Damntec Fans

November 4, 2006 9:34 AM

Camputer case fans stopped working! I have two Vantec Stealth computer case fans which have been working perfectly for some time now. They were mounted inside two of my xBoxes (don't ask) and they worked very well for some time. Now they both don't work!

However I was moving them both into a new case (really, don't ask) and mounted the fans. I tried to get the relays that I had to control their on/off state but it didn't work.

I wasn't sure why it wasn't working as I'm not a relay expert, but eventually decided to just test out the fans with a regular 12 volt line without relays. To my surprise neither of them turned on at all! The fans didn't move an inch after working really well for 6 months, the only change I had made was clipping the fan wires and soldering them together for sake of space saving.

I payed a lot of money as fans go and I don't know if I'll be able to get a replacement very easily (no receipt, box, clipped wires...) even though it was about 6 months ago.

Does anyone know what might have happened considering the only thing I did was cut wires and possible mis-wire some relays? There was never anything more than 12v DC running through any wires connected to the fans, so what could have happened? I've even tested the wires right up to the PCB of the fan and they're fine.

posted by Napierzaza to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Are you saying you clipped the molex connectors and hardwired the power cables? If so.. I mean really, how positive are you that you kept the wires paired properly... that's what those little polarized plastic connectors are for in the first place. In either case, it's not too hard to muss up the controller on the fan (sounds like you have stepping speed controlable type?) if you were being careless.. tested the wires in the wrong combination and shorted the controller. I mean for real, what possesed you to not just tie your wires down? Can anyone else attest the the pain in the ass it is to do repars to little throwaway pieces of breadboard and so-forth?
posted by judge.mentok.the.mindtaker at 9:43 AM on November 4, 2006

Well, yellow for 12v, black for grnd. That's how they worked out from what I saw on the connector. Why did I not tie them down? Because it was a cramped case and I didn't need 6-7 inches of wire.
posted by Napierzaza at 10:12 AM on November 4, 2006

f you were being careless.. tested the wires in the wrong combination and shorted the controller.

Most controllers should be quite tolerant.

On the other hand.. I'm pretty sure yellow is the sensor wire and red is +12V, on most fans. Here's a link, but they mess up the colour code part.
posted by Chuckles at 10:39 AM on November 4, 2006

If there's one thing that all small fans do, is eventually stop working. They have a limited lifetime and yours have apparently come to that end. Who cares if you lost the receipt or clipped the leads? You're talking about a part that costs approximately six dollars, why is this even a consideration?
posted by Rhomboid at 10:46 AM on November 4, 2006

link should have been six dollars
posted by Rhomboid at 10:47 AM on November 4, 2006

Because they're 25 dollar 120mm fans that are supposedly of fairly high quality.
posted by Napierzaza at 10:53 AM on November 4, 2006

Crap, so if I put 12v through the sensor?
posted by Napierzaza at 10:57 AM on November 4, 2006

Do you still have the part of the wire you cut off? The middle pin is 12V. If that wire is red, you have been wiring it wrong. Try wiring it right, it will probably work.
posted by Chuckles at 11:05 AM on November 4, 2006

I tried wiring it right (indeed it was wrong before) but it no longer works apparently. I used a ac-dc adapter (12vdc) on it and it only moves a few millimeters and stops. The adapter did work on a different 12vdc fan however.
posted by Napierzaza at 12:31 PM on November 4, 2006

Very hard to tell if that is a complete disaster. You might have to ground the sensor pin, or something..

Careful with those AC-DC adapters. Most of them are unregulated, which means the actual output, at very low load, is about 160% of the ratting. At full load, this sags to the rated voltage, but a fan isn't likely to be full load unless the adapter is very small.
posted by Chuckles at 1:22 PM on November 4, 2006

I measured the output using a meter, it was 12v at... whatever load a meter puts on it.
posted by Napierzaza at 2:34 PM on November 4, 2006