Help with battery powered PC case fan

[OlMac]

So I am wanting to take an 80mm PC case cooling fan and use to cool the power supply I use for my pedalboard. I am just wondering what battery would best serve this purpose. The specs off the manufactuers website says this:

Model No.- CF4SL-UBL
Material PU- plastic
Color- Blue
Dimension- 80 x 80 x 25 mm

Fan Speed-
1500 ± 15% RPM

Air Power-
12 VDC

Noise Level-
≦20 dBA

Operation Voltage Range- 7 VDC ~ 13.5 VDC
Start-up Voltage- 7 VDC
Rated Voltage- 12 VDC
Rated Current- 0.17 A
Lock Rotor Current- 0.07 A
Air Flow-
17.21 CFM

Static Air Pressure- 0.88mm-H2O
Connector- 3-pin and 4-pin
Life Expectation- 25,000 hours

I am very new to this type of thing so I have no idea where to get started. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[(*steve*)]

What power do you have available? If you have 12V, that would be perfect. If not, a small regulator may be better (to convert the voltage) rather than adding another battery.

 

[OlMac]

What power do you have available? If you have 12V, that would be perfect. If not, a small regulator may be better (to convert the voltage) rather than adding another battery.

As of right now I don't have any available. I haven't purchased anything yet, wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing first. The idea I had in my mind was to have a battery pack (ideally of the sort you can just go buy at any store) and have the fan connected to the batterys and then have it conected to a simple switch to turn the fan on and off.

 

[(*steve*)]

Does the pedalboard have a power supply?

I guess I'm confused, but you said you wanted to cool it, so I assume it is powered (or powers) something.

 

[OlMac]

Does the pedalboard have a power supply?

I guess I'm confused, but you said you wanted to cool it, so I assume it is powered (or powers) something.

Ah I gotcha. Yes it does have a powersupply. Unfortunately all the outputs are in use. Usually they are 9v outputs since the majority of pedals work the best on a 9 battery. There are also a couple of 18v outputs foe the oddball pedal that requires the higher voltage.

 

[(*steve*)]

And the pedalboard (the penny just dropped as to what it is) is powered from the mains? I would just use a small mains operated 12v plugpack (wall wart).

 

[OlMac]

And the pedalboard (the penny just dropped as to what it is) is powered from the mains? I would just use a small mains operated 12v plugpack (wall wart).

The pedalboard is powered by a voodoolab pedal power 2 plus. Here is a link to what it is: http://www.voodoolab.com/pedalpower_2.htm
That powers all of the pedals on the board. What I'm wanting to do is mount the fan to the front of the board to help circulate the air and keep the power supply cool. Preferably I'd like to do this by using its own battery pack with a switch to turn it on and off.

 

[(*steve*)]

A small 12V lead acid battery would probably be the best bet then

 

[hevans1944]

The pedal board power supply runs off of AC line power, so what's wrong with running the cooling fan off a small 12 V DC wall wart plugged into AC line power too? If all the outputs of the Pedal Power are not in use, you can also use one of the L6 outputs (switched to select 12 V) to run the fan. Batteries are a PITA to maintain and keep charged. That's probably why folks plug in a Voodoo Pedal Power so they can get rid of the 9V "transistor radio" batteries on their pedal board. Or you could buy some "D"-cell battery holders and wire eight "D"-size alkaline cells in series. Expensive replacing those cells every few days, but they are available just about everywhere. Lots of extra junk to pack and carry around if you use re-chargeable D-cells and their battery charger.

 

[(*steve*)]

I think its to reduce electrical noise.

The best solution would be to connect the fan blades to a mouse wheel and insert a well fed mouse.

"Best" refers to low amounts of electrical noise

I'm interested in some of the language used to describe the power supply. Other than using toroidal transformers and linear regulators, some of the other explanation sounds... interesting.

 

[HellasTechn]

If there are 12V outputs available that should be just fine. I dont think a fan like that can cause any serius noise. If yes then again a filter capacitor of small value in parallel should solve the problem.

Or our friend can Just use a simple linear transformer (say 200ma or 300ma i dont think the fan can draw more) from mains power to 12V then a full wave rectifier and a smoothing capfacitor of say 1000uf should not introduce any electrical noise and would be perfect to use with the fan.

 

[hevans1944]

With all the wires and problematical connections on a performance stage, hum can be a real problem. Batteries go a long way to breaking up ground loops and solving the hum problem at low-level signal points... like guitar and other instrument pickups producing millivolt signals that get amplified to ear-bustin' volumes. My youngest step-son once had a garage band in my detached garage... when they "practiced" the volume was truly deafening, but hum was the least of their problems. Volume is no substitute for talent. Fortunately that was a long time and many hundreds of decibels ago.

 

[Alec_t]

Volume is no substitute for talent.

A view not held by the younger generation, it seems .