two case fans, one MB connector

[farmerj]

Hello,
How do you wire 2 case fans when your Motherboard has only one "system fan" male connector ? I have one case fan installed now using the "sys fan" connector and have another to add. Is there a work around? I am not familiar with the power supply wires, but, all of them seem to go to the mb.

ECS K7S5A
AMD 2100+

Thanks in advance
J

 

[Shroud]

I had to do this for one of my fans.

You can go buy some of the connectors you see that come from your power supply. Then cut off the current connector and strip the fans wires down to the copper and connect the black wire to the black wire of the connector you bought and the red wire to the red.. If there are multiple wires just keep maching the wire colors.. then use some electrical tape to wrap around the wires and you should be able to plug the fan directly into one of the power supply outlets..

 

[ikellen]

Note: This method will only work for power. RPM monitoring might be messed up.

Cut 2 inches off the plug end of one of the fans, so you are left with a fan with bare leads, and a 3 pin plug with about 2-3 inches of wire attached. Do this to both fans. Strip the leads on both the fans. Twist each color wire together with the other (i.e. black to black, etc.) so you have the two fans wired together. Solder each of the twist leads so they are permanent. Now strip each lead on the plug. Solder each plug lead to the appropriate twisted lead. Now you should have a Y shape, like this, sorta:

plug
|
|------Fan 1
|
|
|
Fan 2

Now cover all bare leads with electrical tape or heatshrink, and you're done.

 

[TGHI]

I personally haven't done it (I split power from the floppy connector instead)...but I don't think that it'd be too good of an idea to plug two fans into a single motherboard power connector. If your fans draw too much power, then you run the risk of shorting it out....also....most BIOSes have a built in reader for the RPM speed of the fan which is used to shut down the computer if the RPM speed is 0 to keep it from destroying itself. You would need to deactivate that feature for that mod to work...and if by chance your fans fail (due to short or whatever) there goes your processor.

I wouldn't risk it.

 

[hereticiv]

Correct me if I'm wrong but can't you just not plug them into the mobo at all? Just wire them for power using the male psu connectors and that should be it...right?

The case fans will be on full all the time but so long as they are quiet you should be just fine with noise and airflow.

 

[devlish96]

Correct me if I'm wrong but can't you just not plug them into the mobo at all? Just wire them for power using the male psu connectors and that should be it...right?

The case fans will be on full all the time but so long as they are quiet you should be just fine with noise and airflow.

personally, i don't like plugging anything to the mobo's fan headers. all my case fans are powered directly by the psu. i have modified external switches so i can turn off these fans at will.