• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Broken Fan Speed Switch. Is My Fix OK? Is There a Fire Hazard?

Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
836 (0.14/day)
Location
Canadia
System Name Blood
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
Motherboard ASUS P5Q PRO @ stock settings
Cooling Antec Case fans (max) OCZ Vandetta 2 CPU cooler with a Kaze Jyuni 120mm fan 1200RPM+-100RPM 67.5CFM
Memory Patriot Viper Series 4GB 2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s) BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 896MB PCIe 2.0 Core 216 @ stock settings
Storage Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
Display(s) Acer AL2616Wd 25.5" 1920x1200 800:1 178degrees viewing angle 5ms S-IPS Panel
Case Antec Nine Hundred
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 with a coaxial cable connected to a Logitech z5500
Power Supply BFG ES-800 800W
Software Windows Vista (soon to be Windows Xp, Vista, and Windows 7 triple boot)
So about 2 years ago, I ripped the front bay out of the case, and with that the controller ripped off one of the bottom fans. So the fan is working, but it needs that switch. So there wer three wires. Connecting wire 1 + wire 2 would get me low speed, wire 2+3 = med speed, and 1+3 = high speed. So I connected wires 1+3 together, and taped them with electrical tape from the dollar store (black tape). The other two wires are just out in the open, but not touching anything.

My case has built up a lot of dust, and I have a couple of concerns.

1. Will the dust on the exposed wires ignite?
2. Will the cheap dollar store electrical tape ignite?

I think I also ripped out one of the wires from this thing:

, and it's working now, I got it working, but just stuffing the wire in there.

Is that also safe? Or is it dangerous?
 

sneekypeet

Retired Super Moderator
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
29,407 (4.48/day)
System Name EVA-01
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s) Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software Windows 11
First rule of electronics ghetto modding, don't leave open wires exposed when done with the job. Either a discharge into the case or a floating ground is not something you want to accidentally make contact and mini arc weld spots in your case.

I doubt the dust will ignite, the cheap tape wont either, just cover all the wires.
 
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
836 (0.14/day)
Location
Canadia
System Name Blood
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
Motherboard ASUS P5Q PRO @ stock settings
Cooling Antec Case fans (max) OCZ Vandetta 2 CPU cooler with a Kaze Jyuni 120mm fan 1200RPM+-100RPM 67.5CFM
Memory Patriot Viper Series 4GB 2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s) BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 896MB PCIe 2.0 Core 216 @ stock settings
Storage Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
Display(s) Acer AL2616Wd 25.5" 1920x1200 800:1 178degrees viewing angle 5ms S-IPS Panel
Case Antec Nine Hundred
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 with a coaxial cable connected to a Logitech z5500
Power Supply BFG ES-800 800W
Software Windows Vista (soon to be Windows Xp, Vista, and Windows 7 triple boot)
would you recommend that I just cover it with tape? Or should I ground it into the case?
 

OneMoar

There is Always Moar
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
8,740 (1.71/day)
Location
Rochester area
System Name RPC MK2.5
Processor Ryzen 5800x
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus Pro V2
Cooling Enermax ETX-T50RGB
Memory CL16 BL2K16G36C16U4RL 3600 1:1 micron e-die
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC
Storage ADATA SX8200PRO NVME 512GB, Intel 545s 500GBSSD, ADATA SU800 SSD, 3TB Spinner
Display(s) LG Ultra Gear 32 1440p 165hz Dell 1440p 75hz
Case Phanteks P300 /w 300A front panel conversion
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus+ Platinum 750W
Mouse Kone burst Pro
Keyboard EVGA Z15
Software Windows 11 +startisallback
just tape it dont ground to the case thats a sure fire way to burn something
heres how to securely tape wires
this is gonna be hard to explain without showing but here goes

first tape the end of the wire so its sealed
then bend the wire back onto its self and wrap it in tape about a 1/2 inch down so you have a upside down U with tape around the strait parts
then take a short length of tape and and holding it so the U shape you just made is Orinated so that the 'wide side is toward you tape the bottom(the curve) of the "U" closed then finally wrap the sides so its all sealed
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
836 (0.14/day)
Location
Canadia
System Name Blood
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
Motherboard ASUS P5Q PRO @ stock settings
Cooling Antec Case fans (max) OCZ Vandetta 2 CPU cooler with a Kaze Jyuni 120mm fan 1200RPM+-100RPM 67.5CFM
Memory Patriot Viper Series 4GB 2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s) BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 896MB PCIe 2.0 Core 216 @ stock settings
Storage Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
Display(s) Acer AL2616Wd 25.5" 1920x1200 800:1 178degrees viewing angle 5ms S-IPS Panel
Case Antec Nine Hundred
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 with a coaxial cable connected to a Logitech z5500
Power Supply BFG ES-800 800W
Software Windows Vista (soon to be Windows Xp, Vista, and Windows 7 triple boot)
Thanks to both of you!

I've looked into it a bit more myself and I found that grounding it to the case is a bad idea.

I snipped the wires so there is minimal exposed wire. And I covered them with electrical tape.
 
Top