comp fan in my portable?

[Bobb-o]

i have heard aboot people talking aboot putting computer fans in their fishhouses to blow the hot air back down from the ceiling, my question is do you just take a fan out of an old comp and it will run off of 12V? or do you need to buy a special fan or make some sort of modificaton?

[boxcar46]

Yep, just take it out of the computer. They're already 12v. Most of the fans I find are around 3"x 3" or 4"x 4"

boxcar46

[love to hunt]

Food for thought.

The computer fans work but there is some creative fabrication needed to mount and wire to make it look nice and work properly.

You can also get a 6" 12V fan from any auto parts store, similar to the units you see on the dash of a school bus. They reall work well and are ready to install with a 2 speed switch.

I wired min in with a live well timer which cycles for about 3 min, then off for about 8min to help save power. Works like a cahrm.

[image][/image]

[cliffy]

That is very clever..wish I would have seen that about a year ago.

I just went out to one of the local big box stores and bought a little 2 speed fan that runs on c-batteries. Less than 10 dollars. I put velcro on the bottom of the fan and on the roof of my shelter...and it works just fine...even in windy conditions when the roof flaps around a little. At the end of the night, I just pull down the fan and throw it in a bucket.

I have found that it really does not take much of a fan or air flow to make a huge difference. I keep mine on low and its always kept the frost and cold out of the shelter. Sometimes if its on high, the ice on the ground melts and it gets pretty messy and slippery to move around.

Cliffy

[TeddyBoy]

Bobb-O,

You can also buy the computer fans at Northern Tool. They are around $3.00 to $5.00 depending on the size. That's where I got mine from. You can just attach them with zip-ties. I do like the looks of Love To Hunt's fan. I might have to upgrade to one of those next year.

[love to hunt]

The other thing is the fan oscilates back and forth. I don't know if it makes a difference but is loks cool.

[Blainebob]

Buy a coleman power cat heater. They have a built in fan behind the heating surface that uses 4d batteries

[MNice]

I have a computer fan rigged up in my otter. i bought some of the otter C clips for mounting accessories and it works great. For wiring I didn't conceal anything, I just run it behind 1 pole to keep it out of the way and mount the fan to one of the poles. I also have a plug right by the fan to mount a LED light that mounts the same way. Both run off my vex battery.

[nitroant]

You are running the computer fan of a vex battery? How long are you getting out of the battery??

[ChuckN]

I use a 6" 12V fan in my shack, but the downfall of them is that they are loud and I wish the low speed would go lower.

I like the timer idea.

But, if I could also rig a variable speed switch along with the timer that would be the ticket!

[MNice]

This is my first year doing this & Sat I was out 4 hours w/o any problems. I hav not done a "full test" yet. I think the draw is less than 1 amp.

[Panfish Guy]

Bought one of the 6" fans last year and have thought many times it would be good if I could slow it down for air movement and noise. Would a rheostat like a dimmer switch fry the motor in a fan like this?

[cold one sd]

I thought about a rheostat too and ended up using computer fans instead. The 6" fan on the low setting was too noisy and breezy in my hardside.

[Bigsmitty]

Im having fan problems. I bought what seemed to be a nice one on amazon and it sucked. Way to loud and powerful ... even on low ( it had a rheostat) So then I bought the one shown above and it sucked too. To much speed and noise even on low. So then i used the rheostat from the first on on the second it it still sucks. When you try to turn it down with the rheostat it squeels and drives ya nuts. Id love to find a high quality 12v fan but just cant seem to find them. I dont know if a computer fan would move enough air for my house but I know there pretty quiet. Any suggestions?