Quiet PC - How To Power PC Fans From the Mains

In this video Andy explains how to connect and run standard PC 3-pin and 4-pin PWM fans from a 12V mains power adapter.
For more details about the fans and accessories featured in this video, please visit Quietpc.com:
Noctua NF-S12A FLX Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - www.quietpc.co...
Noctua NA-SYC2 3-Pin Fan Y-Cables - www.quietpc.co...
Noctua NA-SEC2 3-Pin Fan Extension Cables - www.quietpc.co...

[@victorv9019]

U saved my life mate - I was about to buy a pc power supply to make this work. My hat goes down to you sir!

[@QuietPC]

Happy to hear it helped Victor!

[@sandwich2473]

This is a-mains-ing. This will be super handy for the project my Dad's doing.

[@MichaelDFortner]

I am sorry, but it was not complete enough. It did not even show the entire connection when done.

[@seaskimmer]

Loved that great soldering work. Very neat.

[@devilmaycare2809]

The wiring was described but you didn't show how to do it from the transformer to the fan, so to me it was a confusing video.

[@dschannel1171]

It's a DC adapter, the current is already 12V DC on it's out, the transformer box already has rectifier and filtering circuit inside.

[@bakedbeings]

He uses the fan adapter shown at 2:15 👍

[@Johny40Se7en]

Great stuff, insightful and helpful, thank you.

[@rosta2899]

What power adapter is needed for one Noctua NF-A8 FLX fan?

[@DoctorBastardo]

I bought a few USB to 3pin and 4pin fan adapters. The fan only gets 5v so will only run half speed. I bought them as I've usually got dozens of fans and its a quick easy way to test them. During the hot summer I noticed my wifi/broadband modem gets damned hot. So 6 months later pmsl I joined 2 140mm Blue Led thermaltake fans (that came out of a case that went RGB) One on top of the other, connected to a nicely made but really cheap from China 2 way fan splitter with an on-off switch and them to a USB wall adapter., Before long I realised there was no gap under the lower fan for it to suck cold air in to blow it upwards. I added feet using leftover bits from CPU water coolers. The router is just big enough to stretch to the corners , which are raised slightly by anti-vibration parts so as the bottom does not snag on the turning centre of the upper fan. Has nice cooling blue LED glow to it.Jobs a good un. PS I reckon DIY laptop coolers could ghetto-rigged the same way. Incidentally if I ever have to recycle power supplies I always remove the fan and handy guard too. These are sometimes 24v fans it should be noted.

[@creation_nono]

Fans are motors, which are inductive by nature - can cause a high reverse voltage spikes. I am looking for an explanation why you do not need a protection from that.

[@crazystupidgamer]

Would adding a fuse in ground and in be enough? In case of a surge on either direction, it would blowout.

[@alvarorobles5583]

Thank you, great video, great explanation

[@eyemallears2647]

SWEET! They’re DC! Thanks!

[@dschannel1171]

This is the why an adapter is used! 😊

[@purplemonkeyelephant]

Why don't people sell PWM power supplies. Noctua advertise their fans for various uses, why is it so complicated to get a fan power supply?!

[@Ragnarius95]

or you could just buy an ac to molex adaptor and use a molex powered fan controller for the pc fans. Its what im going with, already had the fan controller and found somewhere that sells the external molex power supply. cant find any info on what my fan controller draws though so i might need another one.

[@marcforrester7738]

Would this allow a speed control dial to be added? I have some external fans plugged straight into 12v atm and they're some noisy buggers.

[@LubiqSVK]

Thanks for the video. I wonder if it would also work for PWM fans with a fan regulator (like Noctua NA-FC1 with SATA power connector)? Cutting power supply wires and input regulator wires and soldering them, then just connecting fans to the regulator's output connector...If applicable, might be a better solution to control fans speed then playing with power adapter voltage level

[@amdenis]

Great video. Does it matter if you connect a PWM or a ULN PC fan (e.g. Noctura) to that kind of power source?

