Electrical wiring question

[BrewLou]

I posted this in my keezer build thread, but wanted to ping the DIY'ers as well!

I am wanting to install a 3"CPU fan to help move some air in my keezer to aid in cooling the extra collar height I have added. In doing this I found the suggestions to buy a drop cord, GFCI (water/condensation safe guard), to cut the female end off the drop cord and simply attach the fan to the drop cord.

My question is this... my fan has 4 wires attached to a mini harness for a CPU. When I cut this off, what in the heck do I do with the 4 wires when trying to attach to only 2 from the drop...

Attached is a picutre of the fan.

I know squat about electrical and to be honest it makes me even more paranoid having to splice wires and thinking of electrical fires. I know I am overly paranoid about it, but thats just how I am with electrical.

 

[mredge73]

That is a 12vdc fan. Don't even think about hooking 120vac up to it.
Look for an old AC->DC power supply from some thing that you no longer use or need that is 12VDC.
That particular fan is designed to be variable speed. You can make it work without a controller through the yellow(+) and black(-) wires.
http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Motherboard_(CPU)_4_Pin_Fan

 

[porcupine73]

What drop cord are you talking about? If that is a fan for a computer CPU, it is almost certainly rated at something like 5 VDC or 12VDC. Don't try to connect it to 120VAC if that's what you mean.

Most likely, two of those wires on the harness are for power, and the other two are for rotation sensing, so the computer knows the fan's speed and whether it is actually turning or is stuck/stalled.

 

[ajm163]

Can you explain what you mean by a drop cord?? are you talking about an extension cord??? That fan most likely rated to run at 12v DC. Unless you want to see something spectacular and have to but a new fan do not just hook it up to 120v AC. There are 3 or 4 wires in most modern computer fans one will be ground, one will be 12v DC. The others are used to tell the computer what the fan speed is and possibly a temperature reading. For your needs you can probably just disregard these. You can usually do some googling to find out which wires are the power and ground. you will need to get a 12v power supply to connect this to, or tap a 12v and ground line in the Keezer if you can find one

 

[BrewLou]

That is a 12vdc fan. Don't even think about hooking 120vac up to it.
Look for an old AC->DC power supply from some thing that you no longer use or need that is 12VDC.
That particular fan is designed to be variable speed. You can make it work without a controller through the yellow(+) and black(-) wires.
http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Motherboard_(CPU)_4_Pin_Fan

Glad I asked before doing anything. Would an old computer power sorce work for this? I am pretty sure I have one of those just laying around.

I am probably just going to return it and locate a strict AC fan. That is what I asked the guy, but as you can see by what he gave me that is not the case.

By drop cord yes I just mean a plain old extention cord so 120v it is.

No one locally has an actual AC fan that I can locate. Tried Home Depot, Lowes, Ace ect... Guess Ill have to order this online.

I am able to find a 115v fan that is perfect that just plugs into the wall. 115v in a 120v outlet is fine correct? Cant you go down to 110v I want to say? Sorry its been about 14yrs since I took any physics/electrical classes lol.

 

[BigRob]

You aren't going to be able to use an old computer power supply too easily. If you have any old cell phone chargers, or any other type of power adapters for electronics, check the rating on them, if they're between 5VDC and 12VDC you can simply hack off the small plug and use those wires to connect the fan.

 

[ajm163]

Glad I asked before doing anything. Would an old computer power sorce work for this? I am pretty sure I have one of those just laying around.

I am probably just going to return it and locate a strict AC fan. That is what I asked the guy, but as you can see by what he gave me that is not the case.

By drop cord yes I just mean a plain old extention cord so 120v it is.

No one locally has an actual AC fan that I can locate. Tried Home Depot, Lowes, Ace ect... Guess Ill have to order this online.

I am able to find a 115v fan that is perfect that just plugs into the wall. 115v in a 120v outlet is fine correct? Cant you go down to 110v I want to say? Sorry its been about 14yrs since I took any physics/electrical classes lol.

if you can find a small fan that is rated for 115 a normal wall outlet is fine. A wall outlet is normally between 110 and 120 depending on how far you are from the substation and time of day ect... 120 ac fans are not very common and can be pretty big so check and make sure that the one you are looking at is the right size

 

[mredge73]

I would look for a small desk/personal fan like this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IDUOQY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
or for more airflow
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WEIJ7K/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

AC computer fans are not very common but do exist:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YUKWSW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[IFMracin]

You def dont need a processor fan that includes the heatsink, that's for sure.

Pick this up if electrical is a worry for you, no splicing needed.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00080G0BK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Then either use an existing usb-wall adapter or buy one of those also.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002FFG6JC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[BrewLou]

I found this which is a 4.7" fan w/cord.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006F91PCM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

There is the low speed version (56cfm 6W) and the high speed version (110cfm 20W). I was thinking LS version since I do not need it for actual cooling, just to circulate air.

 

[IFMracin]

That will work also.

 

[mcl]

I have seen AC fans at radioshack.

 

[BrewLou]

I will have to see if there are actually any still open in my area. They did a LARGE close out of Radio Shacks in NC a couple years ago. Ill see if there is one for me to check on my way home from work today.

2 stores somewhat local for me. $26 for one w/o a plug. Id have to cut said extension cord and wire it in. I can probably get one shipped 2 day for that price and be able to return the cord I bought lol. Thanks for the Radio Shack suggestion though, I didnt even think they were around anymore. At least I know where one is locally now!

 

[SweetSounds]

If you're like me and have something line an old cordless phone laying around, you can take the power supply (wall transformer) from that. Look at the transformer label. It'll say something like 9vdc or 12vdc.

Either would work with the fan you have there.

 

[krisberg]

You def dont need a processor fan that includes the heatsink, that's for sure.

Pick this up if electrical is a worry for you, no splicing needed.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00080G0BK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Then either use an existing usb-wall adapter or buy one of those also.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002FFG6JC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I am using the cooltron brand right now, nice brand!