My old PSU has a broken fan but I'm gonna try replacing it soon. If I manage to do that succesfully (a miracle) I was wondering if it's possible to use that PSU's leads to connect to and power about 5 - 10 fans? How would I do it and what's a dremel?
well to switch your fan, you just need to solder the 12v line and the ground line of the new fan where the old fan cables were soldered. Since you got a 300W, the number of fans will depends of the other things plugged on the psu... but a fan use about 3W... so you certainly can put lots of them in your case as for the dremel.. it's a rotary tool. check there for more infos : dremel
Here are a couple of atricles on replacing psu fans, the first is for a plug in fan, the second for a wired fan, plug in fan wired fan Just make sure the psu has been unplugged for a day or so before working on it. If you want to fit a second psu in your case to run the fans, you will need to run a fly lead from your switch to trigger the psu to start. As Tribal Dragon says, a fan will draw 3-6 w, so unless you are near the max of your current psu you should be able to set up a string of molex connectors most cas fans come with a choice of 3pin(motherboard) or 4 pin (molex fly lead), or use a baybus like this I think the bay bus uses 3 pin fans. 10 fans are you making a hovering comput-o-copter?
Moo and Tribal great info, pretty much what I needed as far as switching the psu fan goes. I opened up the psu and discovered that I actually have a plug-in fan, which is gonna make things a whole lot easier.. Where exactly do I buy the right type of fan for this? It's got a two-pin connector. I tried searching the ebuyer site Moo but they only seem to have led or coloured fans, I'm just after an ordinary fan (which I assume is cheaper) and not sure whch one I need exactly. Those links you dropped were great btw, thanks! Also, I'll explain a little further.. I don't plan to use the PSU in the computer anymore (I got a new one now, just haven't changed the sig yet). The old Suntek 300w PSU will just be used to power about 5 - 10 fans, and no other devices. I'll construct some kind of wooden housing I guess. If I cut the 4-pin and 3-pin sockets and connect the wires to the fan wires would that do the trick or is it a more involved process?
I haven't seen fans with psu plugs on, but it is no problem to cut the lead from your old fan about 1"(inch) from the plug and solder and insulate the leads from your new fan onto it. Some fans come with a third yellow lead, just ignore that one. You can pick up a no frills 80mm 12v fan from ebyer for less than a pound, or afound £5 will get you one with lights. If you want a quieter fan then look for a fan with a db rating of about 22-24 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Fans_47.html has a selection. The main 4 pin molex outputs carry 12v (yellow) 5v(red) and two black 0v leads. If you want full power just wire up the new fans to yellow and black, if you want low power then put the12v (yellow) molex to red + fan lead and then the red 5v lead from the molex to the black - lead on the fan to give you 12v - 5v =7v. Because of the lowish power you should be able to run one molex extention from the psu box to you fans, you don't need a 4 pin molex extention for each fan, although you could run a 12v and separate 7v for different fans.
Great info once again Moo.. Could I connect the black and red PSU wires to the black and red fan wires for a 5v output or wouldn't that be worth it? Looking at my molexes they have two black wires, could I use either one? As far as connecting the new fan to the old socket, I guess I'll try that if there's no other alternative.. but I'm not sure if I should because it might have been a broken socket that caused the fan to stop working.. I found this fan: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=23880 It says case cooling fan but could I use that to replace the fan in the PSU? The PSu is temp-controlled btw, it says 2000rpm max 40 degrees. I will most probably use 5-10 of these as the fans for my setup, would they be ok for that purpose too?
The 8cm /80mm ebuyer fan is your standard cheap-as-chips case fan. It should be fine for the psu, and the temp control should ease the noise down. I have just had a thought that it may be the temp control which is your problem. If you take your old fan out of the psu, trim the plug/wires, leaving enough to re-join them and connect it to a 12v source ie a molex output. If the fan spins up then you have another problem on the psu. If the fan is dead then go ahead with a new one. I would caution against buying 10 of these fans in one go, they are quite noisy at 12v. Ebuyer postage is not too much now so try 2 or 3 and if they are ok for you it will only cost you a couple of pounds in extra postage later. The discount for buying 10 in one go is only a few pence. If you feel the fans are too noisy at 12v, try 7v'ing them, or else look at some different fans. A 12v fan need about 6v in order to start it spinning. Running them at 5v will give you little airflow. Ideally you should keep the 0v black wire next to the 12v or 5v together with it.
Moo, good idea, I might try that later but slightly hesitant until I have another fan in my possession incase I forget the routing! The PSU itself does work fine, it powered my whole rig, just the fan was not spinning. Assuming there is a problem with the temp control, if I connect 5 fans via the molex leads couldn't I redirect one of the fans back inside the PSU? I know I'd lose the temp control facility but would that still be effective and work safely?
Hey cheeky, I do other things apart from surf Bit-tech. There is no problem in routing a fan from your molex back into the psu, apart form the loss of temp control. You may have to drill a small hole or bend the case a bit to allow the wires in.
Great, I decided to go ahead and do this, I'll be ordering my fans tomorrow. Thanks for all the advice and tips Moo, a great help indeed. And no offence with the cow joke, just trying to up the thread before it disappeared.. Much respect.. Ruga
