Quote:
Originally Posted by G G
The only part I'm unsure of at this point is the adapter. Scott said you use one adapter to power all the fans and it is a 12 volt adapter. My question is does it matter about the polarity or the milliamps? Maybe Scott can chime in with the particulars on that.
I would also assume by looking at the unit, the adapter will need to have a pretty long cord to make it from inside to the drain hole then out the bottom back of the unit. Scott can also probably expand in this as well.
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Yes, polarity matters since the fans are DC. Red wire is hot (+). If you hook it up backwards, it will either not run or you'll let the blue smoke out. If that happens, it'll never work.** If the fan has a yellow wire, you can ignore it, that's the feedback sensor for the RPM fan speed.
Assuming that each fan has the same nameplate data, 0.16A, that's 160mA each, that means for 3 fans, your draw will be around 480mA. In simple terms, equipment only draws the current (amperage) that it needs, so you can go higher, it won't hurt anything. I'd say go with at a 1A to 1.5A power supply would be fine and you can usually find them in thrift stores for about a buck. Depending on the fans, and I don't see it in the manufacturer literature for the ones you have, so I wouldn't do in your case without more research, you can run the fans at a lower voltage, like 9VDC to have them turn slower and not make as much noise.
So long as you maintain polarity, you can extend the wire by splicing in a longer section with crimp butt splices or just buy an extension that has the round plug ends (places like radio shack or fry's electronics have these).
**: Little known fact, electrical equipment doesn't actually run on electricity. It runs on a pre-installed charge of magic blue smoke. The electricity is necessary to create a field which keeps the blue smoke captive. If you let the blue smoke out, it won't run anymore.