I need a fan speed controller

[Mr.Shenanigans]

TL:DR I need a fan speed controller that I can plug into the wall to power a fan at different speeds.

 

The long.

 

I want something like this that isn't $100 and has at least two modes quiet and super fast.

https://www.amazon.com/HUCK-Ventilation-Motorbike-Ventilated-Connector/dp/B09Y34CM92/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=helmet+dryer&qid=1663554042&sr=8-11

 

I have 2 fans left over from my case upgrade.  The preferred fan is a 140mm cheap fan, the second fan i have on hand is a IBuyPower branded 120mm fan but it has rgb. The rgb would be kinda cool but is a project for another time.

 

I really want to be able to control the speed of the fan.  After a ride in the rain and the inside liner getting wet, drying it fast is a priority.  The rest of the time a noiseless operation is preferred.  A off setting for when I am wearing the helmet instead of unplugging it from the wall is preferred but not necessary.

 

I only have some basic hand tools that do not include a soldering iron.

 

What I am hoping will happen is that one of you highly intelligent individuals knows exactly what I need for a plug and play solution

 

 

[Bombastinator]

…so what you want to do is make a coat drying device using case fans?

If the fans are not speed controlled they will just run at 100% which seems to be what you want anyway.  So I’m not sure you even need one. Also I’m not at all sure they would be powerful enough to do much good. 

 

Myself I would hit up a goodwill or other such thing and get a few used hairdryers for a couple bucks a piece and use those.  That way it gets some heat into the equation.  Also the fans will be more powerful.  Consumer computer fans are built for silence not power.  They’re so weak they can’t power a model airplane (there was this guy who tried and eventually had to resort to server fans). You’d get a lot more going by just draping the coat over a window box fan.  A whole lot more power and they even come big enough to just put the shoulders over the corners.  Plus cheaper, maybe wait a couple weeks till it starts getting cold and merchants will be trying to unload them cheap.
 

 The cheap way to control the speed of a fan is voltage reduction.  You’ve got 12v fans so running them at 10v will give you 80% speed.  You only want two settings: as fast as you can, which is open, and slow enough they don’t make noise. Resisters cost Pennies.  Just have two setups: no reduction, and whatever resister makes the thing run quiet enough for you.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Biohazard777]

1 hour ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

The preferred fan is a 140mm cheap fan

3pin, so it is DC / voltage controlled.

You don't need the sense wire (unless you wanna know at which speed the fan is running).
So all you need for this fan to spin is input voltage of typically of 7V-12V, higher the voltage the faster it will spin.

As for how many amps:

Picture ain't the best, looks like 0.15A?

If that is the case 12V * 0.15A = 1.8W

Pretty much any 12V adapter will drive this fan.

As for controlling it (2 speeds), simplest way would be to get two adapters, for example 9V and 12V.

Probably the cheapest also, especially if you have some old adapters around the house for devices that no longer work (I know I do, got a box of them hah).

There are other ways, like using DC-DC step down regulators, or heck you can even hook up zener diodes in series to drop the voltage to a desired level...
But if you aren't familiar with electronics and/or you aren't interested in it, lets not go down that route.

 

1 hour ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

what I need for a plug and play solution

AFAIK there is no plug and play solution, closest you can get is to buy a fan hub (one that is capable of voltage control, not PWM, if you plan on using that IBuyPower fan), a fan hub that has a remote or buttons for fan speed, and you need to feed power to it. So again you'll need a 12V power adapter and you will need some donor cables (molex or sata, depending on the hub) so that you can connect the hub to the adapter DC output. Not really plug and play.

 

 

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:

3pin, so it is DC / voltage controlled.

You don't need the sense wire (unless you wanna know at which speed the fan is running).
So all you need for this fan to spin is input voltage of typically of 7V-12V, higher the voltage the faster it will spin.

As for how many amps:

Picture ain't the best, looks like 0.15A?

