SOLVED Fan bus question

[Mark]

I was wondering if it taxed your PSU any differently when 4 fans were hooked up to one PSU lead through a fanbus, as opposed to each fan on their own PSU lead? Thanks for your help.

 

[el]

maybe a tiny bit but it won't use more than a tiny bit of power.

 

[Kingslayer]

No, and if you add a rheostat to control fan RPM you can actually tax your system less.

 

[cjtune]

I think some fella posted about the PSU wires having a max amp rating of 20A. Since each fan will draw a constant amount of current (unless the bearing's worn or it's stuck), you can hook up lots and lots on fans on just on power line.

 

[Colin]

A rheostat will not reduce the load on your PSU. Rheostats are variable resistors. The reduce the voltage to the fan by converting the excess voltage to heat. The load on the PSU remains the same. This is why voltage regulators like the LM317 are a better solution.