My first mod!! a success

BCMoney · Post by **BCMoney** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:11 pm

Well, about a month ago I was a hardcore overclocker with a bunch of case fans and a volcano 7+. Then one day I ordered a Zalman hsf and ever since I've been looking to quiet my PC. Well, the Zalman was a great start, my temps stayed relatively similar and it was way quieter. At that point I took out all the other case fans. So, the next item to fix was my PSU. Since I'm a poor college kid I can't buy a nexus, or seasonic or whatever so I bought a panaflo L1A. Tonight I decided to open up the PSU and replace the old fan, with my new super quiet panaflo. All in all it took about twenty minutes (General disclaimer: opening your psu seems to be dangerous and voids warranties, I do not recommend doing it) So, I opened up the psu about 1 minute after disconnecting the power, while leaving it still plugged into my mainboard, cause i was too lazy to unplug everything. Next I unscrewed the old fan and snipped the wire. Then I placed in my new fan, ran the 3 pin cord out of the psu and into a connector on the motherboard. At this point, I realized that some psu's were probably set up so that they wouldn't start without a fan plugged into it... oh well, too late to worry about that now. So, I took the snipped wires and lead them outside the PSU as well. The snipped wires are now hovering outside my case, completely open to the air. Next I booted up the PC, and success, it's quieter than before, and the air coming out the back is colder. All in all I would say that this was very successful because I didn't get shocked, my PC didn't get shocked, and I'm quieter. I still need a Fan mate to quiet it further though. My only questions are: what to do about the two wires sitting outside the case, and are they live?
My PSU is an Enlight 250 W, and the fan was a Protechnic Magic. The heat sinks inside were extremely small, maybe 4 mm accross.
Anyway, thanks to all the ppl in the forums that helped me with this.

CHHAS · Post by **CHHAS** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:15 pm

Yes, they're live, but only with 12V on them, might fry your stuff if they shortcircuit though.

When I change fan in a PSU I usually reuse the wires from the original fan for the new one, removing the loose wire effect

Congrats on your first mod, always nice to have success with stuff like that.

BCMoney · Post by **BCMoney** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:19 pm

What do I do to stop them from short circuiting? And that idea is a great one, about reusing the wires. Thanks, I'll do that next time.

fmah · Post by **fmah** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:45 pm

Cover the ends of each separate wire with electrical tape.

BCMoney · Post by **BCMoney** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 10:07 pm

Thats what I thought, but I wasn't completely sure
Thanks again

larrymoencurly · Post by **larrymoencurly** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 10:48 pm

What they do with Antecs is connect the fan's ground and power leads inside but run the RPM lead (white?) and an extra ground lead to a 3-pin connector with the +12V pin left out.

I found that the best way to handle dangling leads is to cover them with heatshrink tubing extended 1/2" beyond the end, but the next best way is to use tiny wire nuts and fill them with silicone sealant. I was told to avoid electrical tape because it can come undone.