Plugging Anything Into a Fan Header?

[Pspritechologist]

Hiya! Sorry if I'm doing anything wrong here, brand new to this place! I was just wondering something, and couldn't find anything online (though I found plenty of fan splitting guides), so I thought I'd come post my question here.

Could I power any random device, such as a small motor toy of some kind, off of a motherboard fan header? I assume you would need to tune the power being sent through to the device through the BIOS as to not fry it, but that's about where my technical knowledge ends. I don't imagine PWM to be an issue, as all motherboards I know of are fully functioning without it, so is it as simple as finding a compatible device (or a converter), slapping it in, making sure not to fry it, and letting a small, motor powered waving cat wave away to it's heart's content? I had this thought when thinking about custom themed computers, and how cool it would be to have something powered by a fan header, and potentially even ramp up in speed as your system heats up, such as a waving cat.
Other than my wild fever dream, I imagine an alternative would be to simply use SATA or Molex, which I don't believe would be any more complicated than plugging something in anywhere, but you would lose out on the ease of use and the fine control.
Thanks for any help, and if anyone has any other ideas of fun things power via fan headers, I'd like to hear!

[keskparane]

There's normally spare plugs on a PSU which you could take either 12 or 5 v from. No need to bother with the fan header.

[Pspritechologist]

1 minute ago, keskparane said:

There's normally spare plugs on a PSU which you could take either 12 or 5 v from. No need to bother with the fan header.

Are you referring to empty sockets on a modular power supply, or Sata and the like? The big difference would be control through the BIOS, as I said, allowing the device to ramp up with system temperature. That, and not having to bother with yet more cables coming from a PSU. It's not the greatest reason for something so silly, but fan headers are simply more convenient.

[HanZie82]

8 minutes ago, Pspritechologist said:

Are you referring to empty sockets on a modular power supply, or Sata and the like? The big difference would be control through the BIOS, as I said, allowing the device to ramp up with system temperature. That, and not having to bother with yet more cables coming from a PSU. It's not the greatest reason for something so silly, but fan headers are simply more convenient.

I think he's talking about the molex and sata plugs you already mentioned, im guessing.

Lot of people dont read long posts. There is like a 5-6 lines limit. hehehehe

Try and space it out a little have several paragraphs so its easier to read.

[Pspritechologist]

3 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

I think he's talking about the molex and sata plugs you already mentioned, im guessing.

Lot of people dont read long posts. There is like a 5-6 lines limit. hehehehe

Try and space it out a little have several paragraphs so its easier to read.

I'll keep it in mind.
I do tend to be a bit verbose : P

[HanZie82]

6 minutes ago, Pspritechologist said:

I'll keep it in mind.
I do tend to be a bit verbose

Thatss not a problem, if you serve it in bite-sized portions.

 

25 minutes ago, Pspritechologist said:

Hiya! Sorry if I'm doing anything wrong here, brand new to this place! I was just wondering something, and couldn't find anything online (though I found plenty of fan splitting guides), so I thought I'd come post my question here.

Could I power any random device, such as a small motor toy of some kind, off of a motherboard fan header? I assume you would need to tune the power being sent through to the device through the BIOS as to not fry it, but that's about where my technical knowledge ends. I don't imagine PWM to be an issue, as all motherboards I know of are fully functioning without it, so is it as simple as finding a compatible device (or a converter), slapping it in, making sure not to fry it, and letting a small, motor powered waving cat wave away to it's heart's content? I had this thought when thinking about custom themed computers, and how cool it would be to have something powered by a fan header, and potentially even ramp up in speed as your system heats up, such as a waving cat.
Other than my wild fever dream, I imagine an alternative would be to simply use SATA or Molex, which I don't believe would be any more complicated than plugging something in anywhere, but you would lose out on the ease of use and the fine control.
Thanks for any help, and if anyone has any other ideas of fun things power via fan headers, I'd like to hear!

To come back to your original point.

