A wire? What does it do?
December 13, 2008 5:32 AM Subscribe
What is this wire? (Pic 1) (Pic 2)
On each wire it says:
AWM 1007 E205056 300V 80°C 18AWG LONSID-OUPU
My parents found this wire sitting on the windowsill inside the TV room. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, only thing is neither of them put it there.
Things that are in the room:
- Small fax machine/phone
- LCD TV
- DVD/VCR Player
- Tower computer which is connected to the TV (through Aux) - to watch movies off of/surf on the couch with wireless mouse/keyboard setup.
What is this wire for?
On each wire it says:
AWM 1007 E205056 300V 80°C 18AWG LONSID-OUPU
My parents found this wire sitting on the windowsill inside the TV room. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, only thing is neither of them put it there.
Things that are in the room:
- Small fax machine/phone
- LCD TV
- DVD/VCR Player
- Tower computer which is connected to the TV (through Aux) - to watch movies off of/surf on the couch with wireless mouse/keyboard setup.
What is this wire for?
Sometimes when you buy a fan for your computer it comes with a bit of wire that looks a lot like that, as a way of connecting the fan to the computer.
How it would have got onto your windowsill without anyone knowing about it is beyond me...
posted by Mike1024 at 5:50 AM on December 13, 2008 [2 favorites]
How it would have got onto your windowsill without anyone knowing about it is beyond me...
posted by Mike1024 at 5:50 AM on December 13, 2008 [2 favorites]
Seconding Mike1024 - It's an adapter to split power off of the cables supplying power to the hard drives in a computer in order to provide power to a fan. Had any work done on the Tower PC lately?
posted by jferg at 6:08 AM on December 13, 2008
posted by jferg at 6:08 AM on December 13, 2008
Yep, its a PC power wire with molex connectors. The little connector looks like it powers a floppy drive. Did you parents recently have someone come over and replace or remove a floppy drive?
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:39 AM on December 13, 2008
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:39 AM on December 13, 2008
Yep, it's a power cable from inside a computer, with "molex" connectors. This is the kind that comes with a fan: One big end connects to the computer's power supply, the other big end connects to a component that needs power (DVD drive, hard drive, etc.), and the little plug is used to leech off a tiny bit of that power to run the fan. The idea is that you don't need to dedicate one of the limited number of connections to your power supply to just running a fan.
You can also buy lights and things for the inside of your computr that use similar connectors, but if your parents don't recognise a molex connector I'll bet they're not really into the case modding scene ;).
The picture is a bit blurry, so the small connector *could* be the kind used to run a floppy disk drive. I think it's a fan connetor though.
Has someone been rooting around inside your computer recently?
posted by metaBugs at 6:40 AM on December 13, 2008
You can also buy lights and things for the inside of your computr that use similar connectors, but if your parents don't recognise a molex connector I'll bet they're not really into the case modding scene ;).
The picture is a bit blurry, so the small connector *could* be the kind used to run a floppy disk drive. I think it's a fan connetor though.
Has someone been rooting around inside your computer recently?
posted by metaBugs at 6:40 AM on December 13, 2008
The offshoot wire is a fan connector - The connector on a wire to power a floppy drive is female, with the pins on the floppy drive.
It's a passthrough power connector for a system fan.
posted by Rendus at 8:03 AM on December 13, 2008
It's a passthrough power connector for a system fan.
posted by Rendus at 8:03 AM on December 13, 2008
Power cable for the innerworkings of a desktop pc. Open up your PC case (if you're comfortable) and you'll see them right away. The big connectors work as a splitter, and the little one connects to another peripheral. Hard to tell from the pic, but it might be for a fan, a video card, or something similar.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 9:10 AM on December 13, 2008
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 9:10 AM on December 13, 2008
It's a fan splitter that hooks up to an ATX power supply to provide power to a case (internal) fan when the motherboard doesn't have enough fan headers or they're in the wrong place. The logic goes that you're just piggybacking on an ATA power lead in case you need it to power a hard drive or whatever.
Did they have someone come over and work on their computer recently? If it were me, I might have taken something like that out if I got inside the computer and just saw it hanging there. There's always too many wires inside a computer, so I'm always cleaning and clearing them out.
posted by rhizome at 10:17 AM on December 13, 2008
Did they have someone come over and work on their computer recently? If it were me, I might have taken something like that out if I got inside the computer and just saw it hanging there. There's always too many wires inside a computer, so I'm always cleaning and clearing them out.
posted by rhizome at 10:17 AM on December 13, 2008
As everyone has said, it's a molex fan splitter cable. You often get them extra with case fans in case you don't have a spare dedicated 3-pin socket on the motherboard. I've got a dozen or so in my parts bin.
Odds are, it wasn't actually in your PC case, unless someone has been doing some repair or upgrade work lately. Might it have fallen out a drawer or box of spare pc bits left over? Failing that, has any techie-ish person visited lately? I've had one in my pocket on more than one occasion, and it's not like I care if I lose one...
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:03 PM on December 13, 2008
Odds are, it wasn't actually in your PC case, unless someone has been doing some repair or upgrade work lately. Might it have fallen out a drawer or box of spare pc bits left over? Failing that, has any techie-ish person visited lately? I've had one in my pocket on more than one occasion, and it's not like I care if I lose one...
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:03 PM on December 13, 2008
You can tell it's a fan and not not a floppy-drive connector by the way, for three reasons - floppy connectors have 4 pins, they usually have 4 pins, and they're the other gender, female. Fan splitter wires have 3 pins, usually 2 wires, and are male, like yours.
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:12 PM on December 13, 2008
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:12 PM on December 13, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Grither at 5:38 AM on December 13, 2008