[@Free_Free_Palestine0]

Hi there, I'm doing a DIY project for my aquarium. I'm using 2x 12cm 12v pc fans with a 12v 1amp power adapter. The fans both seem very slow, do you think it would be faster if I have to use a 12v 2amp adapter or 12v 6amp? Thanks

[@beanman6684]

No, because that it how much could be drawn. Power supplies do not push power, the fans pull it.

[@sitgesvillaapartmentneilsc7924]

why do you need to buy the connectors, just cut them off and connect direct!

[@QuietPC]

Hi, if you cut the connectors you would invalidate the warranty on the fans.

[@fayssal7655]

@@QuietPC if you cut the connector, you will invalidate his warranty too 😅. Ok i'm just kidding, the fans are more expensive

[@rokibuca]

you can just buy USB to fan adapter or check out AC Infinity products if you are cooling you audio-video equipment

[@abshermansoor8407]

Perfect for what I need. Thank you 👍

[@Spoonuk666]

Isn't the USB supplying only 5v meaning most fans will not spin because of the voltage being too low?

[@rokibuca]

@@Spoonuk666 it will work but the fan won't spin at full speed best solution is to find some 12-volt power adapter and will work fine even better one with adjustable voltage so you can regulate the fan speed www.aliexpress.com/item/32978757695.html

[@Spoonuk666]

@@rokibuca Sorry, I didnt make it clear - I was saying that most 120mm fans will not start at 5V full stop. Agree, regulated 12V power supply is the way to get it done :)

[@rokibuca]

@@Spoonuk666 I have 140mm fan connected directly into USB on computer and works just fine but is 3.0 USB and it working

[@hyp3rimag]

I actually just ran into this problem because I purchased a air purifier that ran on pc fans and I swapped out the 7 sickelflow fans for 7 noctua industrial pwm 3000s and the power supply could only power them if i connect each fan one at a time. So all i would need to get is a 12v power supply that supplies at least 10amps right?

[@craigbarrow]

Great video, thank you

[@giskio]

Add a 12v dimmer? Is that possibile?

[@dschannel1171]

Would have to modify the adapter, dimmer works on AC, do it would have to be installed on 12V AC, the out of this adapter is already DC! 😊 You can try DC-DC step up/down adapter.

[@romanqc]

What’s heavia? A kilogram of steal or a kilogram of feathas?

[@garlottos]

Thas Righ, a kilogram o steel, becoz steel is heavia than feathas

[@DoctorBastardo]

People in 2020 not knowing the answer is pretty heavy really...

[@quintonvanzyl4749]

Pls help i have a 5v adaptar at 1a wires are red and black but the fan has a 3 pin no colour indicated from the fan all 3 black

[@sallyjoymidgley7723]

hiya thanks for your video. If i connect two computer fans to 1 x 12 volt plug will they work at half speed?

[@abrambur2]

No, you have to lower voltage or change the source. You can use 2 fans on an USB port from your pc and will run at less than half speed. Don't connect more than 2 as it will fry the motherboard. You can strip an USB cord from a charger and plug it into your phone charger but will not have strong cfm. Best solution is to use an multivoltage adapter or change the fans for some pwm ones if you use them for pc cooling. Cheers

[@alberthlz9699]

Do you think it could work with 24v Noctua industrial fan? Obviously changing the power adapter

[@lordfinesse3874]

wanted to know as well

[@dantheman9270]

Hi, thanks for the video, but how do you connect multiple fans to a power supply as seen in the ending? at around 05:20 could you please explain?

[@acaciaschaefer6144]

He's using Noctua's "Y Adapters". Quite useful adapter really. It takes two fans on one end and connect them to one fan connection on the other end. He daisy-chained a few of them to make them work.

[@dantheman9270]

@@@acaciaschaefer6144 Thanks for the reply man!

[@Eagleizer]

I would like to know how to run that PWM fan as PWM, not some hack that waste power.. If you cut connection to 1 pin, it's not really a 4 pin anymore... :p

[@Vicorcivius]

Ok so find a different video that shows you that? Entitled or what?