I think you can indeed plug other things then fans in. Just make sure its not to powerful, them fan connectors can handle 2A max. Some boards even less.

And if you want to power a motor to do things, I'd suggest just getting a 12V motor. Having a lets say a 5V motor and circuit to match, anything above 6V it will run 100%.

 

But the problem is here, when it goes wrong. If you short something or overpower. You break the motherboard, best case its just the trace to the fan-connector worst case the board wont get power anymore.

 

Therefor i would go directly off the PSU, since that has way better protections in its system. Overpowering is almost impossible on a quality one. And there's more room for placement. But that last part is personal preference.

 

Ps if you take power from a Sata connector you can have 12V, 5V and 3,3V all at once, and believe me on quality PSU thats as stable as you could want it.

(PPS will not work on the newest PSU's as they are 12V only. But they are so new you have to choose to buy them hehehe)

[Pspritechologist]

35 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

Thatss not a problem, if you serve it in bite-sized portions.

 

To come back to your original point.

I think you can indeed plug other things then fans in. Just make sure its not to powerful, them fan connectors can handle 2A max. Some boards even less.

And if you want to power a motor to do things, I'd suggest just getting a 12V motor. Having a lets say a 5V motor and circuit to match, anything above 6V it will run 100%.

 

But the problem is here, when it goes wrong. If you short something or overpower. You break the motherboard, best case its just the trace to the fan-connector worst case the board wont get power anymore.

 

Therefor i would go directly off the PSU, since that has way better protections in its system. Overpowering is almost impossible on a quality one. And there's more room for placement. But that last part is personal preference.

 

Ps if you take power from a Sata connector you can have 12V, 5V and 3,3V all at once, and believe me on quality PSU thats as stable as you could want it.

(PPS will not work on the newest PSU's as they are 12V only. But they are so new you have to choose to buy them hehehe)

I see. So, theoretically, totally functional, just practically dangerous? I mean, sounds like a plan to me. As for controlling the speed of the device through the fan header?

[CommanderAlex]

1 hour ago, Pspritechologist said:

and how cool it would be to have something powered by a fan header, and potentially even ramp up in speed as your system heats up, such as a waving cat.

You can also do a hamster wheel with a photo of a hamster inside!!! 

[HanZie82]

1 hour ago, Pspritechologist said:

I see. So, theoretically, totally functional, just practically dangerous? I mean, sounds like a plan to me. As for controlling the speed of the device through the fan header?

Set into bios to voltage control so it will just use the 2 wires and changes the voltage for speed. That would be easiest.
Or just molest an old fan and use that as the motor. But those might spin a bit to fast.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Cases and Mods

***

 

All fan headers on consumer motherboards are 12V. It depends bit on board if all are just 1A or if there's any 3A for watercooling pumps. You can use resistors or knob controller (or DC controlling from BIOS). Using PWM doesn't change voltage the header outputs.

 

Though I would say going with molex as you power source is better. Molex headers have both 12V and 5V pin. So if 12V is too much for you, and 5V is enough, you could Just use 5V and ground.

[TargetDron3]

What you are trying to do is exactly why raspberry Pis exist.  

[Pspritechologist]

9 hours ago, TargetDron3 said:

What you are trying to do is exactly why raspberry Pis exist.  

That's actually a very interesting point. I hadn't considered using one of those little 5 dollar Raspberry Pis as essentially just a lights coordinator. I mean, double sided tape it to the inside of your case and you're pretty much good to go. That's pretty awesome, think there's an adaptor that would let me power it from molex?

Although, it still wouldn't allow it control through the motherboard/PC without some annoyingly complicated software.

EDIT: Heh heh, found it                                                                                     

[keskparane]

16 hours ago, HanZie82 said:

I think he's talking about the molex and sata plugs you already mentioned, im guessing.

Lot of people dont read long posts. There is like a 5-6 lines limit. hehehehe

Try and space it out a little have several paragraphs so its easier to read.

Nah. I just can't be bother writing long explanations. And IMO if he has to ask then it needs one.