Low CFM Muffin fans?

Looking for super quiet low air flow muffin fans. small is ideal. 5~10cm ideally. I was in a computer repair shop asking, and they had lots but the airflow was pretty high. I am looking for something to use in confined small animal enclosures so dont need the draft, just some air circulation that is super quiet. The pet shops I have been to were also a bit too high a speed (for aquariums).

Any suggestions on the types of stores I could try asking would be appreciated :slight_smile: I could buy overseas ,but I prefer buying within Taiwan if these are a thing here.

Something like this:
https://froskr.com/ventilation/vivarium-fan/

Get a computer fan rated for certain volts (say 12) and run them at a lower voltage and they will spin slower. Better to get a larger fan that turns slow to get the most airflow with the least amount of noise.

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Is that safe? I am vastly ignorant of the inner workings of these fans.

I use computer fans now, but the noise is an issue, particularly at night. low air flow is the goal, which seems the opposite of the cooling a computer may require.

Well it’s basically running say a 12v fan at 6 volts. I don’t think it’s going to cause any problems.

I’m a big fan of muffins, but I don’t get a word of what you’re writing.

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Fans will also have a low-end startup voltage. Some 12v fans may stall at 5v and only start to rotate at 7v. You could also consider getting (or making) a PWM controller with a PWM fan. PWM fans usually have a large RPM range like 300-1800rpm. Then run it at 300rpm.

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I came here willing to know about those exotic muffins. I’m disappointed and hungry.

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Jinhua Electronics é‡‘èŻé›»ć­

Syang Chang Electronics ç„„æ˜Œé›»ć­

And a store on Guanghua’s 5th storey whose name escapes me. Beside the 3D printing store

EDIT: It’s called Miya Electronics ć’Șäșžé›»ć­é‹Ș @Explant

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As suggested above, just use a lower voltage to operate it - I’ve done this on occasion and never found any problem with startup. I have a bunch of aluminium Sanyo Denki (San Ace) fans sitting around somewhere - I can root them out if you’re interested. They’re old stock but high quality. This sort of thing:

https://www.verical.com/pd/sanyo-denki-fans-and-blowers-9lg0824m4001-6184218?gclid=Cj0KCQiAxbefBhDfARIsAL4XLRrCRAdbGbsrbOj9VTw9f65M_lspAjzaIrXxJWcBxyZ7tVL5_f-wr7IaAmSDEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

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Awesome thanks guys. PWM fans are new to my vocabulary, thanks for mentioning them.

reading up in them.

link for referrence: PWM vs. DC Fans: Fan Speed Control Strategies for CPU Cooling and Case Ventilation

taiwan clothiers was right, cutting voltage is the way forward.

Stupid question. Shops would have adapters for direct plug into the wall I would think right? for the 4 pin pwm fans.

Edit. thanks finley. will hit you up if the stores marco suggested or any others I check dont work out :slight_smile:

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You are going to have to do some soldering


I can solder just fine. I just dont trust my ignorance about electrical things that will be in high humidity and turned on when no one is home :upside_down_face:

PWM fans have a fourth wire on the connector (the other three are for power and RPM sense) which accepts a PWM control signal. So no, you’d need a controller, and tbh I’ve never seen such a thing off-the-shelf. These fans are designed for PC motherboards.

IMO this is overkill. A fan has very low mechanical friction and therefore doesn’t need much starting torque. You should be able to operate one at (say) half its rated voltage with no problems at all.

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You don’t need a PWM controller. A small variable voltage DC supply is enough. Or actually you can just put a pot between the supply and the fan to vary the voltage.

I’m sure you know what you’re doing and will be fine. :slightly_smiling_face:

I repaired my kettle a while back when the connection on the bottom had begun to fail, and I was able to get another good year of use out of it



before it caught fire a couple of weeks back and filled the apartment with smoke at 3 a.m. :grimacing:

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An easy way to run a 12V DC fan at a lower voltage is to buy a “usb to fan” wire from Shopee or Guang Hua. USB runs at 5V so your fan will run slowly. You can run the USB end into a USB wall adapter.

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I do this for some extra cooling on routers and switches. I put the fan on top of the device and plug the USB end directly into the back.

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Many shops sell small USB powered fans from the get-go.

https://24h.pchome.com.tw/store/DCAD8I

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oh, awesome, thanks guys. Those USB ones, plug into a phone charger into the wall.

Another dumb question, if cutting.the voltage, should be fine to run for prolonged periods? up to 12 hours at a time (daytime in summer).

thanks for all the ideas. Really dont want to end up like Andrew’s kettle, these are surrounded by loads of wood furniture and wood ceiling :grimacing:

Yeah no worries.

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