Need help with some electronics...

[Paddy]

Nice idea - however all thermisters supplied by Maplins run at 230V.... the molex only supplies 12V

[Colin Morey]

[H]ard people will tell you to use a "baybus"
yeah,.. its what you're describing,, but uses switchs rather than a thermistor.
take a look <a href="http://www.virtualhideout.net/guides/7v_12v_baybus/index.shtml">here</a>, for a 7-off-12v baybus, <a href="http://www.virtualhideout.net/guides/temp_controlled_fan/index.shtml">here</a>, for a nice temp controlled circuit.

more articles can be found <a href="http://www.virtualhideout.net/guides/index.shtml">there</a>

HTH,
Colin Morey

[Paddy]

nice links!

I am gonna make the 12v/7v/off baybus...

Wish me luck!

[xortam]

Cool site Colin ... thanks.

[Greebe]

A plain old fashioned therostat will also work. Just wire the mercury switch to make or break the 12vdc connection and set to the temp you wish for it to turn on/off (a master override can also be easily be wired in also). No external power is required(passive).

Most of the info Wolfie has on VH about the baybus and what Cole has on CaseETC.com came from me.

[cjolley]

Make a thermo-switch out of your finger!
--
Connect one wire at the base of your finger
and one at the tip between the power source
and the fan. Then ground the fan.
When it gets hot you will sweat and conduct
current to the fan.
When you cool off your finger will dry & the
current will be cut off.
Total cost: wire - $0.10
Too easy!
chuck

[Paddy]

Need help with some electronics...

I have got some fans attached to my case – I do need them if I am running an intensive application as it just gets too hot in there…however, at night when it is idle (ie. Downloading from the .net) it’s too noisy. I have wired the molex connectors so that a single break will turn all of the fans of (bar the one directly over the CPU). The problem is that it’s a pain having to open the case every time I want to turn off the fans. It should be easy enough to make a little switch and then mount it on a 3 ¼ “ drive plate…does anyone have any advice on the matter?
I’ve phoned maplins but they haven’t got a clue what I am talking about…

[Fat Tone]

Paddy

All you need is a simple mechanical thermostat. This will close a pair on contacts (turn on your fans) if the case gets too hot, and open again when it cools down.

For Example, Maplin Room Thermostat, Code DY59P, £12.99 could be mounted inside the case and set to trigger at up to 35C, which should be more than enough for inside any case. The caveat is that this particulat tstat is designed for heating, so you need to make sure it has NO (normally open) and NC (normally closed) contacts.

If you want to stick with a manual switch, then you should be able to walk into Maplin and chose virtually any toggle or latching switch as long as it has the current capacity (add up the current draw for each fan, or calculcate it from its power consumption divided by the supply voltage) but I should think virtually any will have.

Hope this helps

Tony.

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K7Pro(110), Athlon 930(750)@8.5,108fsb, G400 32 DH@max, 1.6BIOS and 6.21, DX8, SB Live Player 1024, 256Mb PC133 CAS-2, Pioneer 103S DVD, 20Gig IBM 7200 ATA66, LS120, MS forcefeedback pro, CL WebCam III etc etc

[Paddy]

Thanks Greebe (and you too chuck!)

I will make a simple mechanical switch - but i will simplify the one here and just use one switch and then wire the fans in parallel afterwards...I would loose the ability to control the fans independantly, but it would fit on a floppy drive plate.

[Paddy]

Made it and it works a treat!

Cheers all!

[Paddy]

I cant find my webcam to take any pics so i will have to describe it.

I used the schematics as above - but insead of wiring the switches and LEDs in parallel, i just wired in some molex connectors at the end. I can now control the four fans at a single switch (no more opening of the case!)

At 7v the 80mm Sunon fans are more or less noisless - yet they still bring the ambient temp to 26'C - with the fans running at 12v i can knock off another 2-3'C.

All in all its been a pretty good night - now wheres that spray paint.....

[ayoub_ibrahim]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Paddy [MU]:


All in all its been a pretty good night - now wheres that spray paint.....</font>

Paddy you should know better by now about sniffing the fumes from that spray paint can!

[Colin Morey]

my comp is now hammerite blue, (very funky patterns on the paint)

Colin

[cbman]

Nice work Paddy *smile*

I wish I was allowed to make some of the cool [H]ard case mods but for some reason my fiancee is really dead set against it. She says that I screw around with the computer too much to begin with and until I buy her that nice looking black one she saw (Dell 8100 - ~5000 Canadian) that I have to leave it alone..

Oh well that is ok... I still managed to sneak a real nice copper based HeatSink, 3 Powersupply Fans, 1 - 5 Inch Fan from an old IBM Server into the machine and I finally got everything arranged so it doesn't rattle.. LOL

As soon as I get her the "computer your not allowed to mess around with" as she puts it... which at the rate I am going should be sometime in ten years, I will start doing some radical stuff and see if I can post some pics...

*Grin* Also there is a little mini beerfridge right beside my computer.. I am thinking of borrowing some components from it and making my own liquid cooling system...

Oh well.. it will probably never happen... but you never know...

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Hang Low and Limber