Case fan and batteries??

petrek

Senior member
Apr 11, 2001
953
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How would I go about hooking up a case fan to either a 9 volt or 2AA batteries to use as extra cooling for my Tivo and XBox. I've been trying to figure out what to use for it for a couple of months, but haven't done so yet.
The Tivo only has the ability to power one case fan, but with two 120g hard drives, I'm sure it could use another fan or two, but they'll need independent power supplies.
I'm also going to be adding a 120g hard drive to my XBox, and so that too will need an independent case fan for extra cooling.

Any suggestions
Dave
 

gordanfreeman

Senior member
May 26, 2004
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i dont understand the xbox problem... if you are adding the 120GB in addition to the approx 5 GB drive that comes w/ the box you will be doing some major modding to the case already. if you are just replacing the stock drive you shouldnt have any need for another fan. my friend swapped a 160 GB 7200 rpm drive for the stock xbox drive and hasnt had any problems.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
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First off, two AA batteries wouldn't even get a 12V case fan spinning. A 9v battery wouldn't run a fan for very long - less than an hour. I think that 9V's are rated around 200mA or less; most 80mm fans have an amperage rating higher than this.
It'd be better to find a place inside the Tivo or Xbox (probably right on the hard drive's power plug), that you can get a 12V power feed from. I don't see why either of those units would have trouble giving a little extra juice to a fan. If they can power a hungry drive or two, plus all that circuitry, a fan shouldn't really add a whole lot of extra drain to the mix.
 

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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You could also power some fans with a 12VDC wall wart... Just make sure it's Amp rating is equal or greater than the sum of the Amp rating of your fans. It might be a good idea to get an adjustable wall wart so you can set the noise level. Wouldn't hurt if the wall wart was a regulated one as well. www.bgmicro.com has a good selection of wall warts and fans at low prices.
. Be aware that you will have to mod the connections of the fans and the WWs to suit your purposes.
.bh.
 

petrek

Senior member
Apr 11, 2001
953
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Jeff7, what you're saying is that I should use a power y adapter, thus splitting the 4 pin power feed to supply both fans?? If so, that should solve the problem.
gordanfreeman, I will be replacing the 5g with a 120g, and from what I just read last night, there will be a need for extra cooling because of the larger hard drive.
Zepper, that's what I was trying to avoid.

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to try out your suggestion Jeff7 as that seems to be the simple solution I was trying to come up with.

Dave :)