# Site General > General Herp >  HOW TO: Cheap Incubator Fan!

## jdmls88

$3 incubator fan how to, so you dont have to buy the $40 helix ones!

Materials:
-cheap computer fan from circuit city $2.96
-extra cell phone charger without output volts around same as     needed for the fan.
-electrical tape
-wire cutters

1. Collect Materials



2. Cut the ends off of the fan wires and the end of the charger.


3. The fan should have atleast a red and black wire. These are the only ones you need. I cut the yellow wire off.


4. The charger should have two insulated wires, one black and one black with a white stripe or lines. The red usually goes to the wire with the white line and black to all black. Electrical tape the connections.


5. Plug it in and test her out! If it doesnt work the wires are backwards or the charger doesnt have the right voltage.

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Falconsmith (02-16-2010),_OhBalls_ (05-11-2009)

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## Stewart_Reptiles

You must have read my mind this is exactly what I needed, since I am not really electrically inclined this will help me wire the fan for my incubator, thanks.

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## Nate

Good stuff...

How do you know the fan won't go out because of too much power?

How much power does that charger put out? and what is the minimum and maximum amount of power that fan can handle?  

I'd hate for that fan to mess up with eggs...i think it's a great idea and I'll probably do it...i just want to clarify some things  :Smile:

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## jdmls88

on the back of the charger it says the output voltage which in this case is 5.9v, the fan starts at 6v and runs best/fastest at 12v. Im actually underpowering it but it runs. If you can find a 12 volt charger it will run at its best

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## Nate

awesome thanks!  :Good Job:

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## jdmls88

if you want to get one from radio shack if you cant find one at your house, the exact one should say
input: 120VAC
output: 12VDC

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## PythonWallace

Good work. I think I beat you to this one.  :ROFL: 
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55186
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=57464

No hard feelings.  :Wink: 

The other thing I've noticed when I make these is that different fans have narrower margins for voltage and amps. I have a few 5v fans running off a 3v. DC transformer, but I just bought a bunch of 12v 1500mA fans to build incubators and I got 12v 500mA transformers to power them and they don't even start up. I'd imaging that some fans will run but quickly fail if you use the right voltage but over do it with the amps. Something to watch out for. I think you should be safe undershooting the voltage by 10%-20% if you don't want the motor to run at full power, as long as the amps are right on.

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## jdmls88

better yet here
http://www.sealevel.com/product_deta..._power_supply_

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## jdmls88

> Good work. I think I beat you to this one. 
> http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55186
> http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=57464
> 
> No hard feelings.


I hate you! j/k lol

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## PythonWallace

> I hate you! j/k lol


Sorry man. I don't want people paying $13 for your transformers when they could get them for $3. Especially once I found out the 12v 500 mA ones wont power my 12v fans.  :Very Happy:

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## Inferno

thanks for this ive found an old adaptor that is working a treat as we speak.

May i post this to my site?

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## Gatekeeper

I know the last post here was almost a year ago but I need your help. I have made a poultry incubator. And am now trying to make it a moving air incubator. I have two fans I removed from old computers that were working when I removed them. I have tons of those old chargers. The two fans I have are:
         Quiettek - Brushless DC12V 0.23A
         FU DC Fan Brushless DC 12V 0.15A

The adaptors/chargers I have are:
          Unisonic 120V AC 7W
          Thomson 120V AC 5W (I tried both fans using this but nothing)
          Panasonic 120V AC 4W

The Unisonic and Panaonic both still have the plugs on them before I cut off the plugs I was wondering if anyone can tell me; why the Thomson didn't power the fans and which of the other two would be the best to use?

Also what about connecting two fans together at opposite ends of the incubator to create a better flow?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Gate

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## JAMills

Well wish I could help ya with that one but I can't. I can recommend the 120V fans from RadioShack that were mentioned earlier. They are great, just attach a plug and directly into the wall or power strip no transformers or anything else needed. I use a couple of them for different things.

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## mechnut450

> Well wish I could help ya with that one but I can't. I can recommend the 120V fans from RadioShack that were mentioned earlier. They are great, just attach a plug and directly into the wall or power strip no transformers or anything else needed. I use a couple of them for different things.


I do one better i removed a microwave fan and just rewired it up to a plug ( since it was gonigin the trash i used it for  cooling my RC battery charger for years, and Ibet with a dimmer control it work just great .( makes anoteot try it out to move air in the room/space heater lol..)   a

as for the 5w not worknig what the milla amps it outputting if they too low ther not enough juice ot turn the  fan motor.

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