[TUTORIAL] ATX Clone fans:

[Guest]

Submitted By: OxXGarfieldXxOSubmitted On: Today, 01:38 PMSubmitted In: Grow Room Tricks and Tips:Click here to go to tutorial

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There are a few ATX lab power tutorials around the net, but very few of us need an actual lab power of .5 volts. Secondly you'd have to know what to even search for to get the results which don't really pertain to us in the first place.

 

In this tutorial we'll show how to take of of those old computer power supplies we know you have fourteen of in the basement, and turn them into a power supply for some low cfm fans for your clones. This is a very basic project, and you'll only need a few tools to complete it.

 

TOOLS NEEDED

• phillips screw driver
• wire cutters or strippers
• electrical tape
• ATX Power Supply
• Computer Fan (one or more)

 

STEP 1) You'll want to insure you do this on an ATX that is not plugged in. After removing the ATX from an old computer, let's look at the wires and connections. Most computer fans are pretty generic. They all use a connection with four wires. The only wires were concerned with, are the ones with connection that would match up to the fan we're using, and one green wire, and any one black wire.

 

STEP 2)This green wire is very important, and will be the only green wire in all of the connections coming from the ATX. This wire, when hooked up in the computer, tells the computer everything is on, and that it's ok to allow power to everything else. This wire is generally connected to a twenty pin connector, and isn't hard to find. All black wires are grounds. So we'll need to keep enough length on at least one of the black wires to complete the circuit with the green, in a sense tricking the power supply into thinking it's hooked to a computer and all is well. After separating the wires you'll want to remain with the wires that are surperfluous to our application, well first cut the green and any black with enough connection left to join them. In my picture below, I would cut all the wires in the red highlighted section leaving the green and one black. I cut my wires on an angle, so there is no chance of them making a connection. I then just poured melted wax over the cut bundle and secured it with electrical tape. The wires for the fan hook ups, highlighted in blue, are left to the side.

 

 

STEP 3) With all extra wires cut back and secured, strip a section of the green and black wires you left and wind them together. Secure them with electrical tape after so they don't ground out on the inside of the case. In the picture below I also took the time to put a wiring harness over the wires, but this isn't needed.

 

 

STEP 4) Now is a good time to test our lab power. Some of you may have an "off-on" switch on the back of your ATX, and others wont. Mine didn't. Get the power supply cord you shouldn't have hoked up yet, and hook it up. Also plug in one of your fans, and test our work by plugging it in. The fans for the powers cooling and also your soon to be clone fan should fire up. If it doesn't please check your green wire to black wire connection.

 

 

STEP 5) If everything is working and the fan comes on, we can unplug the power supply and get the case back together. For some odd reason(no reason to have one as most don't side mount to anything), my ATX had a mounting bracket (as seen above highlighted in red) which worked out perfectly. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to make one out of small piece of metal and a drill.

 

 

That's it. It's supper easy. You can see below to mount my fans I just used some 3/4" pvc and some drywall screws. I held the fans up to where I wanted them, marked the holes, drilled them out, and finally mounted the fans and plugged them in. Hope this helped.

 

[+greenhouse]

Thanks! I love the MacGyver stuff. And what better for all those extra power supply units and fans lying around. The geeks of us have boxes and boxes, you know about it Garfield...

[Guest OxXGarfieldXxO]

Thanks! I love the MacGyver stuff. And what better for all those extra power supply units and fans lying around. The geeks of us have boxes and boxes, you know about it Garfield...

 

lol...yeah. Really though this was just a starter so people could see what the tutorial section of the site was for. Hopefully this will get people in the "teaching and sharing" mood.

[Homes Labs]

Nice work.

[badbert]

Great Tut! Couple of green wire options though. The green and black wires,can be attached to a switch, for easy remote on/off switch. You can also attach them to a home style A/C thermostat to turn on and off at preset temperatures. Or you can place them both in series and have a remote on/off temp-controlled cooling system!

[greenleaf]

Great Tut! Couple of green wire options though. The green and black wires,can be attached to a switch, for easy remote on/off switch. You can also attach them to a home style A/C thermostat to turn on and off at preset temperatures. Or you can place them both in series and have a remote on/off temp-controlled cooling system!

 

Cool ideas.

[Moss]

Very cool, nice tutorial.

 

Seeing this I figure the other way to wire up axial (pc) fans should be mentioned.

 

Real simple. Take an AC adapter Radioshack sells them for around $20, however you probably have some laying around the house that you have no idea what they belonged to.

 

Most common would be an old phone charger. You will want to look for a 12 volt unit, less than 12v can be used, however the fan will spin slower. All you do is cut the connectors off the adapter cable as well the the fan, each will have 2 wires, the fan will have a black and red, odds are the power cable won't be color coded. Simply plug the adapter in (making sure not to touch the live black and red together) and hold the wires to the wires on the fan, when the fan spins up you found the right combination. Unplug from the outlet then twist the corresponding wires together and secure them with electrical tape. You are good to go.

 

Newer fans may have 3 wires, black, red and yellow. You don't need the yellow, that's for the PC to monitor fan speed, so just tape the exposed end and keep it out of the way.

 

Another note, you can have more than 1 fan attached the adapter.

 

You can find these fans very cheap on newegg.com or Amazon, they come in a variety of sizes from 25mm (nearly an inch) to 250mm(nearly 10 inches). Be aware when purchasing to avoid ones with leds in them.

 

Disclaimer: You are playing with electricity so be careful, make sure the exposed wires are secured will with electrical tape, for added security you can always invest in some heat shrink sleeves.