The parts....
3 pin connector and crimps
Terminal blocks
Make Your Own Mini-Fanbus and Control Device Power Extender
Date : day, 00 October 2002
Author : Wolfman
Provided by : n/a
Introduction
Back when I started VH, Cliff A and Fanbus.Com was a big inspiration for me. His inventions, though simple, were sort of godsend for the modders out there. One in particular was the fanbus. It's as simple as any device could be but yet the functionality of it could not be ignored. It provided a central position for the fan freaks to connect all that fans in their cases to a single point without the hassle of struggling with all those wirings and the multitude of connectors. That also inspired me to construct my very own unit, similar in design to Cliff's, in which I outlined in a guide I wrote here. Just for your info, Cliff has finally decided to "close shop" a few months ago. I wish him all the best in his future undertakings! As time passes by, the design of the Fanbus also changed. One in particular is the MicroBus, pioneered by PCMods.Com. It has the same basic functions to the original fanbus but they drastically shrunked the size. With the reduction in size, the new Microbus can now go virtually anywhere in your case, out-of-sight. Just in case you need it, here's a review of it by Stygian back in April 2001.
OK, enuff blabbering... I'll be showing you how you can make your own MicroBus, with some basic and not-so-basic parts. At this point of time, you might be wondering what's the Control Device Power Extender part is about. Well, I'll get to that a little later.... :O) And remember, these projects requires the use of a soldering iron and we take no responsibilities if you screw things up! :^)
Things you will need...
For the hardcore modders, these parts are easily found on the Net or your local hardware/electronics store, but for the benefit of those you don't know, I've included a link to some of it.
|
The parts.... |
3 pin connector and crimps |
Terminal blocks |
 8 pin connector and header |
 Molex Connector (PCB) |
 Plastic Cutter |
Quite a lot of parts ain't it? :O) Well, most of are very cheap if you buy in bulk so ask your friends if they wanna do the same thing so you can save up a little. OK, now that you've got to know the parts, let's go to the actual building....
<< Back to Guides Page | Mini Fanbus >>
The Mini-Fanbus
The principle of connecting the connectors together is pretty much the same as with the original Fanbus guide. The only difference here is that you'll be doing this on a much smaller scale... on a PCB to be exact instead of the the Electronic Hobby Box as I've shown in the original guide. And as you can see, the PCB board itself is quite large for a mini fanbus, so you'll need to cut it up. For that, I used the Plastic Cutter. It's like a normal exacto knife but with a "hook" blade to cut or "score" a deep line on the material. I normally used this to cut plexi or acrylic but it works just fine with the PCB board. Use a ruler to guide the blade and cut the PCB board to a size that you desire. You don't have to cut thru the board, just score a few deep cuts and the PCB board will break away easily. Once you got the size you want, it's time to lay out the connectors on it.
Cutting the PCB up....
The Molex connector used in this mini fanbus is different from the ones in your case in that it is meant to be used on a PCB board. It has metal connectors on the back of it for you to solder it onto the board. The metal connectors were a little too big for the holes on the PCB but using a cutter, I trimmed them up and now it fits like a glove.
 Metal connectors too wide.... |
 Nothing a cutter can't fix! :O) |
You will then need to line the Molex and the Terminal Blocks on the board, making sure there's enough room for you to solder on the jumper wires. The pictures below also shows you the routing of the wires from the Molex to the terminal blocks. The Terminal blocks are of the screw-on types. What you need to do is just insert the bare wires from your fans/lights into the hole and tighten the screw to secure the wire in. Take note, I said "bare wires"..... this means that you'll have to strip off the connector from your fans/lights. I've always preferred this method for my fans/lights. Saves me the headaches caused by all the different connectors that my fans comes with... :O)
 View of board with connectors. |
 How it's wired up.... |
You should have your soldering iron ready by now. Secure the Molex and terminal blocks onto the PCB board by soldering their metal connectors down. You can either use wires or connecting metal pieces as shown below. I don't know what they're actually called but I found them at a local electronics store and they're perfect for the job.
Use wires... or these....
 Solder 'em up! |
 Close up........ |
It shouldn't take long to have the joints soldered and you should have something like the pictures above. Some of the metal pins are longer than required so you can snip them off if you like. Once that's done, you can start connecting/soldering the connecting wires. Start with the 12V Line first. I used yellow wires to indicate the 12V line here. Take note of which section of the terminal block that you joint the wires to. Use the "Solder Blobs" method to joint the wires to the Molex and terminal block.
 Connect the wires.... |
 Use solder "blobs" to connect them to the Molex and Terminal block |
Do the same for the Ground (Black) wires and once you're done, you should have something like the pictures below. Now you have your own Mini-Fanbus! You can see that the one I made is not much bigger than the PCMods.Com's version. Not as good looking but still functions the same.