[@Eagleizer]

​@@Vicorcivius You may like to be mislead. I don't, and you just helped warn others about this by drawing attention to my comment. So you may just continue the discussion here. If false information is not criticized, the planet gets gradually dumber. Your "Entitlement" comment seems to prove my point. You totally missed the point of my comment, probably because you refuse to support the truth, or maybe you suffer from some fanboy syndrome that makes you read different things than is actually there. I happen to believe that ALL are entitled to the truth. If everybody supported misleading videos, like you try to do, finding videos that actually teach you something could be virtually impossible. So again, if it's not clear already: My comment have nothing to do about my "entitlement", but is a critique of the misleading description of the video. To voice my thoughts about the video and the description is what this comment field is for. You decided to voice your imaginary thoughts about me, instead of discussing the content of the video, so now I'm discussing you and your comment. See how you made us both go off topic of this video? That was you, not me... But yeah, we are all entitled to the truth, including you... You're welcome!

[@snaketv1715]

Is there a verson of this adapter that can do 4.5 amps+?

[@dschannel1171]

You can do it, but it won't be small enough to fit on that box lol, it's circuit is powered a 50/60 Hz transformer, you can copy the internal circuit doing a bigger version if you get a +5 amps 9V~ transformer, powerful +5 amps diodes and 10000uf x 16v capacitor, but it gonna be big, you can look for a SMPS version instead (I don't think it exists, it need be made too, using some 24V SMPS, and then using a step down adapter to each voltage you want, putting all negatives of each adapter together to create your common 0V ground, and the positives wires are your different voltages 😊), one example is use a PC PS as an adapter.

[@dschannel1171]

You can try an 12V CCTV power supply to power fans! 😊

[@thomasyo75]

Could this be done with a fan controller ? i.e. mains power to the controller then normal connections to the fans (making speed regulation possible)

[@DoctorBastardo]

Yup see above. Sorry did not notice your question when I wrote it.

[@karlenzo15]

I can use a 9 volt adapter for a 12 volt fan right?

[@karlenzo15]

It worked anyway lmao

[@Agent_Clark]

more volts = damage less equal possibly won't work. It's the amps you need to check on the back of the fan make sure they are around about the same between the adaptor and fan.

[@spoofer20]

@@Agent_Clark I was of the impression amps dont matter, because the device will only draw as much as it need. As long as the volt is the same the amps shouldnt matter as long as the amps on the supply is higher than that of the device, right?

[@robertyoung6268]

I have 2 Noctua NF-P14s REDUX 900RPM 140mm, which cables do I need to connect them to 1 adapter?

[@QuietPC]

Hi Peter, I believe they are 3-pin fans so you need a 3-pin Y or splitter cable like the Noctua NA-SYC2. I have linked to them in the video description.

[@robertyoung6268]

Thanks, can I make them run faster with a 24V adapter?

[@QuietPC]

Hi Peter, no, I'm afraid you'll burn the motors out very, very quickly!

[@pattheitguy]

Unfortunately, even in the UK "Mains" doesn't refer to the output of a 12VDC adapter.

[@marcforrester7738]

I think the adapter might need to be wired to the mains to do anything?

[@ryanhosiassohn7176]

Where can I buy this pre made ?

[@tyl_biz]

You cant

[@TheOpelkoenjas]

Question, so that what I'm doing her is correct. Bought me 3 x 80mm fans and a fan controller (with 2 x molex connection, one male one female). The fans need to be controlled separately for my particular project, hence the use of a fan controller. I'm going to use an old 300W pc power supply. I jump-start the power supply by cutting and connecting the green wire with a black wire. The power switch on the power supply should then act like the front power button on your PC. The fan(s) on the power supply should start to run when the power supply is switched on. I'm still correct so far, right? Now, when you connect one of the molex from the fan controller to one of the molex of the power supply (male onto female), the fan controller should get it's juice, right? Or am I missing something? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Cheers.

