Power fans seperately?

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:45 am

I'm looking for a small power supply that will allow me to connect a 4-pin or 3-pin plug just for testing individual fans outside of a case with no other noise sources. It's just for comparing the noise of different fans.

Anyone know of anything? Or how I could EASILY rig something like this up?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:14 am

In the USA......go to a Radio Shack store and buy a small power supply that plugs into a wall socket. These are available with a voltage adjustment switch.....like 2.8-12V.

I just splice a few spare connectors on the end, so I can hook up a 3 or 4-wire fan.

Bob_the_lost · Post by **Bob_the_lost** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:49 am

Jordan wrote:I'm looking for a small power supply that will allow me to connect a 4-pin or 3-pin plug just for testing individual fans outside of a case with no other noise sources. It's just for comparing the noise of different fans.

Anyone know of anything? Or how I could EASILY rig something like this up?

A bit of wire and a universal adapter would do the job, or if you're like me and have about fifty old adapters for broken hardware you could just bodge one from them.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 5:14 am

Ahh, actually I have a power adaptor with interchangeable pulgs and voltages. So I just remove the plug and hook up the wires

It completely escaped my mind that I had that.

Thanks

Lubb · Post by **Lubb** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 6:05 pm

Wallblock adaptors usually have little to no regulation, so the fans might sound noisier hooked up to one of them than they would on a real PSU. Why not just use a cheap generic PSU with the proper wires shorted over?
~

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 6:12 pm

Lubb wrote:Wallblock adaptors usually have little to no regulation

So that would be why one of my "4.5v" adapters, with nothing connected, is measured as 7.5v with a multimeter?

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:45 am

Lubb wrote:Wallblock adaptors usually have little to no regulation, so the fans might sound noisier hooked up to one of them than they would on a real PSU. Why not just use a cheap generic PSU with the proper wires shorted over?
~

THe reason I'm looking to do this is to isolate the fans as the only noise source, with a cheap PSU the noise would be a problem.

I suppose I could use my Shuttle Zen, power it up, enter the BIOS, unplug the sole fan and use it to plug fans into and test since it has a passive PSU. It's more hassle though as the sides of the Zen have thick Mutemat Plus applied so it's difficult to fit/remove the cover.

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:55 am

I thought it's not a good idea to run the PSU for any length of time with just the two correct pins shorted?

I should probably get or find a powerpack like that someday.... right now I have a cheap battery holder that holds 8 AA batteries in series and I just stick the ends of the wires into the fan connector.

Good for listening for a short while.

cpemma · Post by **cpemma** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:09 pm

I use this Maplin power block for GP testing, a range of regulated voltages and 1.2A max will cope with most needs. Pick up a line or panel-mount connector to mate with one of the plugs, makes it easier to connect to other fittings.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:07 pm

Jordan wrote:THe reason I'm looking to do this is to isolate the fans as the only noise source, with a cheap PSU the noise would be a problem.

I use a cheap fanless AT power supply for testing of fan noise, as well as testing of hard drive idle whine. How did I acheive both "cheap" and "fanless"? Take a wild guess...

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:32 pm

IsaacKuo wrote:How did I acheive both "cheap" and "fanless"? Take a wild guess...

Submerging it in oil? Attaching old CPU heatsinks to the components?

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:19 pm

Anybody heard about batteries?

cpemma · Post by **cpemma** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:52 pm

IsaacKuo wrote: How did I acheive both "cheap" and "fanless"? Take a wild guess...

Sold the casing as scrap metal & waft it with your cap.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:36 pm

Hmm...maybe what I did isn't as completely obvious as I thought. I just removed the fan from a fanned AT power supply. It's not going to overheat from powering just a piddly fan or a single hard drive. And even if it did--so what? I've got a bunch of old junked AT power supplies.

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:34 pm

IsaacKuo wrote:Hmm...maybe what I did isn't as completely obvious as I thought. I just removed the fan from a fanned AT power supply. It's not going to overheat from powering just a piddly fan or a single hard drive. And even if it did--so what? I've got a bunch of old junked AT power supplies.

LOL

Ah, now it makes perfect sense.... no doubt they are left over from your "fan harvesting" cottage industry?

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:54 pm

I use a 12V train transformer that had been sitting in my closet for about 15 years... it has barely enough power to run more than one 120mm fan, but it works.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 4:41 am

BrianE wrote:
IsaacKuo wrote:I just removed the fan from a fanned AT power supply. It's not going to overheat from powering just a piddly fan or a single hard drive. And even if it did--so what? I've got a bunch of old junked AT power supplies.
LOL

Ah, now it makes perfect sense.... no doubt they are left over from your "fan harvesting" cottage industry?

Yep! When I see an old Pentium system, I don't see a router/firewall or an X terminal. I see an 80mm fan and a bunch of molex connectors.

Power fans seperately?

Power fans seperately?

Re: Power fans seperately?