rheostat & switch questions

[Robbiem01]

I installed a rheostat and I found that when I turned the fan down the rheostat gets HOT. Will this damage the rheostat? If it did can this cause any damage to my computer? Also my other question is could I hook an on / off switch to my fan so if I just want to turn it all the way off I dont have to crank the rheostat down I can just flip a switch or push a button. If so which cords do I need to hook up to the on / off switch? Thanks in advance for helping.

 

[Hoot]

If it is a good rheostat, it will not mind getting hot. That's why the good ones are made from ceramic. Break either wire going to the rheostat and put the single pole single throw switch in series with it.

Hoot

 

[Tecumseh]

If it's a properly sized rheostat it may get pretty warm, but
it should not get HOT. Make sure you have the right size i.e.
wattage rating.

 

[zoopa_man]

I have one rheostat in my case that gets a little over heated. what i did was whip out my good ol dremel and hacked apart an old heat sink. I took one of the pieces and laped the bottom flat. added a dot of thermal grease and four dots of super gule, one in each corner. and stuck it to the back of my rheostat. It actulay helped move some of the heat away form the rheo into the heat sink so it can then be dispursed into the air. It kind of works kind of dosn't. GIve it a try see what happens.

The best solution though would be to get a higher rated rheostat. But they can be hard to find and the good rheo's are expensive.

 

[custoswashere]

I had a 50 ohm rheostat on my 60mm YS tech screamer on my SVC golden gate initially. I mounted the theostat with it's back side against the support rail 2/3 up on the Cheiftec/ Antec/ Alienware 1030b case. THe adjusting knob pointing down. With the back against the metal support rod, it acted like a heatsink and kept the rheostat from getting hot. That fan was rated at 7.2 watts but the rheostat was only for 5 watts. The more I cranked it the hotter it got until I mounted it there. It never even got warm most of the time. Maybe you could mount it to your case fram somewhere.

Just my experience.