- Joined
- Aug 11, 2008
I acquired 4 San Ace 109R1212H101 fans with bare leads in a trade. So, I decided this would be a good time to try out wire sleeving. One thing that really helped my decision to try this is that it was so cheap, so if something went wrong I would have only lost ~$3 in material. I have never hooked up 3/4pin molex connectors either, so this was a good learning experience for me.
I thought I'd share since I'm sure this could be helpful to others, like me, with limited experience.
Here's a quick run-through of what I did to sleeve two of them:
Materials
2' Non-fray black sleeving (d = 1/8")
1' Black heatshrink (d = 1/4")
2 4pin molex housings
4 Male molex pins for the 4pin housings (2 per housing)
Electrical tape
Heatsource
Wire strippers
Note: I didn't pay attention to how the pins were sold. The pins for 4pin housings were sold in 4 pin sets, but the pins for the 3pin housings were sold individually. So, I didn't get enough pins to finish all the fans. I won't assume again...
Sleeving
- Cut the sleeving ~2" shorter than the wire, leaving ~1" of wire on both ends.
- Cut 2x 3/4"-1" pieces of heatshrink, and slide them over the sleeving.
- Overhang ~1/2" of the heatshrink over the wire so about 1/2" of wire is left on the end for a connector. Take a heatsource, like a lighter, and just run the flame along the heatshrink until it grips the sleeving and wire.
Molex Connectors
- Checked my PSU and motherboard manuals for the molex and header specs so I'll know where the 12v, ground, and sensor wires need to be connected.
- Crimped pins on the ends of the wires and inserted them into the housing to match the diagrams in the manuals.
Safety
- I left the sensor wire the same length as the others, even when using a 4pin molex. So, I just used some electrical tape to stick it to the outside of the molex housing. I didn't want that pulsing 5v wire to touch anything. This will also make it easy to change to a 3pin connector without having to cut into my sleeving to get the sensor wire.
- Put some fan grills on these beastly fans to protect my fingers and help prevent wires or something from getting caught up in the fan.
I was surprised the process was so easy and went so fast. I'm very happy with the results and it was well worth that ~$3. Attached are the before and after photos, I have some more photos of the process if anyone is interested.
I thought I'd share since I'm sure this could be helpful to others, like me, with limited experience.
Here's a quick run-through of what I did to sleeve two of them:
Materials
2' Non-fray black sleeving (d = 1/8")
1' Black heatshrink (d = 1/4")
2 4pin molex housings
4 Male molex pins for the 4pin housings (2 per housing)
Electrical tape
Heatsource
Wire strippers
Note: I didn't pay attention to how the pins were sold. The pins for 4pin housings were sold in 4 pin sets, but the pins for the 3pin housings were sold individually. So, I didn't get enough pins to finish all the fans. I won't assume again...
Sleeving
- Cut the sleeving ~2" shorter than the wire, leaving ~1" of wire on both ends.
- Cut 2x 3/4"-1" pieces of heatshrink, and slide them over the sleeving.
- Overhang ~1/2" of the heatshrink over the wire so about 1/2" of wire is left on the end for a connector. Take a heatsource, like a lighter, and just run the flame along the heatshrink until it grips the sleeving and wire.
Molex Connectors
- Checked my PSU and motherboard manuals for the molex and header specs so I'll know where the 12v, ground, and sensor wires need to be connected.
- Crimped pins on the ends of the wires and inserted them into the housing to match the diagrams in the manuals.
Safety
- I left the sensor wire the same length as the others, even when using a 4pin molex. So, I just used some electrical tape to stick it to the outside of the molex housing. I didn't want that pulsing 5v wire to touch anything. This will also make it easy to change to a 3pin connector without having to cut into my sleeving to get the sensor wire.
- Put some fan grills on these beastly fans to protect my fingers and help prevent wires or something from getting caught up in the fan.
I was surprised the process was so easy and went so fast. I'm very happy with the results and it was well worth that ~$3. Attached are the before and after photos, I have some more photos of the process if anyone is interested.
Attachments
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