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| Thread ID: 63827 | 2005-11-24 00:44:00 | Picking the correct potentiometer | chiefnz (545) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 406970 | 2005-11-24 00:44:00 | Hi guys, I'm looking to control the speed of my case fans with a potentiometer. To be blunt I don't really want to spend $30+ for a more silent fan nor do I want to pay $80+ for a fan controller, when I can get a potentiometer to do the same job for around $3. I'm no expert when it comes to electronics and soldering so I'm just looking at the purchase option. Problem is I don't know which potentiometer to select. Does anyone know which of these (dse.resultspage.com) would be best suited to control an 80mm fan? cheers chiefnz |
chiefnz (545) | ||
| 406971 | 2005-11-24 01:13:00 | The 50 ohm 3W one would probably be your best bet from the DSE range, but that's $11 not $3 . The few fans I looked at on the DSE site (60 -120mm) use from 160 mA to 380mA, so the fans are "a bit like" 15 ohms to 3 ohms . (R=V/I) . You certainly don't want kilohms . Rather than a pot, I'd use a 5W resistor (perhaps equal to the fan's "resistance") and a switch to short it out . Those resistors are about 40c, so buy a few and experiment until you find a good value to have in series with the fan . |
Graham L (2) | ||
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