USB Fan Wiring

[BigPoppa]

Hey everyone-

I am in the process of building my own Notebook docking station/cooling pad. I have already finished the majority of the project. The only remaining task is to add two fans. They must be USB powered. For that reason, I just purchased two of these fans:

Directron Fan

They're decent fans at 5V, and they'll fit perfectly in my plan. My problem is, after reading a few USB-based tutorials, I am nervous as to how to wire them up. Some have told me that all I have to do is cut open a USB cable and use the red and black wires as power and ground and wire them to the fans. I would like to use a toggle switch as well. If someone could help me with an exact diagram, it would be very helpful.

This docking station is quite nice and once I have added the fans, I will do a thorough write-up on how I did it for all to see.

The notebook is a new HP ze2308wm by the way.

If anyone needs any more information to help answer my question, feel free to post.

Please help and thanks in advance!
-Charlie White

 

[IanG]

Some have told me that all I have to do is cut open a USB cable and use the red and black wires as power and ground and wire them to the fans.

You'd think it'd be the black and red ones, but they could be any color. Thde safest bet would be a multimeter to check.
There's a usb pinout diagram here - you want pins 1 and 4 (the two outer ones.)

 

[shakakahn]

You'd think it'd be the black and red ones, but they could be any color. Thde safest bet would be a multimeter to check.
There's a usb pinout diagram here - you want pins 1 and 4 (the two outer ones.)

wow, if you had actually read your own link you would see that positive (pin 1) is red and ground (pin 4) is black....

 

[IanG]

wow, if you had actually read your own link you would see that positive (pin 1) is red and ground (pin 4) is black....

They are red and black in that link, but in actual cables they could be any colour - they might even all be the same. Just because electrical standars are for red & black doesn't mean that the factory in China is going to follow those guidelines.

 

[Dark_fire]

i hacked apart a usb cable from my toasted logitech mouse and there was infact a red and black(the male end) for testing my ALTOIDS-tin powerpack(wired up so complex that it gives stable 5v from the parallel 9Vs down to about 5.25V on the batts) keeps my ipod juiced up a lot longer

 

[BigPoppa]

Just because electrical standars are for red & black doesn't mean that the factory in China is going to follow those guidelines.

Well, my Chinese factory did.

I wired it all up today, and the project is done. I'll have a write-up done soon.