Did I fry my fans by wiring them backwards?

I guess the question speaks for its self. I wired my Arctic 11 plus fans in backwards, the power was only on for a small amount of time, after rewiring it correctly they are still not working. I am getting power out of the driver to them, but its no go. Are they fried?

Do they need to be reset some how? Normally I just disconnect and disregard the controller wires, blue, yellow, maybe they could be used to reset them some how...

I already ordered some new fans, its a bummer, but I am still wondering if there is something that I have not thought of trying. It is 6 fans running on an LPV-20-12, I tried wiring it to only 3 of them and directly to a single to check if I was some how drawing to much power, it was also a no go.

If the driver's solid then probably.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99628.htm

"It is a time-honored thing to do with DC motors too, making them go backwards by reversing the voltage drive. I suspect motor manufacturers would be reluctant to make a motor that does not work well from reverse voltage, because there is usually a fair number of customers who will use the motor that way.
However:
Not so with brushless motors and electronic commutation, so far. Typically there are IC's and transistors which, if given reversed supply voltage, will not function and will almost certainly be damaged For these motors the rotation is reversed by telling the electronics to reverse the sequence of positive and negative voltages that they apply to the 3 or more motor-coil terminals. But the supply feeding the IC always keeps its original polarity. If you have a brushless DC motor with electronics built-in (fairly common for scooters), then there will be two big wires Red and Black for the motor power, and a few small control-circuit wires. One of those takes 0v or 5v signal and controls the direction of revolution, and another controls the motor-speed or how much current the motor is given.

Some small DC fans for computers have brushless DC motors with electronics inside. They have (+),(-), and maybe one more wire to control the speed. They never need to reverse, so the electronics were made without that ability. Reversing the voltage will only try to burn them out."

I would try a different brand of fan with driver as a last resort too [if yah got one....]

Imho, I have never blown a fan by reversing polarity, I have heard them make ungodly high pitched whining at times, but I unplug by then and it is usually a result of questionable cabling.....I can't seem to remember a fan that never came back on, theys always seem to work after the fact. Stupid me has done it at least thrice of the last few years

PS never a PWM fan though, only 2 and 3 pins are my experiences mine

Yes, it will burn those particular fans out. (the ones on the arctic alpine 11).

I have burned one. I ripped the wires out of another by accident.

I've wired both CPU fans from Arctic and Intel backwards and always got them to operate after by making an adjustment. I did however fry one of my Intel fans when using the yellow wire (it was neither negative or positive).

Maybe that's what I did... lol.

Yes, I figured it was the electronic controller for the fans that would be fried not the fans them selves, that is why I was asking if there was a way to reset them. I had also considered if it would be possible to bypass/remove the electronics and just wire the fans directly to the power supply.

AquariusPanta said:

I've wired both CPU fans from Arctic and Intel backwards and always got them to operate after by making an adjustment. I did however fry one of my Intel fans when using the yellow wire (it was neither negative or positive).

Click to expand...

that yellow is a 5v connection.... red is 12v..... black is ground......

coolbreez1 said:

I guess the question speaks for its self. I wired my Arctic 11 plus fans in backwards, the power was only on for a small amount of time, after rewiring it correctly they are still not working. I am getting power out of the driver to them, but its no go. Are they fried?

Do they need to be reset some how? Normally I just disconnect and disregard the controller wires, blue, yellow, maybe they could be used to reset them some how...

I already ordered some new fans, its a bummer, but I am still wondering if there is something that I have not thought of trying. It is 6 fans running on an LPV-20-12, I tried wiring it to only 3 of them and directly to a single to check if I was some how drawing to much power, it was also a no go.

Click to expand...

Yes its fried.... No coming back from that....
instead of using a driver to power them, why not try a wall wart? or a psu with constant VOLTAGE not current (amperage)

Thats an important one to get right...12v to the yellow pwm wire is usually near instant fan kill. Accompanied with burnt smell..sucks when a brand new fan goes kaput

i used to be an elecrician too




this is sarcasm. .... I was shit lol


i blow up a hospital xray wing........i blow up a school heating room ....etc etc along with myself many many times lol


lesson is ...... Stoned caveman no sparky

If you must know, I made a really stupid mistake. I wired the fans together into two groups of three and then ran wire from them to the power supply, which was not color coded, but I did mark it with black electrical tape to keep track... yet I still some how mixed up my black and red... it is pretty sad really.

