How to Create a Three-Speed Fan Control Without Spending a Dime

[Olle P]

Originally Posted by hakera12

what should i do when i have wires like this one red one black and ONE GREEN

Well, the first thing you should do is to used properly sized images (fit inside 600x600 pixels is suitable) instead of super-size that takes forever to download. Then it's good to see what the cables stem from.

Are they attached to the PSU or some fan? Does the green cable have a yellow line? My guess is that the green cable is protective earth while black is ground and yellow is line.

Cheers
Olle

[Gabriel Torres]

Hello,

Please repost the picture at a smaller resolution so we can help you out. I don't have the patience to wait 3 hours for a 10-megapixel file to download from a slow server.

Gabriel

[Sunil237]

hey. thanks for this guide, i did post questions here but i am inpatient and went ahead and adapted the guide to fit my use and it didn't blow up.

i had 1 fan in my pc, a 12cm fan, and just bought 2 6cm fans, molex connections, from ebuyer at £1.11 as EVERYONE claimed they were silent. they were at about 40-50dB.
i rewired using this guide from pins 3&4 (black and yellow) to pins 1&2 (red and black). giving 5V if i did what i wanted to do...
when i turned on my pc i left a pen in my altered 6cm fan and my unaltered 6cm fan. i removed the altered fans pen and then....... i had to look and put my hand behind it to see if it was working.
granted the speed is a lot lower but before it actually made me chilly having just 1 fan on. i love you for making this guide. saved me from buying an adapter or saved me from throwing them in the bin.

i still have to alter my other one so i will re edit this and make a picture guide, because each fan at 5v knocks my temps down by 3C and for £1.11 anyone can afford to get these and use them.

this small 60mm fan, small but massive flow power. - £1.11
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63282
92mm fan - £1.61
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63283/
120mm fan £1.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63281

i assume these are all the same type, but i don't know why they are this cheap. once put on 5v it is madly silent, hope that is the same case for the other 2 sizes.

[Sunil237]

unable to take clear pictures but i'll give a good walkthrough with altered generic pictures.
Gabriel Torres - you have full permission to do whatever you want with this, incase you want to use it or make it better. i didn't put full effort into the sentence structure.

What connection is suitable for this guide?
The fan should have 2 wires going out. Red wire and a black wire, connected to a Molex 4 pin male connection, this will also have 4 thicker cables attached going to a molex 4 pin female connection, which allows another device to be connected.
Like this:


Items Suggested;
fan (30/10/2009 - uk seller);
60mm fan - £1.11
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63282
92mm fan - £1.61
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63283
120mm fan - £1.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63281

Items Required
penknife, or small sharp flat headed screwdriver.
chunky pliers
tweezers
safety pin
scissors
cable plastic coat cutter, or teeth if you don't have.

Initial Wire Configuration;
black wire to yellow wire (1)
red wire to black wire (2)
black wire (3)
red wire (4)

5v Configuration;
yellow wire (1)
black wire (2)
black wire to black wire (3)
red wire to red wire (4)
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/fullimage.php?image=8175

7v Configuration;
red wire to yellow wire (1)
black wire (2)
black wire (3)
black wire to red wire (4)
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/imageview.php?image=8195

12v Configuration or initial;
red wire to yellow wire (1)
black wire (2)
black wire to black wire (3)
red wire (4)
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/imageview.php?image=8196

Instructions (Read all first please);
Prongs (2&12), Clasp (5&8&10) and Hole (7&8), refer to this picture http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6971/molex.jpg
1. disconnect the power from the computer and then remove the fan if necessary.
2. remove pins from molex plastic case from the molex connector with the 2 fan wires attached; look at the pin inside the case, it will have 2 metel prongs which prevent it from going backwards, use tweezers to flatten these prongs and the pin will EASILY slide out. repeat for other 3 pins and place the plastic case somewhere.
3. pull off the red and black cables that are coming from the fan from the pin connection. if you can't do it, cut it close as possible to the pin, not cutting the main pin connection cable.
4. identify the pins you need to attach the fan cables to.
5. using a pen knife or small screwdriver (flat head) pry open the metal clasp securing the wires to the molex pin. make sure not to destroy its shape completely as you still need the clasp.
6. once you have done that for both pins you need, cut off some of the plastic coat on the fan wires, with teeth if you don't have the tool.
7. use the safety pin to make the hole more visible where the thin grey wires are on the pin.
8. twist your fan wires, grey wires to make it more sturdy, and insert it into the hole you made with the safety pin in the molex pin, and place the plastic of the wire next to the thicker molex cable already there, inside the clasp area.
9. re-check you have put the wire where you want to for your voltage. last chance.(can cut it off after if you want to change voltage again)
10. once you are satisfied with the wires being in and placement of the wire use the pliers to squeeze together the clasp. make sure this is tight.
11. repeat stages 5-10 for the other wire.
12. using the safety pin alter the prongs on the pins so they are out again (all 8 prongs), as you would have squashed (most) them in to get the pin out in the first place.
13. push all the pins back through the holes in the correct order.

this should all be correct, i have done 2 5v and a 7v myself. i am pretty certain that is everything i did. the 2 5v fans are inaudible, 7v is slightly hearable but the CPU fan (which before i thought was inaudible) is the loudest thing.
if you have spotted an error please contact the ADMIN AND NOT ME, i won't be staying here and i'm sure the admin here woulnd't find it a bother, seems very nice and helpful that is why i wrote it

[Gabriel Torres]

Thanks for your contribution, I believe this will help many other users!

Cheers,
Gabriel.