12v comp fans to 120

if anyone knows of a thread on here that's good for the mechanically inept that tells how to wire a comp fan for 120 I would appreciate your being so knd as to point it out.

thanx

comp fans are DC so you need an ACDC adapter that runs at the same voltage as your fan with equal or higher ampres (ex. fan=12v 0.56 A adapter=12v 0.6 A) then connect the wires and presto youre in business

stoney

I'm taking this as you want to use 12vDC fans for a computer, but plug them into a 120vAC house current. If so, first of all the voltage needs to be stepped down then rectified. That is you have 120v alternating current, the fans use 12v direct current. 120vAC 60Hz means the voltage potential and current flow changes direction 60 times in a second, the voltage does not peak but averages near peak(RMS) at 120v. 12vDC means the current only flows in one direction at 12v peak voltage. If the fans were AC you could just use a step down transformer 10:1 ratio. Comming out of a computer they are most likely 12vDC, so the current travels in one direction only, so it must be converted to DC.
Just info there now here is the very easy solution. I was going to say use a computer power supply, but this can be tricky, because you need to have the motherboard tell it when to turn on(all new computers w 5vDC standby output). You can fool it by jumpering a wire, but I won't get into that. The other solution is get a 12vDC power supply from like Radio Shack. All you have to do now is add up all the current ratings of the fans you are going to use. For example if the fan is 12vDC 50mA you could hook up 10 fans to a12vDC 500mA rated power supply. Now you might just have one laying around the house. You know those plugs that are also boxes that plug into lets say an answering machine, they are AC to DC stepdown power supplies. If you read them they will generally say INput: 120v 60Hz Output: 12vDC 500mA or there abouts. Just find one suitable in current rating(you can't be too big, only too small) if you exceed the rating voltage will begin to drop stressing the PS and the fans. 12vDC is a very popular PS, but watch out some are 9v, 5v, etc. Cordless phones, answer machines, printers usually are 12v.
Now how to hook it up. Your fan has two wires, unless it has an RPM third wire. Red="+"=positive, Black="-"=negative, yellow=RPM. The power supply from the household device has two wires; probably both black or blk&wht stripe. Who cares, without a meter you may not be sure. Just hook up 1 wire to the black on fan and 1 wire to red if you guessed wrong the fan will spin backwards, just reverse the wires and you are good to go.
Hope this helps. Just if you were wondering household wiring 120vAC; black wire=gold terminal=hot, white=silver term.=neutral, Green or bare wire= green term.=ground. if you see a Red or Yellow wire it is probably comming from a wall switch and is=hot switched.

I was typing when stoney posted, so I guess you get the Reader digest version and expanded version at no extra charge. Just like all scientific notation 1A=1000mA. m=mille=1/1000, 0.56A=560mA

hey thanx guys for the info. I'm gonna be using 2 fans for ventilation, and just to be safe, since I'm electric disabled, I'm gonna hook em both up to separate 12v dc adapters. just don't wanna take any chances on burning down the house. also gonna use terminal block connectors, they are supposed to be safer than plain old wire nutz.

Forgot to say you could bypass all of this and use 120vAC muffin fans instead. An AC motor is far more simplistic than a DC motor. For this little amount of current, any connection will work, terminals would be best over wire nuts only for a slightly tighter connection from the screws, but you would hardly be able to measure it. Nuts are only bad if you use the wrong size. All the connections in your house are done with nuts except the breaker box. I just solder and tape. What ever you use will be fine. Houses usually get burn down using the wrong size wire or breaker failure to trip. Too small & insulator will get hot and soft. I have been involved in electronics for 25 years, so I'm not just talking out of my ass. I could ramble for hours on just AC to DC. That said 1 adaptor will be fine, unless your really scared...hehe....

packn2puff:

yep really scared. got 3 kids and electric is really not my medium. rather be safe than sorry.

go ahead and ramble on. only way we can learn is if somebody teaches!! I'll go so far as to say maybe you should do a thread on wiring for all who are like me and have questions and don't know who to ask. I did a search over on OG but do ya know how many threads ya gotta chase down before you finally get something that's understandable? I'd love to see a tutorial section here, but it needs to be kept simple, so mechanically challenged folks like me can comprehend the basics.

I've grown before but the last time was a 1'x4'x8' walk in closet that had no problems with ventilation or temps. This time I'm building a 1'x1'x6' grow box cause here in texas we don't get a lot of closet space, least I don't.

anyway, thanx again my friend. going to do a search on the muffin fan now.

