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  #1  
Old 08/01/2007, 01:39 AM
b16drag b16drag is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: California
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DIY Computer fans in canopy... Help?

I've been looking through some threads and didnt get too far.

I wanted to throw some computer fans into my canopy to help cool things down a bit. The computer fans that I got are as follows:

http://www.thermaltake.com/product/D...2387/a2387.asp

They are 6 Volts, .14 A, and 1.2 W. I'm planning to have 4 of them. Any electronic guru want to tell me how to hook them up? I know most of the wall converters are 110V -> 12V DC, so I may have to hook up 2 fans in series. Thats about as much as I know. Any one want to chime in before I burn my house and canopy down?
  #2  
Old 08/01/2007, 06:53 AM
Siberia Siberia is offline
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Location: Rockland, Ont., Canada
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Reading that page, the fans are rated for 0.10 Amp. If you want 4 of them, you should get a power supply that will provide you with 6 VDC and 1 AMP current. It's always better to have a little more than not enough current. Helps the PS to run cooler. Your fans should be connected in parallel.

You are in California, so finding a good electronic shop to buy a proper power supply should not be a big issue.

To recapitulate, what you need for those fans:

1 power supply that will provide you with 6 V DC at 1 Amp current supply.

If you need a schematic on how to hook up all those fans, let me know.

HTH

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  #3  
Old 08/01/2007, 08:21 AM
der_wille_zur_macht der_wille_zur_macht is offline
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FWIW, if you find that the fans are too powerful/noisy, you can run them at a slightly lower voltage without causing problems. You can usually overdrive DC fans too, but that's obviously a bit more risky.
  #4  
Old 08/01/2007, 10:36 AM
b16drag b16drag is offline
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Thanks guys!
  #5  
Old 08/01/2007, 10:37 AM
J. Montgomery J. Montgomery is offline
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I have two 4" Radio Shack fans connected to a variable voltage power adapter.
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  #6  
Old 08/01/2007, 10:59 AM
jdieck jdieck is offline
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What kind of lighting you are going to have? If any metal halide, at 28 cf/min each the flow of those fans might not be enough.
You may get 130 cfm from two 4" RadioShack 110V fans. Because no adapter is needed the cost could be as low as those 4 3" fans.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...rt&tab=summary
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  #7  
Old 08/01/2007, 12:00 PM
der_wille_zur_macht der_wille_zur_macht is offline
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I love this note on that radio shack page:
Quote:
You'll also need

* 115 V AC Power
Uhhhh, where can I order one-ah those?
  #8  
Old 08/01/2007, 01:02 PM
bigtex52 bigtex52 is offline
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B16,
Just a thought....you might want to fire those bad boys up and take a listen before you go to the trouble of installing them. I bought some Thermaltakes for a computer I built and while they did move a lot of air, they sounded like a Turboprop engine running. If anyone finds some good fans that are effective but QUIET, please post the name of them as I am looking to do pretty much the same thing.
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  #9  
Old 08/01/2007, 01:24 PM
TheBChamp TheBChamp is offline
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Yeah Siberia if you could put up some schematics on this, that would be great. I was thinking maybe setting up 2 in mine.

Thanks
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  #10  
Old 08/01/2007, 01:45 PM
jdieck jdieck is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by bigtex
B16,
Just a thought....you might want to fire those bad boys up and take a listen before you go to the trouble of installing them. I bought some Thermaltakes for a computer I built and while they did move a lot of air, they sounded like a Turboprop engine running. If anyone finds some good fans that are effective but QUIET, please post the name of them as I am looking to do pretty much the same thing.
Depends on how much flow you require and how much you are willing to pay. IceCap fans move up to around 80 CFM and they are variable speed besed on the temperature. As the temperature rises the flow increases. They are very silent at low rpm but pick up the noise as they go to full capacity. They cost around $60.00 each
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  #11  
Old 08/01/2007, 02:47 PM
J. Montgomery J. Montgomery is offline
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I drastically reduce the noise of my two 4" fans by switching from 12V down to 9V on my power adapter.
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  #12  
Old 08/01/2007, 03:34 PM
MSU Fan MSU Fan is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by bigtex
If anyone finds some good fans that are effective but QUIET, please post the name of them as I am looking to do pretty much the same thing.
These are the quietest you are going to get for DC fans.

SilenX iXtrema Pro Fans

How about an 120mm fan that pushes 72cfm @ 14 dBa? I have searched - I have not found a fan that can push as much air with as little sound (which is very important to me) as this does. I have 4 BestBuy fans in my canopy now (22cfm @ 18dBa each), but I am going to upgrade to SilenX soon: 4-80x80x25mm (in) + 2-120x120x25mm fans (out) (I have 2 MH's in a close canopy). That is a lot of air movement.
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  #13  
Old 08/04/2007, 02:39 AM
b16drag b16drag is offline
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Anyone tried the GlacialTech Silentblade fans?
 


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