Please look over the pictures and tell me it looks correct.
It looks perfectly fine!
The fans run well, somewhat louder than I anticipated.
It is expected, unfortunately the smaller the fan is - the loader it’ll get
Maybe I can find less nosier ones and wire them up since I know how.
There are some brands that put more effort to make their fans quieter, they usually also come with vibration dampeners
Look at Noctua, they are more pricy - but they’re also considered to be top tier and at least with their bigger fans do worth the investment.
But as I already mentioned above, the size of the fan does matter and will likely be the main limitation here
The hardest part was separating the fragile wire ends of the fans from the plastic sheaths.
haha yes, it can definitely be somewhat frustrating stripping thin wires
When I don’t have a dedicated wire stripper handy, I sometimes use a lighter to burn the plastic around the copper.
Most of the times it works well, but it varies and depends on how thick the plastic is.
I used another PSU instead of the ones I previously mentioned. This PSU is only 500MA but according to our conversation that is sufficient since each fan is only .10A.
That’s perfectly fine and awesome to see you’re following the logic behind it
I googled on how to find the correct charge. Once I split the PSU wires along the plastic sheath, one of them had ribs or markings on it, therefore was negative. So, I got the charges right the first time and didn't have to retry. That tidbit of about the markings was useful and for future knowledge. I
That’s great you’ve been able to find how to differentiate between the poles, and quite useful for future projects
However, not all generic PSUs follow these rules from my experience, so I usually hook up a multimeter just to be sure
Given that in your specific use case there were no negative side affects wiring it both ways, brute forcing is also valid way to determine the poles, and you don’t need a multimeter to determine it either - so it’s a great option when there are no marks you can depend upon.
That being said, you should be aware that not all devices would tolerate incorrect wiring nicely - so be carful and mindful when you decide to brute force, and when it’ll be better to use other, more precise methods instead.
actually feel a lot more confident wiring something and understand what the PSU should be verses what you are attaching. It's the very basic 101 of electrical wiring, but more than I ever understood before my contact with you.
Sometimes all we really need is a small push to gain the confidence in a new or previously unexplored field, but once you make the first steps you realize it isn’t as scary or complicated as it seemed
I need to plug and unplug the PSU whenever I use it. That's ok for now, because they will only be used during the hottest days here in Las Vegas.
You can easily add an on-off switch like the ones linked below, without any further wiring required:
Or, you can wire this DC on-off switch between the fans and the PSU, mount it through a small hole in the lid and cover the exposed side with hot glue or silicone for safety - the wiring here is through a screw terminal, so it should be straight forward:
Alternatively, you can also wire a potentiometer to be able to control the speed of the fans too, it uses screw terminals as well:
And if you want to take it one step further, you can hook both your heater and fans into a temperature controller, so that the fans will only kick in when the temp is higher than the set point you configured:
We are below the 110s in temp, but anything over 110 the house AC has issues keeping up. These fans will supplement the heat exchange from the tank.
I live in Israel, so I know what it’s like to live in a sauna lol
In my case, it’s also very humid so fans can only do this much without an A/C running 24/7 for the whole summer, so it’s more common to see chillers here, similarly to Australia.
Combined with an A/C or a dehumidifier however, you should be able to keep the temps low enough.
That being said, I would highly suggest keeping an eye on it, because even softies (which are considered to be far more heat resistant than LPS/SPS) can too get stressed by temp fluctuations and high temps.
You have been the best teacher for this, and your explanations are precise and clear. Thank you over and over!!! I seriously can't thank you enough for the amount of time that you devoted to answering my questions.
Be well my friend
I’m glad it turned out this way
I knew this subject can sometime intimidate people, so I tried to be as descriptive as I possibly can, and seems like it worked well
Have a great and chilly weekend
