natedogg624 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 Need a little electronic thinking help to make sure I have this thought out correctly. I'm taking the radiator fans from my r6 that I removed and building them into a work table. Ideally I'd like to run them off my inverter/generator. I can't find the exact specs on the fans, but the fuse rating for them is 15A per fan, x 12V would be ~180W/fan, ~360W total. Where I'm stuck right now is figuring out how to get these to run off my generator. Could I use something like this (eBay link), or would I need an inverter? The only problem I have is I can't find an inverter that takes a 120V input and outputs to 12V. Or, an alternate easy solution would be to re-use a spare LiIon motorcycle battery I have lying around and just keep battery plugged in with it's charger adapter. I know this is an oddball project and there are easier ways I'm just trying to see if this can work as a fun side project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 (edited) Computer power supply, just connect the green wire to any black wire, then use the yellow and black wires for your 12v Edited April 27, 2014 by magley64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted April 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 (edited) Any old supply, or do I need to look for something with a specific rating/specs? Laptop or desktop? Edited April 27, 2014 by natedogg624 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 Desktop is easy to find and runs off 110 directly. Just one with enough wattage to run your fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 You could also use any old battery charger from a garage sale, or one of those jumper packs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted April 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 Thanks for the tip on the power supply. What about the other option of using my spare lithium ion battery constantly plugged into its charger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 You just want to watch the temperature of the battery, Careful not to overcharge it. But battery and charger is what I use to power a car stereo for the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted April 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 Awesome. Really appreciate the help mags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 No prob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mango_sv Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 Computer power supply would work wondrful. I have built 2 work radios out of them. One in an old ammo can. For $20 on ebay and some googling you can get a 450w power supply to run fans, test 12g and 5v. Very easy to do. Just make sure you connect all wires that are doubled to a pin and connect green to black as magley said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad324 Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 For those about to rock... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egobuster1 Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 yeah computer supplies work great for little project like these and for powering amplifiers for speakers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted April 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 Computer power supply would work wondrful. I have built 2 work radios out of them. One in an old ammo can. For $20 on ebay and some googling you can get a 450w power supply to run fans, test 12g and 5v. Very easy to do. Just make sure you connect all wires that are doubled to a pin and connect green to black as magley said. You lost me here. What do you mean by test 12g and 5v? Also, what gauge wire would be appropriate? I believe the wire running off the fans are 14 gauge. I've built pc's before but have never dove into a PSU, normally just plug it into the slot on the m-board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mango_sv Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 You lost me here. What do you mean by test 12g and 5v? Also, what gauge wire would be appropriate? I believe the wire running off the fans are 14 gauge. I've built pc's before but have never dove into a PSU, normally just plug it into the slot on the m-board.If it's being used on a work table, you could leave some extra leads out to test electronics or sensors. Guess that all depends on what kind of work you are doing. All the yellow leads off the power supply are 12v, I believe all the blue are 5v, black is ground, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mango_sv Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 http://m.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply A decent write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 Seems like a lot of work, but does look clean, I just cut off the connectors for the disk drive leads, and use the yellow and black for my 12v needs. Then use electrical taps to ground the green to one of the blacks on the board connector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mango_sv Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 Seems like a lot of work, but does look clean, I just cut off the connectors for the disk drive leads, and use the yellow and black for my 12v needs. Then use electrical taps to ground the green to one of the blacks on the board connector. That is what I did for my radio. I didn't need the extra power, so I just split 2 yellows off a disk drive and a ground and powered the headunit. You could do the same for the fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Am I only focusing on the wires from the m-board connector? Can I cut and toss the SATA and CPU fan plugs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted May 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 (edited) This is what I'm looking at - Sata and fan connectors - Edited May 1, 2014 by natedogg624 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 (edited) see that green wire in your first pic, cut the end off and connect it to any black in that loom. This will turn the power supply "on" If you want a switch to turn the power supply on and off, use a Single pole single throw switch between the green and any of the blacks. Then in your third pic use the Yellows for 12V+ and Blacks for Ground... reds are 5V+ and 3.3v+ if you want to 2 or 3 speed your fans (lower voltage, slower spin) Edited May 1, 2014 by magley64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 also keep in mind this note from the link mango posted (i've never used a Power supply this new for this purpose) Note that some power supplies may have either a gray or brown wire to represent "power good"/"power ok". (Most PSU's have a smaller orange wire that is used for sensing-- 3.3V- and this wire is usually paired at the connector to another orange wire. Make sure this wire is connected to the other orange wires, otherwise your lab power supply won't stay on.) This wire should be connected to either an orange wire (+3.3V) or a red wire (+5V) for the power supply to function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted May 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 Can I use one power and ground wire per fan or do I need to combine them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 I'd probably suggest you combine them just for peace of mind, so you don't run the risk of putting too much current through any 1 wire...but I suspect it won't be a problem either way, and If it were me doing it, I probably wouldn't bother, and just run 1 to 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedogg624 Posted May 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 OK and when you say to connect the green wire to any black in that loom, do you mean the same 20 pin m-board loom it's in, or any black ground I'm using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magley64 Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 OK and when you say to connect the green wire to any black in that loom, do you mean the same 20 pin m-board loom it's in, or any black ground I'm using? Any ground should do it, but when I do it i usually use one from the same 20 Pin, since that is essentially how the computer would do it when you push the button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.