Extra Features

There are a couple of extras you might want to add to your Fanbus. A switch to bypass the circuit and give a full 12 volts, and a LED that dims and brightens according to the fan speed. Both are very simple to wire up, though the switch can be a bit of a fiddly soldering job.

Fitting an indicator LED is very simple if you use a 12 volt LED with built in resistor. You must always use a resistor in series with an LED, because too much current will destroy the LED. The Maplin 12 volt LED's can just be soldered on across the fan output wires. Remember the longer lead on the LED connects to the positive wire. (The green wire on the diagram) If you want to use a separate LED and resistor, work out the right resistor value with this nifty calculator from Bit-tech. LED's can be found in the Maplin catalogue under "Optoelectronics"

Fitting a regulated output/12volt switch requires a Single Pole Double Throw switch. This is often abbreviated to SPDT. It means the switch will switch 1 pin to 2 other positions. The Maplins sub-miniture Toggle switches are ideal for this, the order code is FH00A, or FH01B for a version with an off position in the centre. To wire it up, connect the positive wire of the fan to the central pin on the switch, and then solder the regulated output to one of the other pins, and then a wire from the 12volt input to the last pin.

So there you have it, a simple and effective Fanbus, that works very well despise my relative inexperience with electronics. Do feel free to improve my design, and add more cool features. I would appreciate it if you could E-mail me and tell me about it if you make any significant improvements. Happy modding folks, and try not to burn your fingers.

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