[@QuietPC]

Hi, I can't see why that wouldn't work. If the fan on the PSU isn't spinning then you might have a faulty PSU.

[@TheOpelkoenjas]

@@QuietPC Okay, thank you. Just wanted to make sure I was following the correct procedure. :)

[@RadowitMarkowski]

I have Nidec Betav TA450DC fan from the old computer. It has 12V DC 1.40A. Which AC Adaptor can I use? What about 1.4A, those with 1A will work or must be more than that?

[@joesaiditstrue]

Find a 12v 1 - 1.5A AC to DC adapter. Old Netgear routers used these adapters. I live in the states, so mine is 120v / 0.6A input -> 12v / 1.5A output You asked about will 1A work, yes. Your fan will only draw 12W instead of 16.8W, so your fan will drop from about 4000RPM to 2880RPM, but that should be fine

[@forestmanzpedia]

I have a friend you uses also Noctua 200mm fans als regular fans, not as pc fans.

[@geo58impala]

You don't need to do this. Just use a laptop style male molex power supply (charger), then find a pci bracket with a female molex port. You can find both items online fairly easy. Now once you have them you can attach your PC fans mounted in the inside of your PC case to the molex pci slot, use 3-pin or 4-pin fan to molex adapters as necessary, and then plug in the molex charger. Now you have an easy way to run your fans from the mains.

[@damiengates7581]

This is for fans that don't go inside a PC. Inside a PC it doesn't make much sense to run from the mains

[@ouuuaburger2093]

Me : Let's cool my laptop by putting a fan below it on table Quietpc : We will take any responsibility of any loss 😶😶😶😶😶

[@roshan77813]

I am going to do it

[@roshan77813]

Directly plugging to laptop via usb

[@roshan77813]

Isn't it ok ? Will it affect my battery life

[@PtSp86]

Can't control.. good for standard 12v fans.

[@giskio]

Dimmer ?

[@MujoNovak]

couldnt u just wired it from computer power supply?

[@andy-ford]

Hi Joni, not everyone wants to use it near a PC (and often the use is not PC related) and so only a mains powered fan will do in those situations.

[@MaGestic1]

Damn wait I can power my Computer case Fans independently from my computer psu ? Damn that is actually good idea 💡

[@ViktorNova]

​@@MaGestic1That's the whole point of this video! 😃 PC fans are useful for lots of other things besides keeping a computer cool

[@TheZebinator]

You should probably set the white balance on the camera, it looks like you got jaundice :/

[@QuietPC]

If we watch the video here on various different monitors, it can look both too bright and too dark, depending on whose monitor you watch it on. The actual video editing is all done on a colour calibrated system :)

[@TheZebinator]

Yeah, I guess I didn't think about that, I do however not get this on other videos, just a heads up, not trying to cause any trouble :)

[@QuietPC]

No worries :)

[@qazernion]

Clearly I'm missing something here.... All he says is use a transformer and as for wiring try out the different combinations until it works... So basically he told us nothing...

[@EumlOriginal]

Noctua NF -S12A you serious? I have these fans and they are loud and not suitable for Silent

[@antresia.9723]

I have the same charger like that the mah is 1000mah max I have a dc brushless fan AUB0712HH DC 12v 0.40A dc brushless fan from a Xbox 360.yea Its going to burn out the fan that's too much power 1000mah you got to kidding I could get ELECTROCUTED.what about to a dc motor I have canon pixma dc motors they are 24volts but I think 11.1 volt or 12volt is fine.

[@fayssal7655]

What i know is that the amps that your power adapter supply depend on what your device (fan) ask for, they are just telling you that the power adapter can't give more than 1000 mah. The mah is the max, as you said, not a fixed value. So you fan will ask for 400 mah, and the power adapter will give 400mah. But the voltage will always be 12v, so only plug in the devices that should be able to handle up to 12v

[@luter82]

I don't understand a word

[@WillyJunior]

That's northerners for ya

[@TarekGrave3587]

†666†

[@fayssal7655]

Wtf