 DONE! |
 There you go! Your own Mini-Fanbus!! |
Now it's time to strip the connectors off your fans and tidy things up a little in your case! :O) The Fanbus is still the way to go if you don't need any kind of control over your fan speed but still want to keep things tidy and have a centralized location to connect all your fans to. But what if you DO have a control device and still want some way to easily connect your fans to the device? That's where the Control Device Power Extender is about.... :O)
<< Introduction | Control Device Power Extender >>
Control Device Power Extender
I know it's a tedious name for it... I just don't know what to call it! Maybe you'll understand better as this guides goes along. Heheh! Now apart from the Fanbus, Cliff also pioneered the control device arena. Devices like his infamous Switch Baybus, Dual-Voltage Baybus, Rheostats Baybus, just to name a few, have all found their way into a computer enthusiast's PC. And just like the Fanbus, they too have evolved, thanks to the numerous online retailers out there, churning out their version of the devices. All of which has found their way into our systems, like the PCMods.Com Dual Voltage Baybus and the Rheobus, CaseETC's Maelstrom, FrozenCPU's 6-Ports Baybus and Natriumtech's Digital Rheobus, the UltraDM. While they all have the same basic function, they also share one feature that I personally find annoying and that is how each device has the power distribution on the same location as the other components of the unit. While this saves the amount of material required to build the device, it's a hassle having to remove the device just to swap fans or disconnect any faulty fans connected to it. Of course, this is up to personal preferences, but I'd rather have a separate power distribution unit and here's where I'll show you how to make one.
 Control devices... |
 Terminal block connector on Dual Voltage Baybus |
 3-pin headers on the UltraMR/UltraDM |
 Terminal block connector on Rheobus |
All of the devices above has two outputs for your fans, a 12V Line and a Ground. And most of it, with the exception of the FrozenCPU's 6-Ports Baybus, comes in 4-ports configuration. You'll need to converge the outputs of the 4 ports onto a single 8-pin connector/header onto the PCB so as to save space and to make it neater. All of the the parts you'll need are already outlined on the first page of this guide and I'm aiming at the same size as the Mini Fanbus that I created earlier. Again, cut off a small portion of the PCB Board to the size you desire and line up the Terminal Block and the 8-pin header on the PCB. The 8-pin header is for the 4 pairs of outputs (12V and Ground) from the control device. Secure the components onto the PCB by soldering the joints below the PCB.
 Line up the components onto the PCB... |
 Secure them by soldering the joints... |
Once again, figure out how you want to route the wires on the PCB and once you've done that, you can again use wires or the metal connectors as I've shown previously to connect the 8-pin header to the terminal block. Trying to get the wires to stay put might be a little problem so you can use masking tape to hold them in place while you solder them down.
 How it's wired up.... |
 I'm using the metal connecting wires here... |
 Tape 'em down! |
 Back of PCB. |
Shouldn't take long to solder the wires down and again, use the "solder blobs" method to connect the wires to the terminal block and the 8-pin header on the PCB. The PCB unit is done and now it's time to turn your attention to the wirings from the control device. The length of the wires depends on where you wanna locate the extender fanbus in your case. As a rule, it should be long enough for you to route them nicely and hide it from being seen but not too long that it becomes another clutter problem.
 Solder blobs again... :O) |
 Close up.... |
 The 8-pin connector |
 Connect it up.... |
You'll first need to strip the protective cover from the ends of the wires and secure them onto the crimps for the connectors. Once you've crimped the wires, insert them into the connectors and it will lock itself onto it. Depending on they type of control device you're using, you might not have to do this step at all. For devices with screw-on type terminal block, like the Dual Voltage Baybus, Rheobus, Maelstrom and the 6-Ports Baybus, you'll just have to insert the bare wires into it and screw them on to secure. I'll be using the NatriumTech UltraMR unit, which has a 3-pin header as a power output, hence the 3-pin Connector. Connect the extender fanbus to your control device and you're done! To make things neater and more presentable, you can use cable sleevings to cover up the wires and at the same time, bundle them up into a single bunch and also use foam sheets to cover up the back of the PCB to prevent it from coming into contact with your case.
 Crip the wires... |
 Insert them into the connector... |
 ALL DONE! |
 Foam sheet to cover back of PCB.... |
 Sleeving to bundle up the wires... |
Here's an example of where I used the power extender in my case. This is Project White Wolf which I gave you peeps a sneak peek a while ago and hope to have the article up pretty soon. :O) As you can see, all of my fan wires are connected to that tiny unit and power is supplied via the control device, in this case the UltraMR. I hope this guide has been useful to you in constructing your own unit. I also hope to see this kind of units comes standard with the control devices that's being sold out there, if not as an option.
Do give me a holler is you need further help. I'll try my best to answer your Qs! Thanks for reading, enjoy and be safe!