CPU fan has green, yellow and black wire?

hi guys, from this video, http://www.markstechnologynews.com/2008/11/make-desktop-fan-from-old-computer.html
i want to make something like that

a computer fan powered by usb.

the problem is, from an old cpu fan, i found one with a Black, green and yellow wire...


but in the video, it asks for a black and red..

can anyone tell me what these wires mean and what to do if i do not have the red?

 

There's no actual standardization for wire colors. Black is almost always ground, and red is almost always power, but otherwise, it's just a coating of plastic on a metal wire.

 

darn, i'm really confused then.. dont want to really risk opening up usb cables

 

Be carful when experimenting with powering fans via USB. You may end up with BSOD.

 

Black is Ground 1st pin
Yellow is 12v 2nd pin
Green is speed sensor 3rd pin

and a 4th pin is for speed controller.

Could be wrong with the colors though

 

@ flipfire, so does that mean Black -> black and yellow -> red wire?

@ X2P, why is that?? is it because too much power gets drained out?

 

USB controller might not like it. Id be more careful at blowing that actually.

Dont always rely on colors. Are the pins & colors in this order?

Pin 1 is always ground (usually black)
Pin 2 is 12v (yellow)
Pin 3 is fan sensor (green)
Pin 4 is fan controller (optional)

 

well from left to right, it is in that order

black, yellow and green.

 

Ok good, so its just black (GND) and yellow (12+) that you need. Terminate the green wire with electric tape.

USB has 4 wires

-- Ground (black)
-- Data - (white)
-- Data + (green)
-- 5v (red)

Black to black, yellow to red.

 

okay, thanks!!!
so when puting them together, just twist the bare wires together to the appropriate color and cover each with electric tape?

 

yes thats correct.

 

Yeah, flipfire had it right. While red is almost always used as the primary power color and yellow as secondary (molex connectors), it is definitely possible that the yellow is power.
Good luck.

 

hm it seems to not work..
this time i got some pictures

current setup:

 

Either the fan or USB cable is dead. Try another computers usb port too

I just quickly made one using the same fan:

 

It definitely could be that one of your connections is loose. Check that first.
Otherwise, it might be that the USB port is not supplying enough power. Check another port or computer.

 

it's not okay if one or two small wires are cut off right??

cause im using scissors, and stripping the wire insulation is difficult without accidentally cutting one wire (im assuming it means less power)

maybe my usb cable is too cheap
the inside silver insulator doesnt come like that..

it's juts like tin foil on the inside, since it's dollar store cable

 

Try disabling USB Selective Suspend...

 

Are you trying to power a 12V fan from a 5V USB port?
Because that could be why it's not spinning, though I don't know how flipfire got it working?

 

12v fans will function on 5v, 7v and 12v. 5v is for the lowest fan speed.

You can even control the speed of a regular desktop fan just by rewiring it to the molex plug in different ways. (cheapo speed controller)

 

I didn't know that.

I guess I must be using the wrong fan then ( I tried to connect a small 12V fan to my usb port but it didn't spin unless I spun it with my finger first).

 

darn usb selective suspend doesnt work..

lol i fail at modding