4-pin PC fan to 12v power supply - which wires should I match up?

TheMushroomMan

Member

• Jun 20, 2017

• #1

Hey all,

So, this is what I'm working with:

Top is the 4-pin cable, I'm pretty sure that I only need to use pin 1 (black) and pin 2 (yellow).

Bottom is the 12v power supply - red is 12v, white is 5v, bare is ground.

I've searched high and low but cannot figure out how to wire this up properly. This is where I'm at:

Based on scrubninja's PC fan guide, I'm pretty sure that pin 1 (black) is ground and pin 2 (yellow) is 12v.

I think I should connect pin 2 to the white 12v wire and connect pin 1 to the bare ground wire - does that sound correct?

 

HuffnPufferfish

Member

• Jun 20, 2017

• #2

yes that sounds connect BUT ive found out that not every company bothers with colors so test it out http://m.eet.com/media/1050345/C0203-Figure1.gif

 

OldPhart

Member

• Jun 20, 2017

• #3

You need to note the pin positions, color is not standardized at all. But pin 1 and pin 2 are your power pins on the fan, as you already stated.

There is no telling which wire is what voltage on the power supply. I would hook the black wire to the ground/shield. Then test the yellow against the red/white and see which one makes it run at full speed.

 

TheMushroomMan

Member

• Jun 21, 2017

• #4

Thank you Huffin and OldP - that confirms what I was thinking.

I'm positive (heh) that red is 12v; the adapter was originally 4-pin as well.

What I found confusing was:

On the PC fan, pin 1 = ground and pin 2 = 12v (as per this diagram).

On the adapter, however, pin 1 = 5v and pin 2 = 12v (as per the diagram on the bottom left of the adapter, visible in my photo).

So, I'm assuming that there is no standard for 4-pin connections.

 

M

Mr. Sparkle

• Jun 21, 2017

• #5

hard to tell without having the connector on the end for your fan, but for typical pc fans that use the yellow black green blue color scheme, black is your ground, yellow is 12v, blue is your PWM control and green is the tach reading wire.

Also in doubt you can use the 5v to test first instead of the straight 12v, also that's a pretty big power supply for a single or a couple fans, planning to run anything else on it being a dual supply an all ? Could save some space an such with a small dedicated 12v power supply, typically don't need over 1a for a couple of fans

 

HuffnPufferfish

Member

• Jun 24, 2017

• #6

as im pretty sure i have the exact same one, its cheap, plenty of power and makes it easy to slow the fans for whatever

 

pANicModE

Member

• Jun 25, 2017

• #7

Why do you keep starting new threads to ask new questions just stick it all in one thread or at least go to the right form section which would be design and set up Smh