Solved How to slow down fan speed?

[Golden]

G'day hardware geeks.....

My Thermaltake Element S case has two inbuilt 22cm fans that plug directly into the PSU. They are a little bit noisy, and I was looking to lower their RPM to take the edge off the whir.

Initially, I was considering purchasing a dedicated fan control to fit into a spare 5.25" drive bay, but a colleague suggested I might try and "cross-over" the yellow 6v cable from the PSU with the red 12v cable to the fan, to halve the RPM of the fan.

However, when I opened the case and examined the psu ---> fan connection, I noticed it already appears to be crossed-over as in the photo below (apologies for the poor quality).

The photo shows the yellow cable from the PSU on the left, connected to the red cable from the fan on the right. Thus, the fan is already running at half its RPM? Am I correct?

Regards,
Golden

 

[alexdagr8est]

this is not necessarily the case for the molex connection - the fan only needs 2 connectors for it to have power - as is the case with all 5 of my fans buddy. - I would recommend getting a molex to silent cable http://www.erodov.com/forums/imagehosting/56894e5f4f8e4796f.jpg
it looks like that pic - you can then also daisy chain your fans along with connecting them to a fan controller bay (pretty cheap for us aussies and no postage sometimes) but remember that reducing fan speed = increased heat...

 

[Dwarf]

No, the fan is running at 12V since the standard colour coding of power cables from the PSU is Yellow 12V, Red 5V, and Black 0V (ground). To make the fan run slower (approximately 45% in comparison), you need to arrange it so that the red lead from the fan is connected to the red lead at the molex connector. That way, the fan will be fed with just 5V as opposed to 12V.

 

[Golden]

Golden, repeat after me : "You are a muppet. Read your manual where it clearly states yellow = 12v".

Thanks Dwarf, I crossed over red to red with an intermediary molex, therby connecting 5v to 5v, and finally I can here myself think clearly. The silence is defeaning.

All is good. Fans running slower and temperatures actually seem to be a fraction cooler......

Regards,
Golden

 

[Dave76]

to both.

Good suggestions.

Edit:
Glad to hear (pun intended) you got it sorted

 

[badger906]

Could always solder a resistor along the cable, that will lower the voltage.

Or do as I did for my media pc, I stole a reostat from an old computer cd drive (volume wheel)
I then wired that into a box, that my fans connected to, was only about 2cmx1cm and fitted behind mobo tray.
That way I could vary the fan speed if I ever needed.

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