot.com/dc_fan_8025b.html

It says their current is 0.16A and power is 1.92W....

Here is an image of one of the power supplies that I bought...



Based off of this, I'm thinking I should be able to wire up to 6 of these fans to run in parallel off this one power supply? PLEASE please correct me if I'm wrong

Yes, 6 fans at 0.16A each should draw slightly less than the 1A rated capacity for that power supply. Definitely wire them up in parallel.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to double check the output voltage with a multimeter first, though. I've found wall wart power supplies in my collection that varied SIGNIFICANTLY from the output voltage stamped into them. Sucks to learn that the hard way by burning up a component or two!

Cool man, thanks...