It looks like he is using a voltage source rather than a current source, but you do have a good point IMO. Even an inefficient 12V wall wart would be fine for a few watts of fans.

Honestly though, I don't even think you need any voltage regulation at all for fans; You'd need a transformer, rectifier, and smoothing caps. If using A/C fans, you'd just need transformers.

FrozenChozen said:

instead of using a driver to power them, why not try a wall wart? or a psu with constant VOLTAGE not current (amperage)

Click to expand...

churchhaze said:

.... Even an inefficient 12V wall wart would be fine ..... You'd need a transformer, rectifier, and smoothing caps....

Click to expand...

You're right on point!
These things are exactly what is inside most wall warts.... I would imagine the average DIY'er doesn't have any idea what to buy/build to make their own regulated psu..... 'Muricans are lazy these days, they all want EVERYTHING to be "plug and play"

The LPV-20-12 costs $10 runs 6 fans great, I already have one light running with pretty much the exact same build and it works great, I am not sure why I would want to build it with a different power supply, I don't really see an advantage. The only reason the build did not work is because I was stupid and fucked up the wiring

@FrozenChozen

Then the yellow wire could have only been the culprit, as I was testing out a new 12V PSU. I was fairly new at DIY COB building at that time and still feel newbish in some areas.

I'm actually running six Arctics on a single 5V PSU without using the yellow wire and instead black/red. Should I be concerned?

I run meanwell apv's for my fans...and they are perfecrt and cheap as shit. 5$ for a 16w potential of fans.
A wall wart is a constant voltage driver...
Call them what ever you want...but if its constant voltage and in the correct spec range...it is correct and no different than anything else that supplies the same conditions. And they are just as, if not slightly more efficient, than even the better "wall warts" out there.


He messed up the wiring...simple as that. Not the biggest mistake anyone can make with DIY...you can fry 6 fans for the price of on CXA. Lesson learned I'm sure.

Even if using a 5v supply...use the red and black. Those are power wires. Unless you are using a PWM dimmer for the fans...you don't ever need the other wires...and should think of them as not there. Cut them down so you can use them and do not strip them...don't even make it possible to mess up.

AquariusPanta said:

@FrozenChozen

Then the yellow wire could have only been the culprit, as I was testing out a new 12V PSU. I was fairly new at DIY COB building at that time and still feel newbish in some areas.

I'm actually running six Arctics on a single 5V PSU without using the yellow wire and instead black/red. Should I be concerned?

Click to expand...

Listen to @Greengenes707 forget about everything that's not red (or white on older model cpu fans) and black no matter the voltage (in range of course) going in..... Just cut the others right outta there....

Reversing fan voltage should not be a problem, at least not in my experience so far I have never blown one that way. Sending any power to the pwm wire could be, as pointed out. Hooking a fan up to an LED driver is instant death for the fan, that one I have done many times.

AquariusPanta said:

@FrozenChozen

Then the yellow wire could have only been the culprit, as I was testing out a new 12V PSU. I was fairly new at DIY COB building at that time and still feel newbish in some areas.

I'm actually running six Arctics on a single 5V PSU without using the yellow wire and instead black/red. Should I be concerned?

Click to expand...

No the black is ground, the yellow is the 5v+, and the red is 12v+. Use the red and the black.

The yellow is NOT 5v...it is for the PWM signal. Which needs up to 5v...but is not meant to power the fan...that 5v is meant to interrupt the normal 12v coming in on the red wire and dim it...nothing else.


ONCE AGAIN...ALL YOU NEED IS BLACK AND RED WITH APLINE COOLERs. NOTHING ELSE.
I am very surprised to hear so many people flirting with that stupid yellow wire. Leave it alone.