Cooling Fan

[Grey Ghost]

Guys,
Thanks for your help with my cooling fan needs. I ended up buying two 120mm Silence X fans. One being a 14 db for inside the cabnet and one 11 db for the outside of cabinet. I have placed an on and off switch and I am using a 12v AC to DC converter at 1500 MA. 1500MA will run up to 6 fans.....They work wonderfull and my cabinet is cool now.....

Now here is my question...should I put a timer on the fans so they come on only during certain times of the day or should I let them stay on all of the time? They are only 1.2 watts per fan so not a big deal in leaving them on. I wonder how long they will last if I leave them on 24-7.

Thanks for your input and past help with my issue!

Grey Ghost

 

[Francious70]

Shouldn't be any problem leaving them on all the time. Basically the same as a computer fan which are designed to be on all the time.

Paul

 

[Mort Corey]

Probably better to leave them on all them time. As a bonus, should you forget to turn them on, things will stay cool. I've had the same fans on 24/7 for about eight months without any problem. They were inexpensive so I wouldn't be sad if they died and needed replacing at some point. Good stuff. For my fan inside the cabinet (which is the exhaust) I found that mounting it with rubber gromets helped quiet it even better.

Mort

 

[JohnA]

Thermal switch

You could try a thermal switch, that way at a set temp they will come on and turn off when the temp has been reached....much like a home thermostat.

 

[armaraas]

Alright, I give up. I've been trying to figure this out but I must be missing something. How did you get the fans to connect to the converter? I've been trying to figure out how to do this other than plugging in an extra cpu power supply and connecting them to that.

Has anyone tried using a 5.25" or 3.5" cpu fan controller for turning on/off or adjusting speeds?

 

[Grey Ghost]

Armaraas,
I bought my AC/DC 1500MA converter from radio shack for 22.00. This is a 12 volt converter and can power up to 6 fans. I then bought two 12 volt Silence X 120mm fans. I went to Home depot and bought a 3/4 on off switch and some splice connectors for hooking up the fans in parrallel. I stripped the wires from the fans and added some length to them with red and black wire so not to confuse myself : ) on which was positive and negative. Once both fans were mounted I then connected both the positive wires together and then the negative wires together then I took the positive wire from the AC/DC power supply and connected it to the postive wires from the fans then I did it to the negative. I then place the postive wires and place then into a splice and crimped it then I did the same to the negative. On the other side of the splice I used one single wire for the positive and one for the negative for which to hook into the 3/4 switch to turn the fans on and off if I choose. After I had it all hooked up I then plugged in the power supply and the fans turned on and lucky me they were turning the right way.......I hope this helps....

Grey Ghost

 

[armaraas]

Yes it does help, thanks. "Splice" is the secret word I was looking for. I was thinking there might be a way to do it without having to do that, but I will assume not.
Thanks again.