Powering a 12v fan

Get a regular small desktop fan and plug it directly into the ac outlet in the back of your receiver. Assuming your receiver has one. That's what I did, works great.

I would not use the 12 volt trigger in this fashion. The trigger output is not meant to drive a load like this.

A 12V relay attached to this trigger output which has contacts rated for 120V would work great. You can set this up using the relay to switch the 120V power to a fan.

I used a small AC/DC converter with variable output plugged into the switched outlet of my receiver and some Antec 80mm tri-speed fans. The fans are fairly low noise and can be undervolted to further reduce noise levels if needed. The fans are virtually silent from across the room running at 12V and successfully lowered the ambient temps inside the cabinet.

I am thinking that this method might be the best compromise for the described problem/scenario ... likewise, I have a similar setup with a variable output dc converter connected to two 120 mm case fans ... the large diameter and the variable voltage option allow for a nearly silent fan setup that uses little power (and turns off with the desired devise shutdown). Actually its so quiet, you could leave it on 24/7 and not notice it from a noise perspective ...

For me, the way I cool my audio research vs110 amp is a simple 12V computer fan with a low decible; some computer fans are noiser than others. Then I use an AC/DC converter 300MA radio shack "wall wart" and cut the end of this (single male end) and connect the end to the other end of the fan using a wire nut. Then a put on lamp on/off swith in the middle of the wall wart and voila now have a silent fan cooling my amp using the on/off switch. I suppose you don't have to have the lamp switch and plug the wall wart directly into the amp. Be careful not to hook this fan on your rack or it will introduce vibration which could lessen the quality of music/movies. The way I got around this was to use a nylon string and hang it on my rack...much less vibration. Good luck.

Nope. You can power several fans directly from a single AC/DC converter.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I got a cheap AC/DC adapter that has a variable voltage switch. $7 + an old computer fan.





You can see the adapter plugged into the receiver, so it turns on and off with the unit and doesn't draw any unnecessary power.

Great info! Thanks!

BTW, after letting the receiver run for a few hours with the fan, it was noticeably cooler than before without the fan. Couldn't give you an exact temp, but you can stick your hand above the receiver and feel a difference.

I recommend cleaning up your wiring a bit. Airflow could improve a lot.

It's really only below the fan that's a mess. From the fan to the wall is clear. I've been meaning to tie some of it together, though.