DIY Cooling Fans

[abangjohnyen]

Hi,

Has anyone tried rigging up their own cooling fans using normal computer CPU fans?

I thought of doing it rather than spending $30 - $40++ buying those clipped on fans from aquarium shops.

My plan is to mount 2 fans blowing inwards on top my hood and 1 fan blowing outwards mounted on the side of my hood creating a air circulation.

But now i need to get a transformer cos the pc fans i have is running on DC 12V.

It will be good if anyone here can provide me with the plan and also can tell me where to get the parts i need.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

[Gouldian]

Just any hand phone charger will do.

[Alvin Tan]

Just any hand phone charger will do.

u mean the handphone charger can fire up that 12v fans??...

[Gouldian]

Yup. they can fire up as many as long as the total amp required by the fans is lower than the handphone charger.

For example if your charger can handle a max of 800mA, you can run about 4 fans of 200mA or you can simply hook up a big PC fan with 800mA.

HTH

[Gouldian]

If you want, I have 1 set of 4 fans hooked up ready to use.

[Alvin Tan]

oh...if it is possible...it is really a gd idea yea.. ...will take note of that now having a chiller..so no need liaoz...but first time hear...so curious to hear tt...

cheers..

[pop]

Maybe.. you would like to take a look at this website.....

http://www.petfrd.com/forum/articles.php?a...article&artid=6

[keithtanbb]

hi, I diye-ed a similar set, using black netting a support on top of tank "kinda like those u put up on gates to prevent stray animals...." anyway with fan's evaporation rate was high, and indoor temp around 27 to 28 -day time, nite time you may acheive 26 to 27 degree, and if it rains the desired 25 -26 degree for marine tank! if your is a planted fresh water tank thats ok, but suggest you get a chiller! cos this diy set I use to cool my lighting system as I hook it up to a solar panel!

[nakazoru]

I use a 12V adaptor from my old desktop scanner. Handphone charger at 6V typical. But I think they will fire up if the overall power rating is okay. i.e V x A.

Evaporation is alway a problem, so you decide.

[abangjohnyen]

I use a 12V adaptor from my old desktop scanner. Handphone charger at 6V typical. But I think they will fire up if the overall power rating is okay. i.e V x A.

Evaporation is alway a problem, so you decide.

So u all are saying that a handphone charger or any adaptor that is running on AC can run the DC 12V cpu fans i have?

SO in a way the charger/adaptor are something like a transformer lor?

Just confiming. When come to electricity i also wrong current lah.

For me evapouration is not a main issure comparing to the electricity cost of running a chiller. what more my is only a 2 feet by 1 feet tank. so i think running a chiller is overkill.

thanks for all the help and pointers.

[nakazoru]

So u all are saying that a handphone charger or any adaptor that is running on AC can run the DC 12V cpu fans i have?

SO in a way the charger/adaptor are something like a transformer lor?

Just confiming. When come to electricity i also wrong current lah.

For me evapouration is not a main issure comparing to the electricity cost of running a chiller. what more my is only a 2 feet by 1 feet tank. so i think running a chiller is overkill.

thanks for all the help and pointers.

Yup they are really transformer. I personally have not use 6V charger, and will not recommend it to be used with equipment of different rating. There is always a risk of blowing the transformer if not careful.

If you use 12V then you only do a sumation of the current of all the fan. If it falls under the current rating then nothing will go wrong. All fan connect in parallel.

[cci[RR]us]

I hooked up a 5V adapter to the typical 80mm 12VDC fan before. Though it spins very slowly, it is able to keep my tank cool at 27 degrees. You can buy cheap 60mm fans at Sim Lim Tower, or even some 2nd hand AC to DC adapters. They are really cheap.

I noticed that I do not need very strong airflow to keep my water cool. I used a 60mm 12VDC CPU fan at 5VDC before and it worked the same way as my 80mm fan. But the fan died when it dropped into my tank, oops.