~ Incubator Hard-wiring *Please Help* ~

[TommyVT05]

Lol.

Your last line put a smile on me face -->

"The blind leading the blind"
Haha...nice one.

But yeah, I just pulled off 4 fans from the laptop coolor today. Now even though they don't blow that well, I think 4, one on each corner is even more diverse than one main one in the middle...right?

- Tommy

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

You need to be really careful you don't burn your house down.
If you use a power supply to feed the fan, and it isn't rated for the amps you are drawing, then it heats up and is a real life fire hazard.
You really should find someone locally, a family member or friend that understands electricity to give you a hand.
I did Industrial electrical work for aprox. 22 years and can tell you first hand electricity can do some strange things if not properly used.
Keep in mind, more people have been killed by 120 volts than any other voltage range of electricity.

 

[Kaneke]

that power adapter was 15 V 1100 W ... I think it was for something that gets a whole lot hotter than a computer fan (which seems to be usually something like 12 V 600 W )

however I intended to use, for the computer power supply + fan (a whole unit, fan could not easily be extracted from it), a regular computer power cord, since I suspect the transformation from 120v AC to 12 V DC takes place INSIDE that computer power supply

but would always have DH (a ham who has built both electronic equipment AND some avionics) check everything over with his multimeter first ... would initially plug into only a GFCI receptacle, and our house is wired with 10 gauge (LH was forensic engineer and investigated a lot of fires) ... and everything is 30-amp service, not 15

actually thought about taking power off a "line conditioner", you know, the upgraded version of a UPS ...

 

[TommyVT05]

Thanks for keeping a watch!

I have made it all tonight and its working! Took out an adaptor that I don't use.

Rating on it says 4V DC @ .4mA
The fans...4 hooks up to a unit that says 5V DC @ .5mA

Figure this works because it can only power less, not more, so I don't think it will overheat.

Wow...4 laptop fan is equal to like 2 CPU fans in power. Pretty good!

- Tommy

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

Quote:
That's what I mean, you have it backwards.
You are pulling more power than the transformer is rated for, and that ends up frying the transformer.
IF you are using it in Styrofoam then you are running the risk of a fast combustion fire.
Styrofoam ignites so fast and burns so hot that it ignites combustibles around it, so by the time you wake up from your bed, you have a major fire going with heavy black smoke.

The .5 mA already exceeds the transformers output, if you add more than 1 fan you are exceeding it even worse.
It might run for several days like that and seem fine, but in time it WILL fry.

 

[TommyVT05]

Hello.

Ahhh! Ok. So lets relate this in chemistry terms. The slow step, in this case, the transformer is the determinant, thus, I can have a higher Voltage transfor like 12V but safe to run a 5V fan rather than a 12V fan trying to pull power from 5V power supply...right?

So its safe for "power supply" to produce higher Voltage and Amp rather than the unit that requires more from less.

Well the fans are rated 5V for all four and .5mA for all four. Now, I can connect two if I want, 3...whatever...so what # of fans should I run to accomodate the 4V and .4mA from "power supply" if all 4 fans rate @ 5V and .5mA?

- Tommy

 

[kstaven]

You need 5v and at least 2.0ma to avoid burning up the power supply. You don't want too much voltage there or you will smoke the fans by revving them to high.

 

[kstaven]

Much cheaper to get the right power supply in the first place rather than have the house burn down or kill yourself.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

Think of it in terms a car battery.
A car battery is 12 volt, the CCA is the cold cranking amps.
On start up a battery with 625 CCA struggles more to turn the starter than one that has 735 CCA.
When it struggles it produces heat.
So you have a set voltage but the CCA is the current or flow of electricity that runs through the wire to the motor.

The "flow" in this case is the mA, so you want 5 volts with a higher mA to supply your needs.
Going with a high voltage can damage your fan.
Going with higher mA just leaves some (current = flow) in reserve.

Supplying too much voltage fries the fan
supplying too little mA (amperage) fries the transformer.
Supplying too much mA just leaves you some in reserve, but does no damage.

Start up is when you draw your high amperages from a moter.
A 3 amp motor might draw as high as 15 amps while it's getting up to full speed, then it reaches speed and levels off at pulling the 3 amps.

 

[TommyVT05]

Thanks all!

Wow...that last post is like Quantum Physics for me. Haha. J/k, but yeah, I understand the cocept now.

So to be on the safest side, take my fans specs with me and tell them "I want a power supply that provides the EXAC power these fans need." I should be good right?

I will go out today and get the 5V or 6V, .500 - .600mA

- Tommy