fan ac adapter

[jc]

I purchased a reef fan kit from ebay about 2 years ago. It came with 4 80mm fans. I have been using the same ac adapter to power 4 120mm fans. The adapter is very hot and I think the sides may have melted a bit. After reading up on the fans I learned that if you add a few fans they share the watts and go slower than rated. I made a new connector following the instructions on this page http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/di...oling-fan.html. The adapter I used is rated as: 12vdc 500mA 60hz 15w. It worked great for a few hours but now it is dead. I checked the fans with the old plug and they worked. Was I using the wrong plug. The fans are rated as: 12v, .53a How does the mA rating work? Will this one from radioshack work? http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

[topsoil]

Well, here's my thoughts. At .53 amps and 12V, those fans could each pull 6 watts (roughly). If you had 4 of them, then that is 24 watts that the fans were trying to pull through a 15w power supply. The power supply will attempt to supply whatever is connected, so you probably burned up something inside the power supply. You older power supply is probably working, but beyond it's rating, so that is why it is getting hot.

I would try finding a 25-30w rated power supply. The one you linked didn't list the wattage rating, only the mA rating. the mA ratings is just what the power supply can safely provide on the low voltage side. Don't focus on that too much. As long at the power supply rating is over .53a (or 530mA), and the wattage rating is over the total watts connected, in your case roughly 25w, the power supply should work.

Hope that helps.

[jc]

I think that radioshack plug is the highest one they have.

[jc]

I got a 12v 1.5a plug from radio shack. The fans are way to loud now. I was going to use the new plug for 3 fans on the bulbs. I went back and used the 12v 200ma plug with 3 fans. As long as my tank stays below 82 I will stick with these fans. If the temps rise I will probably buy a plug that adjust the volts. That way I can slow them down if they are too loud.