Fan Control - no variable speed needed

Hey guys,
I'm making a humidity control system, and need to run some fans... one over a petri dish of water to humidify and one to bring in dry air.
They'd never be running simultaneously, and I don't need any variable speed settings; could I run a small DC computer fan off of a normal 5.5v breadboard? It'd be fantastic if it was that easy.

(also, any other ideas of how to humidify the air easily would be great)

wouldn't the answer depend on how much air you want to move, noise requirement, size, cost, etc.?

An 80mm computer fan will generally start with 5.5Volts. You might need to give it a push to get it going. Check the current that your breadboard power supply offers and compare it to the current of the fan. The current the fan takes is usually marked on the fan hub. Otherwise, you could run it off of a DC wall transformer.

Most DC computer fans are 5 volt a wall wart would run it fine.
I use one to move the air when I'm soldering. With a 9 volt wall wart.

chrispyc1211 said:

(also, any other ideas of how to humidify the air easily would be great)

Click to expand...

How large is area you are trying to humidify. With the current setup I would guess a small box or chamber ?

If blowing air over the dish does not provide enough humidity you can try blowing the air through a wet cloth/rag.

3v0

The enclosure is probably only about 2.5 cubic feet. I like the idea of blowing it through the damp rag! I could just suspend that with the bottom in the aforementioned petri dish.
Glad that the voltage should work... I'll hunt around for the one that looks best. Thanks, guys!