Is this safe? I think I overvolted by Cooler.

Hey,
Well, I feel extremely creative today, so I came up with the idea of using my USB hub's external wall adapter and use it on the cooler. Surprisingly it works! Now I am just wondering about if what i did was safe.... here are the list of specification for the cooler and the adapter can someone identify and see if these are compatible?

Cooler: Vantec lapcool2
Voltage: 5V
Amp: 0.5 A

Adapter:
Voltage: 4v - 5.5V
Amp: This is kind of confusing, at the top is saying 100-240 0.5A but at the other side of the label it has a table, and under 5V it has 2.4A, and only under 0.5 V does the table provide an amp.

Other information: With the adapter the cooler sounds so "Angry", it is definitely much noisier, and has this humming tone to it, as if the fan can not keep a constant RPM and fluctuates a little on the fan speed. And it seems to work much more "efficient" now. The only thing I worry about now is if it is safe to keep this....

EDIT: I can take pictures of the labels if it needed! Any help is appreciated!

 

yeah its safe to keep it AFAIK. Im not an electrician so second opinions would be nice

Amps is how much electricity is being drawn through the power cable . So if your lapcool needs 0.5amps, you adapter can supply up to 2.4amps

Now voltage, the reason your fans are louder than usual is probably because its running on 5.5v instead of 5v. Fans can run at a slightly higher voltage which makes them spin faster. Obviously this will also cause it to wear a little faster than usual

 

I'm guessing the hub's power adapter is 12v?

The fans on the cooler are DC motors so increasing the voltage will just make them turn faster. I've done this numerous times inside of computer cases (usually fans dont run off of the 12v). The worst that has ever happened to me was I lost a few sleeve bearing fans ... which were easily fixed with some baby oil and WD40.

 

Ahh. Thanks Guys. I might keep this if the noise doesn't get to me first... It is really really loud now. And the adapter is only pushing out max of 5.5v probably because it was designed for a USB hub.

The best part is I can now have to cooler running without having to have the laptop on...

Thanks again! rep+

 

You can buy a proper AC Adapter w/ USB with the proper specs for like $10. I know the Zalman NC1000 come with it

 

Thanks for the info! But The point of me using the USB hub's adapter was to make it useful, I mean I don't use the hub, and it is just sitting there, so might as well put it to good use.

 

I plug my cooler in on my Logitech external USB hub, been working perfectly for 5months

 

my zalman nc1000 didnt come with it, wish it did though sounds nice to have.

 

Must have been the NC2000 then...I got it from X2P's Zalman cooler review