Connecting fan to phone charger?

Discussion in 'Grow Room Design/Setup' started by RittleFrittles, Sep 16, 2009.

  1. Hi everyone,
    So I bought most of my supplies today and picked up a 80 mm computer fan for my box. I am probably going to have to end up getting another one, but I'm trying to go ahead and get my box set up now.
    However, I am very confused as to how I am supposed to hook this fan up to a phone charger. Now, I am in no way, shape, or form mechanically inclined. I saw another tutorial on the forums but it was for an inline fan that was totally different than mine. Anyway, if anyone could help me or point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it.

    Thank you.
     
  2. where did you hear you could rig up a fan to a cell phone charger, that would be an interesting article to read.
     
  3. i've heard of that before my friend did it. he told me he just got wire strippers and stripped both of the wires and matched the wires together and taped it back together and it worked
     
  4. Alright, so I read somewhere online that you can hook these fans up using a laptop charger. I also read that if you wire it wrong, the fan will not even work. Well, I wired it up and then there was a little flame and some smoke... Does this mean that the charger is too powerful for this fan?
     
  5. Yep, you fried the fan with too much voltage.

    You want to find an adapter that puts out 12v DC, and around 1000 ma or 1A. The output of the adapter will generally be printed on it.
     
  6. Thank you horticultureFTW and Kole; I have bookmarked that thread. :)
     
  7. rig up a fan to a cell phone charger? You are be kidding? Do you worry about the charger-temp problem? With the "Copenhagen Meeting" for carbon emission reduction, i think we need to do something for our sons and our sons' sons. Despite of faultiness of solar energy, we can also try to use solar cell phone charger to reduce stress. You know, it's portable and easy to ues. I have to admire that portable solar charger not powerful than traditional phone charger. But, We save energy for a rainy day, isn't it? And now, i recommend some solar chargers for you:
    Wholesale Portable Solar Power Charger
     
  8. make sure you got the same volts and amps in the charger and fans. example: a charger of 5 volts used with a fan of 12v causes resistance and will get hot becoming a possible fire hazard. its worth spending that little extra making sure fans and DC adapters are the same V and A.
     
  9. In response to what ecowarrior said... Its actually backwards of that. If you have a 12v charger and a 5v fan, thats a BAD combo, and it will fry. Currently, to give you an idea... Im using an old Linksys router power adapter which is rated 12v 800ma. Its currently running 4 80mm ball bearing computer fans with no problem and no heat problems either. The adapter stays cool to the touch even when on for 24 hours.

    Tip: A multi-meter is an amazing thing to have...
     
  10. i stand corrected, sorry for the wrong info :smoke: i cant remember exactly what i read to get it done. so its ok to have fan at higher voltage than charger? mine are all the same, i didnt fancy testing it out..

    snipe, reminded me i know i got a few linksys adapters around somewhere. gonna start a super draft with all the pc fans i somehow have
     
  11. I have an 80MM 35CFM 12V PC Fan running on a 5V cellphone charger right now. Just strip all the wires and connect them, if it doesn't work then the wrong 2 wires are touching, just switch them and your golden!
     
  12. I HAVE A MROLA CHARGER THAT HAS INPUT 100-240V
    OUT PUT 5V = 850MA THAT SHOULD BE BIG ENOUGH TO RUN A 80MM PC FAN:confused:
     

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