Fans to cool amps?

[iApex 10+ year member]

The build I'm doing will have the amps under a false floor with plexiglass ontop of them so air flow will be limited.

I was thinking of throwing some fans under the false floor to increase air flow to prevent the amps from potentially over heating. But where can I find the right fans for the job? I was thinking of using some 140mm computer case fans but i wasn't sure if they would wire up correctly in the car and work properly.

Or should I not even worry about putting fans down there?

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[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

The build I'm doing will have the amps under a false floor with plexiglass ontop of them so air flow will be limited.
I was thinking of throwing some fans under the false floor to increase air flow to prevent the amps from potentially over heating. But where can I find the right fans for the job? I was thinking of using some 140mm computer case fans but i wasn't sure if they would wire up correctly in the car and work properly.

Or should I not even worry about putting fans down there?

Computer fans run off of 12 volts.

So, you can probably hook them up to your system. But if you're running a 13v system, you'll have to replace them every so often. If it's 12-12.5, you should be alright.

And they'll hook right up. There's a red (positive) and black (negative) wire.

And, as for fans... what you can do is go get a digital thermometer and see what the temperature is on a daily drive under daily loads. Anything past 100-110*F is dangerous.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Computer fans run off of 12 volts.So, you can probably hook them up to your system. But if you're running a 13v system, you'll have to replace them every so often. If it's 12-12.5, you should be alright.

And they'll hook right up. There's a red (positive) and black (negative) wire.

Thats exactly what Ampjunkie told me when I inquired about getting some installed into the bottom plate on an amp I have.

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Computer fans run off of 12 volts.So, you can probably hook them up to your system. But if you're running a 13v system, you'll have to replace them every so often. If it's 12-12.5, you should be alright.

And they'll hook right up. There's a red (positive) and black (negative) wire.

And, as for fans... what you can do is go get a digital thermometer and see what the temperature is on a daily drive under daily loads. Anything past 100-110*F is dangerous.

I just wasn't sure if the AC or DC thing mattered as far as the 12v fans were concerned. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

I just wasn't sure if the AC or DC thing mattered as far as the 12v fans were concerned. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

Computers run on three rails.

12v, 5v, and 3.3v.

Power Supplies are just power converters.

But... again... if you're running a system over 12.5 (Max 12.75v), you're gunna have to change out the fans every so often. Maybe once every six months or so.

You could do some research and see if they have high voltage fans. I know that there's a way to get 24v in a PC (There's a -12v line that goes to the motherboard), and someone ran a fan off that for a good day or so before it burnt out. So... it's not like the fan will automatically die. It's just once you go over the nominal volts (Usually 12), the lifespan of the fan gets reduced pretty drastically.

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Computers run on three rails.
12v, 5v, and 3.3v.

Power Supplies are just power converters.

But... again... if you're running a system over 12.5 (Max 12.75v), you're gunna have to change out the fans every so often. Maybe once every six months or so.

You could do some research and see if they have high voltage fans. I know that there's a way to get 24v in a PC (There's a -12v line that goes to the motherboard), and someone ran a fan off that for a good day or so before it burnt out. So... it's not like the fan will automatically die. It's just once you go over the nominal volts (Usually 12), the lifespan of the fan gets reduced pretty drastically.

Yeah it's fine they're super cheap, I found them for like $9 for a 140mm one from compusa, and they have a 12 month warranty so I could probably even get them replaced for free xD, but if not they're cheap anyways so thats not a problem.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

Yeah it's fine they're super cheap, I found them for like $9 for a 140mm one from compusa, and they have a 12 month warranty so I could probably even get them replaced for free xD, but if not they're cheap anyways so thats not a problem.

In order to get them replaced, you can't splice into them. So what you can do is find MOLEX to Fan adapters. It should look like this:

I'd cut off the connector for the fan, and then wire it like that. So you don't have to cut into the original fan.

 

[zierbox 10+ year member]

Pac Stinger and even radio Shack

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=CAT&srchCat=231