[mwz]

Thanks so much everyone!! So much information, this is fantastic! I'm leaning towards the old phone charger route, I have a few spare

[nukklehead]

I have 2 120volts that I bought years ago off radio shack web site.. they are still truckin along. take em out 2 x a year and clean em.
I splice into regular 14 gauge extension cords and straight into the outlet. Dont know if they make em any more you can try google em if you want. Just trying to save you a step of using a transformer but hey an old charger is a good idea if you cant find these anymore.
I may have to use that approach if not made anymore.

[foomar]

Have in excess of thirty old and current power supplies for phones , laptops and music devices from 3 to 40 volts around the house , dreadfull waste and difficult to recycle.

Have used what i can in various projects , converting bulhead lights to led,s and suchlike , kept a few out of landfill.

Fitting a single large fan of this type in place of six cheap and nasty chinese crappy ones in a led array silenced it effectively and brought temps down.


My fan is actually a lot older , stripped it from an ex MOD fileserver in 1980 and it was ancient then but of solid build quality designed to be lubricated and rebrushed , pre Intel and microsoft and before it was cheaper to replace than repair or service..

So its actually ran 24/7 for nearly forty years , 23 on this 9 v phone charger , doubt a modern fan will last as long esp the chinese crap i see in led arrays , quality ones intended for PC,s should fare better.

[mamachachas]

Probably a dumb question, but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding AC/DC power adapters at my local retailers. I came across a couple Switch Power supplies that are 100-240V AC 0.4a Input and 12V 0.7a Output. I did a little research on them, but I'm wondering if these are suitable to use for connecting my computer fan to an outlet. I realize it's a lot higher amps than I need, but I have a 12V .24a fan that I'd really like to use for exhaust- and the basic 5V 0.5a usb adapter is just too slow operating under 5V. I notice immediately that the Switch Power supply is copper wires, so I'm a bit hesitant to try it. Thanks in advance!

[OldPhart]

Originally Posted by mamachachas

Probably a dumb question, but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding AC/DC power adapters at my local retailers. I came across a couple Switch Power supplies that are 100-240V AC 0.4a Input and 12V 0.7a Output. I did a little research on them, but I'm wondering if these are suitable to use for connecting my computer fan to an outlet. I realize it's a lot higher amps than I need, but I have a 12V .24a fan that I'd really like to use for exhaust- and the basic 5V 0.5a usb adapter is just too slow operating under 5V. I notice immediately that the Switch Power supply is copper wires, so I'm a bit hesitant to try it. Thanks in advance!

Switching mode power supplies are the way to go, in fact *most* power supplies are switching mode any more, even if they say it or not. The major advantage of the switch mode supplies is the fact that they handle short circuits and overloads quite gracefully; they just shut down, and often times will restore operation when the fault is cleared. There are a few of the switching supplies that may require cycling the power to them after a fault to restore operation.
Try overloading a standard DC supply, and it will often do one of the following, either burn out, blow a fuse, or over heat. The way to tell the difference is to feel the weight, the switch mode will be much lighter because it doesn't have the heavy transformer in them.