If that is the case 12V * 0.15A = 1.8W

Pretty much any 12V adapter will drive this fan.

As for controlling it (2 speeds), simplest way would be to get two adapters, for example 9V and 12V.

Probably the cheapest also, especially if you have some old adapters around the house for devices that no longer work (I know I do, got a box of them).

There are other ways, like using DC-DC step down regulators, or heck you can even zener diodes in series to drop the voltage to a desired level...
But if you aren't familiar with electronics and you aren't interested in it, lets not go down that route.

 

AFAIK there is no plug and play solution, closes you can get is to buy a fan hub (one that is capable of voltage control, not PWM, if you plan on using that IBuyPower fan), a fan hub that has a remote or buttons for fan speed, and you need to feed power to it. So again you'll need a 12V power adapter and you will need some donor cables (molex or sata, depending on the hub) so that you can connect the hub to the adapter DC output. Not really plug and play.

 

 

There might be plug and play solution at something like cabel’s. Hunters get their coats wet a lot.  Totally out of the realm of computer equipment though.  Those case fans likely wouldn’t even attach.

[Biohazard777]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

There might be plug and play solution at something like cabel’s. Hunters get their coats wet a lot.  Totally out of the realm of computer equipment though.  Those case fans likely wouldn’t even attach.

Perhaps, I was thinking of plug and play solution for running case fans outside the PC (preferably with speed control and not costing too much). 
Anyhow, I'll follow this thread, would like to know if there is such a device.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:

Perhaps, I was thinking of plug and play solution for running case fans outside the PC (preferably with speed control and not costing too much). 
Anyhow, I'll follow this thread, would like to know if there is such a device.

The problem is there’s generally little reason to run a case fan outside of a pc.  They used to make knob style speed controllers that hooked up to molex, so straight 12v dc, but you’d still need a way to power them.  I suspect computer equipment is not the solution for this one.  There are different vocations and hobbies in which coats get wet and need to be dried quickly though.  Getting wet isn’t much of a comp sci thing though.  The field is even known for an aversion to showering.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Biohazard777]

14 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The problem is there’s generally little reason to run a case fan outside of a pc.  They used to make knob style speed controllers that hooked up to molex, so straight 12v dc, but you’d still need a way to power them

Yeah I'm old enough to remember when these were popular:

5.25" and 3.5" bay fan controllers, with additional USB 2.0 front IO heh.
Later some even fancier controllers were in style, the ones craptastic / "futuristic" displays that displayed fan speed and temps.
The reason I didn't mention these to the OP is because they are bulky, usually for 2-4 fans, or contain useless stuff (for the OP) like front headphone jacks or usb ports.

 

14 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

There are different vocations and hobbies in which coats get wet and need to be dried quickly though.  Getting wet isn’t much of a comp sci thing though.  The field is even known for an aversion to showering.

Hah, true, true.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

Thank you both for your replies!

 

I did not know that I just need to control the voltage to the fan for speed.  Any thought on if this would work?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXZ52KR?ref=vse_pfo_vwdp

 

It looks like I can power it with 3 types of connectors from a usb wall wort that I have several of and control the output voltage via the device for speed. 

here is a better photo of the back of the fan if that helps

[Poinkachu]

1 hour ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

Thank you both for your replies!

 

I did not know that I just need to control the voltage to the fan for speed.  Any thought on if this would work?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXZ52KR?ref=vse_pfo_vwdp

 

If that USB Stepper work as intended, you can. As long the fan takes only up to 2-3watts.

Or you know, something like this :

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=variable+power+adapter&crid=ZLI0AON45HFW&sprefix=variable+power+adapte%2Caps%2C508&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

Both will require you to DIY a bit with the connectors.

 

[Biohazard777]

1 hour ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXZ52KR?ref=vse_pfo_vwdp

 

It looks like I can power it with 3 types of connectors from a usb wall wort that I have several of and control the output voltage via the device for speed. 

