evallarta1
Member
I needed some fans to cool off my tank. I had a old computer that I got some fans out of and hooked one up to a old phone charger. I wasnt impressed with the out put so I figured I would fab up the powersupply from the old computer to power the fans instead. So this is how I did it.
NOTE:Make sure you know a little about electronics. There are capacitors in powersupplys and they will bite you if you dont know what your doing.
Here is my victim. A regular computer powersupply. BEFORE YOU START,MAKE SURE ITS UNPLUGGED!!!
First you have to open up the case. Mine had 4 screws on the top that I took out and pulled of the cover. There was a fan on the cover that I unplugged and put to the side. This is what it looks like inside
Next I took off all the zip ties and cut off all the connectors. Now for ME I need 2 12 volt supplies. So I pulled aside 2 yellow and 2 black wires. Yellow is +12 volts and black is ground or 0v. You can see where I put them aside. You will also need to pull the single green and a additional black wire aside. Then I cut the rest of the wires short so I could fit it in the case. The reason why I didnt cut the other wires off is if I need other equipment powered I have the option.
Now what about that green wire you ask? Well if you were to plug in your powersupply and try to turn it on it wont. The green wire is normally plugged into the motherboard and when you push the on button on your computer the green wire is what tells the powersupply to turn on. So you solder the green wire to the extra black wire you put aside and now your powersupply will always turn on when you hit the switch.
Note: If your powersupply does not have a switch on the back (mine did) you can attach the green and black wire to a toggle switch and this will allow you to turn your powersupply on and off. I also folded the spare wires in half and zip tied them together so they would fit in the case.
Once I finished that I tucked in all the wires except the 4 that will feed my fans. I made sure the wires wouldnt interfere with the fans spinning. I also changed one of the fans to blow out so its not constantly sucking in salt spray.
Finally I plugged in the cover fan and put the cover on. I hooked up the fans and plugged it in and turned the bad boy on. Worked like a charm.
I personally think using a computer powersupply is a much better option then using a phone charger. Especially when there's one just sitting around!
NOTE:Make sure you know a little about electronics. There are capacitors in powersupplys and they will bite you if you dont know what your doing.
Here is my victim. A regular computer powersupply. BEFORE YOU START,MAKE SURE ITS UNPLUGGED!!!
First you have to open up the case. Mine had 4 screws on the top that I took out and pulled of the cover. There was a fan on the cover that I unplugged and put to the side. This is what it looks like inside
Next I took off all the zip ties and cut off all the connectors. Now for ME I need 2 12 volt supplies. So I pulled aside 2 yellow and 2 black wires. Yellow is +12 volts and black is ground or 0v. You can see where I put them aside. You will also need to pull the single green and a additional black wire aside. Then I cut the rest of the wires short so I could fit it in the case. The reason why I didnt cut the other wires off is if I need other equipment powered I have the option.
Now what about that green wire you ask? Well if you were to plug in your powersupply and try to turn it on it wont. The green wire is normally plugged into the motherboard and when you push the on button on your computer the green wire is what tells the powersupply to turn on. So you solder the green wire to the extra black wire you put aside and now your powersupply will always turn on when you hit the switch.
Note: If your powersupply does not have a switch on the back (mine did) you can attach the green and black wire to a toggle switch and this will allow you to turn your powersupply on and off. I also folded the spare wires in half and zip tied them together so they would fit in the case.
Once I finished that I tucked in all the wires except the 4 that will feed my fans. I made sure the wires wouldnt interfere with the fans spinning. I also changed one of the fans to blow out so its not constantly sucking in salt spray.
Finally I plugged in the cover fan and put the cover on. I hooked up the fans and plugged it in and turned the bad boy on. Worked like a charm.
I personally think using a computer powersupply is a much better option then using a phone charger. Especially when there's one just sitting around!