Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If i buy a computer fan for my incubator from radio shack how do I connect it that it plugs in the wall?

When you go to Radio Shack, make sure you buy a fan that is AC. Then all you have to do is buy a six foot household extension cord and cut off the female end. Splice the cord onto the wires coming out of the fan and plug it in. If you buy a DC Fan, you will also need to get a AC/DC converter.

Hope this helps,
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Tim and Monica Bailey
Bailey & Bailey Reptiles

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I'm no electrition, but that seems like way to much power to feed directly to the little fan.

they are actually listed in the 105-125 voltage range (on the box). the average wall outlet runs in the 115-125 range depending on surges (that is from an electrical site online). I just picked up a 3" and 4" for my incubator that I'm building, will have pics of it by wed next week, should work great.
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2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
0.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
1.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

Yah, that should be fine really. It should be no problem to plug an AC fan strait into the wall. If you go with a DC fan you have to make sure the power adaptor has enough amps (milliamps for a fan) to power it. Its best to go over the amps than under... if you dont add about 20% on the amps for the supply the fan could work the power supply to death and it can start on fire. So if the fan says 12V 50mA you need a 12V 60mA power supply... and really a 100mA-300mA wouldnt hurt anything. Good luck!

That is precisely the problem i am currently working on myself.
(Ran without fans last year,but my fridge-ubator will be full this season.)

I had been assuming any overages of watts from a dc converter would damage a fan rated for less...(what is it i am "missing" then?)

...and.
Am i right in assuming all pc-fans are 12 volt?..or no..? I ask this because i have a pile of dc converters here that range from 3.7 volt to 9 volt to 12 volt.(Should i even bother looking for any 3.7 volt fans?).

The 12 volt one i have is 1200 m/a.
(Its input is:120 vac,60hz,23watt.)

So there is no need to restrict(in some way unknown to me)a 12 volt,60 hz,1200 m/a power supply,before it runs into a 12 volt,60 hz fan?...no matter the fans listed m/a? (Even if the fan says 0.15 m/a?)

Any help would be appreciated.
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

I'm not sure if all pc fans are 12 volt, but the ones I have are. I haven't seen any that weren't. The fans I purchased for the new incubator I'm building are rated @ .15A or 150 mA. With your 1200 mA adapter, you could run 6 of those fans simultaneously and would be using less than 80% of the adapter's capacity. There is no need to restrict anything, even if you are only running one .15 mA fan. Good luck.
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Louis Kirkland
Game Balls
The Morph Factory

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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

You can get computer fans in 3v 5v and 12v, and this makes sence because a computers power supply puts out all of these voltages. I would say stick with the 12v. Make sure the power supply you have is rated for 12v. Now you dont need over kill, but a 1.2amp power supply is pleanty, infact that leaves room for expansion. Think of it this way, every plug in your house is likely rated for 110v 20amps, but if you plug in a desk lamp pulling 500ma or a hair dryer pulling 10amps they are still fine. They will take what they need. That said, these devices are designed to take these loads initially, just as any electronic device is/should be designed (have high enough guage of wire) to take a good bit more juice. With amps, better to have too much than too little.

Ben

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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.