Replacing a PSU fan...

[stilly]

Yeah so I was brought a computer that makes a sound equal to a car driving with 35" super swampers on the freeway...

Well, okay not that loud, but you get the point. Turns out the fan in the PSU is off balance or something because it just makes the whole case shake. The problem is that it is a 750W OCZ ZT series PSU. It was purchased in 2011 (by me when I built this thing) and the PSU still seems like it is going strong.

I was looking for a replacement 140mm fan but I did not find any that had a 2 pin connector like this one does.

SO, I got to thinking, what if instead of modifying a 140mm case fan, I cut a slot or drilled a hole in the PSU case and ran the fan cable through there and then plugged it into the mobo or into the molex connectors depending on what the new fan had on it? My bet is that I can find a case fan with a 3 or 4 pin connector and an adapter to make it a molex connector and then I can either plug it into the mobo or into one of the molex connectors.

But in doing that, would it mess with the PSU? I mean, if the fan is unplugged in side the PSU pcb, would that make any difference?

Anyone do this before? I would hate to short the whole thing and blow something up.

BTW, this system came back because it lost the C:/ which was an OCZ SSD and I had to reload windows 7 onto a new SSD and then I found out that the drivers for the usb 3 and the network card (built in) are not working. Like maybe something happened (cat pissed on the case and caused a short that blew some **** up?) I dunno, but anyways, thought I would ask to see if anyone has done this before. I think I will just drill a 1/2" hole in the side and run the new fan wire through it.

[cid`]

only answering cause its you :P

look for the colors, 4 pin, 3pin = pwm/sensored, if you dont care to have your fan be variable, then splice it with the hot, and ground, otherwise match it

you can also do what you stated, run it outside the psu back onto mb or one of the connectors

hit me up for windows 7 crap..

[stilly]

But leaving the pins unplugged in the pcb will not cause an open circuit or anything and thus shut down the psu due to some stupid failsafe they have right?

[PhantomII]

The simplest fix would be to get a 3 pin fan, then cut the connector from both the old and the new fans.

Splice the red and black wires from the new fan onto the connector from the old fan and just cap off the yellow wire.

Plug the two pin connector back into the original PSU header and you're good to go.

[cid`]

nope, if anything, it'll cause an error in sensor speed/control..

your pwm is 5 or 12 volts anyways, so not a major deal. if you dont feel safe, hot+ground the fan and mount it up

But leaving the pins unplugged in the pcb will not cause an open circuit or anything and thus shut down the psu due to some stupid failsafe they have right?

[stilly]

I was going to do that but found that I could be faster here with my parts instead of ordering new ones.

Thanks.

the original connector is only a 2 pin connector. I will drill tonight...

[Satex]

I was looking for a replacement 140mm fan but I did not find any that had a 2 pin connector like this one does.

Snip the connector off the old fan and put it on the new 140 mm fan.

[stilly]

The fans I had used custom wires so it was hard to see what was the red and what was the black when they were all black wires to start with.

I drilled a hole in the psu case and then used my LE WIlson chamfer/deburrer to bevel it out and then finally filed down the extra flashing so it was nice and smooth. It came out looking nice. And it works. In fact, the new fan plugs right in to the motherboard.

[stonith3901]

The fans I had used custom wires so it was hard to see what was the red and what was the black when they were all black wires to start with.



I drilled a hole in the psu case and then used my LE WIlson chamfer/deburrer to bevel it out and then finally filed down the extra flashing so it was nice and smooth. It came out looking nice. And it works. In fact, the new fan plugs right in to the motherboard.

Hah I like that you are using reloading tools for your modifications. I mainly wanted to just comment on that since I lurk on this subsection, sometimes I forget I am on calguns. I use a couple of 140mm fans connected to a fan controller and use a 4u rackmount case. But then again I have a 42U cabinet at home.