1N5404 was the model used by Mashie in that mod. For mine, i put 4 or 5 of the same series, but not the exact model (was sold out) anyway it worked well.
Jeez bAdI, I take a vacation from work and miss out on all you've got done. Freaking fantastic work . I'm glad that you decided to work with what you had instead of buying another laptop drive adapter (I mean, that's modding at its finest). Also it's great to see your project nearing completion. With your 40mm fans, what is the current rating on each one? How does it compare to the current rating of the 80mm? If you were to wire up those 40mm in parallel the voltage would be the same throughout and the currents would be added correct? So as long as the 3x40mm current is lower than the 80mm current you should have no problems using the on motherboard connector. Could any electronics buffs out there tell me if my assumptions are correct?
Nice to have you back z4114. The 80mm is a 0.24a and the 40mm are either 0.07a or 0.09a, so it's just about equal. I'm going to leave electronics for a while until a find a good solution. I'm going to finish the side with the outtake first and give it a go in passive mode. The electronic issue (in case someone is catching up now) is; 1. Run the 3 fans at 12v, a bit noisy, but easiest solution. 2. Run the 3 fans off the mobo connector which varies in voltage depending on the temperature, crazy unpredictable solution. 3. Lower the voltage using diodes in "Crazy Swedden style" as Kumo suggested, would have to try n' see 4. Button controlled? 12v | off (they won't move under 12v). It's sort of a mix of the other 3 but I would have to keep an eye on the server or write a script to warn me if it gets too hot. Later tonight the middle piece and sides should be done Stay tuned.
One fan to the fan connector to run always and other two controlled via button? And ummh.. How does the mobo connector lower the fan speed if they stop running with voltages under 12V? PWM?
I think he means they wont start under 12v, as i have always found that fans will run well under whatever voltage it takes to start it spinning.
scifi3018, that's just what I meant. I've run bigger fans with 3 volts but these little suckers won't spin, even if I start them off manually. I've been using an atx psu but tomorrow I'll fire up all the hardware, see how it all goes. Fingers crossed everyone. BTW, the middle piece is almost done, I've cut the hole for the other fan so only sanding and polishing left.
making the motor section in those 40mm fans may be too small for a normal motor, meaning that theres somthing different about them
For my former dowload systems i used a potenciometer to control the fan. (you can read about it in my web page here , only in spanish, sorry). With a small one, maybe you could drop the RPMs enough without stop the fan.
Did some testing today. I plugged in all this stuff; 3'5 hard disk (the 10gb hp thing) The 3 fans (40mm) EL wire (blue Akasa) It worked fine. Also tried to use the mobo connector to power the fans, no luck with 3, no luck with 2 and no luck with just 1. Bugger. So I'll have to power everything off the molex at 12v. The fans make some noise but not enough to be disturbing. When I manage to get my lazy ass off the sofa I'll get back to work.
EL Wire? I do not recall you ever deciding to go with it, but rock on! A damn shame about the onboard header not running your fans though. Get off the sofa and get this thing done man! You're so very close to completing one of my favorite mods on this site.
I'm not sure yet about the EL, but I saw it in a shop for 5€ and I couldn't help myself, I have to do some thinking because it has a small inverter but still too big to go in there without modding it. If you like it so much and want to see it finished I'll get to work this afternoon. The end is near, but I hate sanding and there's a lot of that left.
If you need to run the fans off a molex,you could run them on 12v+ and 5v- for 7v or just 5v. If you need something in between, use some resistors to cut down the voltage.
I already tried running them at 5v and the 7v trick but theses are stubborn fans, they'll only take 12v . The best I could do is buy new fans, these are rather old scrapped from P3s, K5s and GPUs, I suppose some newer fans would be less restrictive voltagewise.
I'm off the sofa. First off here is the new smoked plexi cdrom holder. I'm not sure if I'll go smoked or clear yet. Doesn't look too bad. I also started to cut the outtake on the left side, but my dremel lookalike got too hot to keep going so I only got the job done in one piece. As I'm seriously condering the EL wire I had a look at it and there wass no way to fit it in its casing. Too tall standing. Too tall on its side. But out of its shell ... Yes, it's tiny. Looks like a perfect fit. The best place for it I've found is next to the HDD, it's one of the few places where there is enough clearence (20mm) and it will have a fan next to it so it'll be kept cool. It's not fixed to the plexi yet but here is what it would sort of look like. Here is another shot of the inverter and the cdrom holder I hope my dremel is in a better mood tomorrow and I can finish the outtake, which by the way is the last cut I have to make on the aluminium . That's it for now.
nice man, that thing would probably work fine without a fan TBH, i mean it worked in a little case with nearly no ventilation - the case is only there for electrical safety ...
hey man.. looks awesome! but just to let you know, read somewhere else like 1-2 days ago that you shouldn't put that EL-wire or similar powersupplies near diskdrives as they produce magnetic fields and may damage the drives.. just so you know! I like the slim pc tho too bad it doesnt have that much of upgrade capability good luck tho with the project and I look forward to see the finish!!
Power supplies that small won't definitely cause any harm to the HDD. The electrical safety is another thing tho. I guess that thing gives out few hundred volts so make sure it won't get shorted by anything!
OK, the outside is almost done. I've been filing all the aluminium to get nice corners and the sides just about even. I also finished cutting the outtake. Some pics so you can see what I mean. ^You can see a bit of the hdd in the top tier. Overall the outside of the case looks almost finished But I have a bit of a problem, I've filed the corners so much that now I'm missing 0.4mm at the back. I'll file the holes so I can move the piece half a centimeter foward into te case. After I have everything in place I'm going to sand the plexi down so the sides are even and get back to work inside the case, still have to do the electronics and I have to find a new way to hold the fans. 40mm fans + 1.5mm alu fan holder > 41mm gap BTW, looking back I've realised most pics are gone so I'll have to go back and edit most of my post, crap. .:EDIT:. 5images.com is down so some images are gone for a while, sorry. I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Wow Badi, I must say this is a very impressive mod! I love tiny PCs, and this is just really great. I love seeing a mod as it comes together. The final product should be awesome.
bAdI, bAdI, bAdI, where are you man? I go between jobs and the project has ceased to be? Please come back soon.
