Wiring switches?

[danthegeek]

I want to hookup some military style switches to my new mod but I dont know the best way of doing this. I did a google search and had no luck. Could anyone give me some help on this? I want to hook the switches into fans and etc. but I dont know whats best, switch to the hot wire or the ground?

[danthegeek]

Could anyone give me a link to a fan bus that i could make? I want to hookup 3 fans and 2 sets of leds. If the bus could work on both that would be great.

[DaveW]

You should ablet to hook up your fans and your lights to a Molex connector. I've got 2 superbright LED's and 10 fans running from that. The trick is to hook them up in parallel, so the voltage is shared. I can't think of any links off the top of my head, but Wikipedia has a new 'electronics learning center' type of thing which would help you to find the correct voltages and resistances and wire them all up.

The molex outputs a 12volt and a 5volt, and the 2 blacks are both grounds.

Good luck, hope that helps. Btw, what do you mean by military style switches? Toggle switches? Flip switches? Key Switches?

-Dave

[Airbozo]

Always switch the hot lead, _not_ the ground! You want to make sure that the ground is always connected for safety.

[CanaBalistic]

Always switch the hot lead, _not_ the ground! You want to make sure that the ground is always connected for safety.

The black wires are actually negative, not ground. The negative wire carries just as much power as the positive when that switch is turned on. If you want safety, put a fuse in your line.


For clarification:

A grounding wire does not connect to any power source. It is there for the soul purpose of giving a power serge the opertunity to arc into the negatively charged earth, preventing the overflow of current through your circuit and frying your components. Your case is grounded through your PSU. Attach a lead to your case if you really want a ground.

[DaveW]

The black wires are actually negative, not ground. The negative wire carries just as much power as the positive when that switch is turned on. If you want safety, put a fuse in your line.

I'm afraid that's not true. The black cables are 0v ground lines. The only -ve lines in your PSU are in the Motherboard connector. Remember voltage is pottential difference-it were negative, you'd be looking at 24volts and 10volts in a molex.


Your case is grounded through your PSU. Attach a lead to your case if you really want a ground.

No, no, no. Please don't attach any live wires to your case. Where did you get it in your head that this is a good idea? No offence, but that's crazy talk. For the love of god don't do that.

-Dave