It will work, didn't really think of USB powered step ups... Good thinking.
They are typically very weak and output "dirty" power.
Though that being said, for a fan it wouldn't matter much how clean the power output is. 

 

1 hour ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

here is a better photo of the back of the fan if that helps

Not that fan, that one is PWM controlled (Pulse Width Modulation, it works at a fixed voltage and requires a signal to turn it on/off rapidly to control the speed)

IBuyPower fan is voltage controlled. Even though it doesn't say so anywhere on the fan, we can deduce that much from the connector, only 3 pins. PWM requires 4 pins (+, GND, sense, pwm signal).

If you want to control the speed of be quiet! fan (PWM), you need something that can output PWM signal. There are cheap microcontrollers that can do it, like esp32... but that would require a bit of programming and wiring.
The only cheap thing that would be easy to setup I can think of right now is a dimmable LED strip controller + driver.

[Bombastinator]

I suspect the idea of using computer case fans to attempt to dry a coat remains a terrible idea. The cheapest way to test if it even works is to get an old junk computer (doesn’t matter how old) plug the fans in, run them out the side by simply removing the side panel, and blowing them at a coat.  The things aren’t even powerful enough to belly out a wet washcloth, so I doubt they’ll do much for the coat.  Also then you’ll have a computer PSU which in the unlikely event that it’s actually useful you can use to power the fans.  I really think this use case calls for a whole bunch more power than is possible with those.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

53 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I suspect the idea of using computer case fans to attempt to dry a coat remains a terrible idea.

Yes it would. I however am only trying to move air inside a motorcycle helmet.  

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

plug the fans in, run them out the side by simply removing the side panel,

Thanks for this.  I did this and set the fan to 100% and the air flow from the horrid rgb fans was not what I am looking for at all.

 

1 hour ago, Biohazard777 said:

If you want to control the speed of be quiet! fan (PWM), you need something that can output PWM signal. There are cheap microcontrollers that can do it, like esp32... but that would require a bit of programming and wiring.

 

Thanks for that catch I got excited and plugged in the 140 mm fan and it had great air flow but looking into powering it seems to be more than what I know how to do

 

I think i am going to just buy the expensive helmet holder and I can replace the fan with one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-SSO2-NF-F12-industrialPPC-2000-Black/dp/B00KFCQT6M/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=3+pin+120mm+fan&qid=1663572562&s=pc&sr=1-8

 

and power it with one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/SHNITPWR-Universal-Adjustable-100V-240V-Converter/dp/B08YN66YW8/ref=sr_1_6?crid=ZLI0AON45HFW&keywords=variable%2Bpower%2Badapter&qid=1663568786&sprefix=variable%2Bpower%2Badapte%2Caps%2C508&sr=8-6&th=1

 

Thanks again to all of you who chimed in . I learned a lot about case fans through you guys and trying to do the research on my own.

 

 

 

[Biohazard777]

6 hours ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

I think i am going to just buy the expensive helmet holder and I can replace the fan with one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-SSO2-NF-F12-industrialPPC-2000-Black/dp/B00KFCQT6M/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=3+pin+120mm+fan&qid=1663572562&s=pc&sr=1-8

 

and power it with one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/SHNITPWR-Universal-Adjustable-100V-240V-Converter/dp/B08YN66YW8/ref=sr_1_6?crid=ZLI0AON45HFW&keywords=variable%2Bpower%2Badapter&qid=1663568786&sprefix=variable%2Bpower%2Badapte%2Caps%2C508&sr=8-6&th=1

Yep that will work, though not sure how cost effective it will be at ~46$ (fan +  adjustable power supply) 
You can find 3 speed desk fans for ~17$: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Speed-Air-Circulator-7-Inch/dp/B082MY2MX3 , but it will be a lot bigger heh.

 

6 hours ago, Mr.Shenanigans said:

Thanks again to all of you who chimed in . I learned a lot about case fans through you guys and trying to do the research on my own.

Happy to help, especially when people get to learn something new .