4 Pin to 3 Pin Converter ?

tridion · Post by **tridion** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 12:24 am

Is there a cable that converts a 4 pin fan connector to a 3 pin ?

If so, does anyone know where to get them in the UK ?

lacsap · Post by **lacsap** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:16 am

Zalman makes one (ZM-MC1). QuietPC Canada sells it, so the UK branch might sell it all so.

Lacsap

madlee · Post by **madlee** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:17 am

I think this is what you are looking for:

http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/4to3ad.html

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:47 am

Just a few points to note.. If your fan has a four pin connector on it then it may require more current than can be provided by a three pin motherboard connector. This sometimes happens on 120mm fans.
The second issue is speed sense.. the four pin connector doesn;t have it and by adding an adaptor you won;t magically have speed sensing. Sorry if this is obvious, but some people don't get this point.

HAving said that.. I'm not sure the ZM-MC1 is exactly what you're looking for - that'll let you plug 3pin fans into a 4pin power cable, not 4pin fan into a 3pin mobo connector.

As to sources of the cable.. dunno, sorry

Best bet is somewhere like Maplin but I only found A00BF and A45AK, which are equivalent to the ZM-MC1.
If you don;t find it elsewhere you could alsway hack one up - all the bits are available from Maplins.

marc999 · Post by **marc999** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 12:09 pm

I've been looking for one of these for awhile, and in a previous thread someone mentioned that SVC cable. Unfortunately, last I checked, they didn't ship outside of the US.

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 2:54 pm

marc999 wrote:I've been looking for one of these for awhile, and in a previous thread someone mentioned that SVC cable. Unfortunately, last I checked, they didn't ship outside of the US.

have you tried directron? i haven't checked if they ship outside of US and they are somewhat more expensive than SVC, but they are another source:
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/cables ... cords.html

tridion · Post by **tridion** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 11:57 pm

DonP wrote:Just a few points to note.. If your fan has a four pin connector on it then it may require more current than can be provided by a three pin motherboard connector. This sometimes happens on 120mm fans.

This shouldnt be a problem as I wont be plugging it into the motherboard. The problem is I have got 2 120mm fans with 4 pin connectors but I have a fan controller in a 5.25 bay which connects the fans using a 3 pin plug. This controller then plugs into the PSU so power shouldnt be an issue.

The issue is finding a way of plugging the fans into it.

Any ideas anyone.

mahkum2 · Post by **mahkum2** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 5:19 am

tridion - Is thiswhat you are after? If not check these out as well just in case.....

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php?cat=274

http://www.thecoolingshop.co.uk/tcs/com ... ategory=42

http://www.chill-tek.com/customer/home.php?cat=271

marc999 · Post by **marc999** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:39 am

grandpa_boris,
Yes Directron does ship to Canada. I've bought a few things from them before. However, they only have a 3->4 power adaptor, whereas I need a 4->3.

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:21 am

[quote="marc999"]However, they only have a 3->4 power adaptor, whereas I need a 4->3.[/quote]

good point. you are trying to go from 3 pin fan controller to a 4 pin fan, right? now that i think of it, i have a similar problem, mating a 4-pin fan to a 3 pin fanmate. i had punted on it for a while, because i was hoping to batch a whole bunch of changes to the system all at once. now it seems that a simple solution i was planning on will not be so simple. please post here if you find an adequate solution!

marc999 · Post by **marc999** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 12:28 pm

grandpa_boris wrote,

you are trying to go from 3 pin fan controller to a 4 pin fan, right

Yes, you are correct. I'm going from a 4 pin terminated fan to one of the 5V connections on a Zalman Multi-Connector (ZM-MC1). I could always rewire the 4 pin fan to line up with the 5V pins on the power supply plug but that's a REAL pain in the ass and then if you want to switch to 12V then you have to rewire your 4 pin fan all over again. Not fun.

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 3:24 pm

marc999 wrote:grandpa_boris wrote,
you are trying to go from 3 pin fan controller to a 4 pin fan, right
Yes, you are correct. I'm going from a 4 pin terminated fan to one of the 5V connections on a Zalman Multi-Connector (ZM-MC1). I could always rewire the 4 pin fan to line up with the 5V pins on the power supply plug but that's a REAL pain in the ass and then if you want to switch to 12V then you have to rewire your 4 pin fan all over again. Not fun.

returning to a dormant thread, i just did exactly that: rewired a 4 pin fan from 12V to 5V. i took the easiest route: took a spare 4 pin Y-extender cable (something like this http://store.yahoo.com/directron/cbl-y.html), cut the 5V and 12V lines, wrapped insulation around the dangling 12V line, connected the 5 V line to the wire going to the 5V pin and that's it. if i need to go back to 12V, i will take the extender out.

Sledge · Post by **Sledge** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 4:29 pm

Here's a similar question. Does anyone know of a Zalman Fanmate-like device for 4-pin fans? I don't want to buy a fanbus. I just need it for one fan.

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 4:57 pm

grandpa_boris wrote: connected the 5 V line to the wire going to the 5V pin

sloppy me! it's 5V line to 12V pin!

lazybum131 · Post by **lazybum131** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 7:27 pm

These aren't actual cable adaptors, just the actual pin heads:

http://www.vibecomputers.com/index.cfm? ... vID=190825

http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Merchan ... y_Code=120

These are Canadian online stores by the way.

Both of these are actually for panaflo's.
Vibe Computers sell them with just the bare wire, and you buy the '3-pin header kit' and attach it by yourself.
BigfootComputers one is just wire with the 3-pin molex already attached i think.

In both cases, I think it wouldn't be very hard to attach them to current fans. Unfortunately you'll have to cut off the 4-pin molex.