Hey I thought everything was big in Texas....I think Radio Shack still has 120VAC muff fans.....I got a few for my theater amplifier...Rock on

cell phone chargers are 12 v just cut the end off and wire yer fan to iit

chuck> but how will I charge my cell phone then? just kidding bro. I know you have best intentions and it may be just that simple to you, but when pack2puff was talking above about what size adaptor to run how many fans? man that's all greek to me bro. I just wanna be able to plug something in and be able to have reasonable peace of mind nothing bad will happen.

on another note, just found a bunch of muffin fans on e-bay for cheap, some for dc...some for ac. anybody know if radio shack can beat 10 bucks? guess that's my next web search .that price includes shipping btw. later and thanx to all who have offered input.

haha nice packn2puff, way to articulate for the man (or woman i dunno). but so you seem to know what you're talking about more than i do, is it ok to use an acdc adapter like i said or is it just bad advice?

ooo yeah those 120VAC muffin fans are awesome, fairly quiet but really blows air

stoney

Stoney you got it right, an AC to DC power supply is an AC/DC adapter. In fact when you buy them in the store like Radio Crack, they will say AC/DC 12v adapter 500mA(or whatever size you are buying). good advice. Power supply is what it is, adaptor is a nice lay name for it. When they start getting bigger, they start calling them power supplies.
120v muffin fans pretty much is the same thing as a computer fan just it uses a 120vAC motor. Get some foam ear plugs, pull them though the 4 screw holes. now you can lay them on any surface that gets hot, like a home theater amp, ballast, etc. Great for really getting mesquite wood going in the barbeque! $10 bucks is a good price, but size matters. 4", 6", 8" (now get your mind out of the gutter and go buy a fan)

If I was to run a 12 volt fan I would just buy computer power supply. They are cheap and safe. Fan might plug right in. Let me know if you need pin out.
Computer power supplies have 12 and 5 volt taps.

Einstein

PS: 120 volt muffin fans remove finger nails very well. Keep it safe

I was starting to tell her that Einsteinguy in my original post. Problem is if it is a new comp PS then it requires a remote start, done through the mother board via the button on the front of the case. Back-in-the-day comp PS would power up with the switch on the power supply alone. I didn't want to get into how to bypass the soft start. It can be done but Stankbud has proclaimed to be electrically challenged. For the record Einstein guy if I had a bunch of 12vdc fans, I too would use a Comp PS, I have a ton off them laying around.

hey guys, um, hers a him. yep I'm mechanically challenged. shoulda paid attention back in shop in high school. I was the kid that always cut shop to go get stoned before yas laugh, I was never alone back there. some of yous cut class once in a while too...

any way what he said about the cps and the mother board and shit? may as well have been russian. Hell I had a friend install my firewall and all that stuff. just not good at the shit.

Throwing a box together, hammer and nails, that I can handle. grew up on a farm, always throwing something together. engines? if it's got a catalytic converter forget it. got too complicated for me.

I do appreciate the info. This is the first grow I've done where I had to worry about this stuff, like I said 3 kids I want it safe. no other option.

muffin fan is a done deal. sealed bearings or bushings or whatever and quiet as hell.

think this is difficult for me? hell I wanna go hydro for faster growth. following threads to the bitter end and there is so much info out there it's diff to tell what is the best advice.

My bad stank I thought you were a dude when you said "just kiddin bro" to chuck...must of subconsciously typed "her" seeing your avatar..

damn I really like that avatar..kinda trippy, but I can see how now. looking for a new one asap

i know that this thread hasnt been updated since 4/20 but i was directed to this when i was looking to figure out how to use a computer fan. well this helped and i figured i should show pics of how easy it is for them to work.


a regular AC/DC adapter. it came with my old cell phone. 12Volts.


i used two 12Volt computer fans.


striped the wires and connected hot to hot and cold to cold.

super easy.

One fan says 12V 2.16W which is 2.16W/12V=0.18A.....0.18A x 2fans=0.36 A. Your adapter is rated for 1A, so you can easily fit two more fans of the same size and safely be under the adapters rating. See stankbud nothing to it...Good job JetUsUp.

damn Jet, I'm impressed, way to go.

packn2puff> yeah i know, i still would rather just have something to plug in, and I still don't understand that "One fan says 12V 2.16W which is 2.16W/12V=0.18A.....0.18A x 2fans=0.36 A. Your adapter is rated for 1A," nope, I just don't.

Now ya wanna talk mesh sizes for silk screening some shirts? I can hold my own there, LOL