rheostats from cars

[hunter00]

i heard somewhere that you can get/mod rheostats from something in a car . . . .does anyone know what you use or have a link on how to actually do it?

thanks

[CrystalMethod]

What do you want to use them for?

[hunter00]

to control my fan speeds,
i have 8 fans which make a ton of noise, so i want to go to watercooling, but still have my current fans (with rheostats to make them a lot quieter) to reduce ambient (plus i already have all the holes and stuff), and then i can blast them up when i am benchmarking or doing seomthing intense

[muzz]

The dimmer for interior lights is a rheostat.

muzz

[Robbie]

yeah a dimmer is. And that should work and be the proper power rating.


Rob

[hunter00]

awesome, so i can ask the dude for that and it'll be alright? cool.

can anyone direct me to a site with (or give an overview) of how to mod these things so i can use them for fans? (i'm guessing they don't come with 4 pin power cables or anything)

[It_The_Cow]

If you plan to run all your fans on one rheostat, a car rheostat would be best. This is so since rheostats can only take so many watts before they overheat. With eight fans, I'd guess there are at least 24 watts. The one I got from Radio Shack is rated for 25 watts, so that would make me worry. Take a toll of how much you're going to put through the rheostat, and order accordingly.

You can go to www.fanbus.com for tutorials and schematics

[hunter00]

awesome, thanks.

i think ill get two, (intake, exhaust)