need adapters for pc fans.....

[james3370]

i have (5) used laptop power supplies (aka "bricks") that i *ahem* "borrowed" from my old job & Here is the ebay auction i won for the fans i am going to use.

i plan on having (3) 2-bulb t5 retrofits in my canopy, so i'll have 3 fans on each end of the canopy....probably blowing from the outside in across the lights. i want to put these on 1 power supply & have them run during the entire light cycle.

then i want to mount (4) on the back of the canopy blowing outward & running them on a seperate power supply. they will be running the entire light cycle + 1-2hrs to pull any excess heat out of the canopy

then i am contemplating buying (4) more & mounting them on a 45-degree angle on the front wall aimed at the water surface & have them controlled by a channel on my reefkeeper2 to only come on when the water temp reaches a certain temp (to be determined later). kinda an "emergency cool" of sorts

anywhooo, what i need are the adapter to hook into the power supply (female like on a laptop) & the male 4-pin that will plug into the 1st fan adapter....& of course make wire to go between the 2 of them. see the pic below :



so where should i look for these 2 adapters & what should i search for????

thanks
James

 

[ps3]

why not just cut the cord on the ps and fans. if you need a connector you would be able to splice about anything in.

 

[james3370]

i prefer to use the adapters so if a power supply dies, it's a simple matter of unplugging it & plugging in another one....

 

[ps3]

then radio shack would be your best bet.

 

[james3370]

well, i found this power supply that has a 4-pin molex output plug, but would prefer to make the adapters myself & use the power supplies i have now & save some $$$$$

anybody have suggestions where i can get the parts & how to wire them???

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13768476#post13768476 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ps3
then radio shack would be your best bet.

i kinda figured there, but i went in last nite w/ the power supply & the cpu fan & tried explaining to the idiot there what i was trying to do & got that morononic gaze of no experience building anything back from him, so i thought i'd try here.....

 

[psteeleb]

I went to FRY's and bought some 120VAC to DC xfmrs with adjustable DC voltage. The adjustable voltage allows me to adjust fan speed for noise reduction. You have to watch your amps (or milliamps) but they work great. I bought them for $10 a piece and each can run 3-4 fans.

pictures on my build log starting on this page
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1320654&perpage=25&pagenumber=4

 

[jefathome]

So you want 3 fans on the left side, 3 fans on the right, 4 on the back, and possbily 4 more on the front? That is 14 fans!!


IMO that is WAY overkill. I put three 120mm fans in my hood and my evaporation SKYROCKETED.

 

[james3370]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13770309#post13770309 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jefathome
So you want 3 fans on the left side, 3 fans on the right, 4 on the back, and possbily 4 more on the front? That is 14 fans!!


IMO that is WAY overkill. I put three 120mm fans in my hood and my evaporation SKYROCKETED.

well there will be (3) 2-bulb icecap retrofits & since the icecap ballasts overdrive the bulbs, i want 1 blowing on each end across each retro to make sure they stay cool.....maybe 1 in the back blowing out at all times just to keep heat out & the rest will be controlled by the RK2 & will only come on only if/when temps require it.

or, i might just do (2) on each end blowing inward & (2) on the back pulling heat out....haven't decided yet

i figure....why not do it in the building stages & not need it than have to take it apart if/when i do down the road :rollface:

 

[matthewscars]

I just did this 4 - 120m fans.

I just raided my 'wire bucket' and got some transformers that were 12v 1000mA or higher and connected them all to it.

Works perfectly.

 

[hebygb]

American Science and Surplus sells adapters in all sizes. They have a website.

14 fans is overkill.

 

[cdness]

14 fans is WAY overkill... A friend of mine had the 6 bulb retro kit with Icecap ballasts in a fully enclosed canopy and two fans is all he needed to keep it cool. One in and one out.

Look at making the inlet or outlet passive if you are worried about heat. Lower the number of fans and use the passive vent to pull in cooler air. You don't need a wind tunnel to keep T-5s cool...

FYI I will bet if you put all of those fans on a power supply and turn it on it will be louder than one of them modified weedwhackers they call tuners sitting in your living room...

 

[cdness]

Forgot to mention.... www.digi-key.com for the adapters. They have too much stuff so if you call them up they will know what you need and can get it sent to you.

 

[swearint]

This should do the trick:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103250

Cut the connector off of the power supply and wire up several of the above connectors.

As others have already stated, the number of fans is excessive. I did a quick check and the typical performance for a 120mm fan is 80 cfm and 40dB. So with 10 fans moving air through the canopy you will have around 800 cfm in air exchange and with a total of 14 fans running approx. 52 dB in fan noise. As a point of reference, I have about 200 cfm moving through my canopy that houses four 96w PCs and two 175w MHs and it does fine at keeping the tank temp. steady. It is around 47dB and can just be heard from the other room.

Also, you will get slightly better performance and fan longevity if you have the fans set to blow air into the canopy. The air outside the canopy is cooler/denser and relatively free of salt and moisture.