Hi, just wanted to share my experience with converting my Antec 900 fans from Molex (the big 4-pin power connectors) to small 3-pin ones that connect to a motherboard. Hopefully this helps someone else. NOTE: this could burn up and destroy your motherboard if you don't know what you are doing.
Equipment used (I got these at the local electronics store Vetco):
-Wire stripper or suitable sharp instrument (e.g. scissors)
-A crimping tool. This is like pliers but it crushes things down to specific sizes. It needs to support size 26-28 I think. I got a high quality tool and it cost $15, everything else was only about $2.
-(Optional) expandable 1/8th inch wire mesh and zip-ties to wrap the messy cables up. Heatshrink tubing might work here too.
-A 0.1 locking socket (this is the little white 3-pin plug connects to the motherboard). Mine came with 6 "hooked" pins. You only need three, but these are tiny and hard to work with, so the extra pins help in case you destroy a couple. Once plugged into the socket, the pins cannot be removed unless you use a narrow instrument to push in the hooks.
-An existing fan with a 3-pin connector just for reference, so you use the right positions for each wire color
Here were the steps:
1. Remove the fan from the PC. Obviously your power should be off when you do this
2. Open the little door on the fan's white molex connector. Light pressure with a screwdriver will work here.
3. Use a thin screwdriver or tweezers and press in the hooked ends of the power connectors. You will then be able to gently remove the pins that the fan cables are connected to.
4. Remove the pins by cutting them off, exposing the ends of the cables.
5. Use a wire stripper, or any sharp instrument to cut a circle around the end of the wire. The insulation can then be torn off. Try to avoid tearing any of the metal wires. If you mess up you may need to strip some more insulation off. Try to expose a very small amount of metal wires - about 1/8th - 1/4th inch.
6. Insert one of the cables into the locking socket pin. The pin should have "arms" that are meant to grab the cable. This should grab insulated parts of the cable, the bare wires need to be more or less jammed into the pin. It doesn't have to be exact.
7. This part is very tricky due to the small sizes involved, you have to use the crimping tool to crush the pin and the cable. Be sure to select the correct size on the crimping tool; it's probably the smallest one available. Done properly, as the pin is crushed, the arms will fold around the wire and lock it in. Be careful to avoid crushing the hooked head of the pin. Do both pins.
8. Insert the wires into the wire mesh tubing. Keep pulling more tubing over the end of the cables until the entire cables are covered. Then cut the wire mesh and use zip ties at both ends.
9. After doing this for both pins, they can be inserted into the locking socket. If you look at the locking socket and see the holes where the little hooks at the heads of the pins will appear, then the order of wires should be black, red, and white from left to right. I didn't have a white cable (used for speed monitoring) so I just used the left and middle holes.
10. Finished.
Equipment used (I got these at the local electronics store Vetco):
-Wire stripper or suitable sharp instrument (e.g. scissors)
-A crimping tool. This is like pliers but it crushes things down to specific sizes. It needs to support size 26-28 I think. I got a high quality tool and it cost $15, everything else was only about $2.
-(Optional) expandable 1/8th inch wire mesh and zip-ties to wrap the messy cables up. Heatshrink tubing might work here too.
-A 0.1 locking socket (this is the little white 3-pin plug connects to the motherboard). Mine came with 6 "hooked" pins. You only need three, but these are tiny and hard to work with, so the extra pins help in case you destroy a couple. Once plugged into the socket, the pins cannot be removed unless you use a narrow instrument to push in the hooks.
-An existing fan with a 3-pin connector just for reference, so you use the right positions for each wire color
Here were the steps:
1. Remove the fan from the PC. Obviously your power should be off when you do this
2. Open the little door on the fan's white molex connector. Light pressure with a screwdriver will work here.
3. Use a thin screwdriver or tweezers and press in the hooked ends of the power connectors. You will then be able to gently remove the pins that the fan cables are connected to.
4. Remove the pins by cutting them off, exposing the ends of the cables.
5. Use a wire stripper, or any sharp instrument to cut a circle around the end of the wire. The insulation can then be torn off. Try to avoid tearing any of the metal wires. If you mess up you may need to strip some more insulation off. Try to expose a very small amount of metal wires - about 1/8th - 1/4th inch.
6. Insert one of the cables into the locking socket pin. The pin should have "arms" that are meant to grab the cable. This should grab insulated parts of the cable, the bare wires need to be more or less jammed into the pin. It doesn't have to be exact.
7. This part is very tricky due to the small sizes involved, you have to use the crimping tool to crush the pin and the cable. Be sure to select the correct size on the crimping tool; it's probably the smallest one available. Done properly, as the pin is crushed, the arms will fold around the wire and lock it in. Be careful to avoid crushing the hooked head of the pin. Do both pins.
8. Insert the wires into the wire mesh tubing. Keep pulling more tubing over the end of the cables until the entire cables are covered. Then cut the wire mesh and use zip ties at both ends.
9. After doing this for both pins, they can be inserted into the locking socket. If you look at the locking socket and see the holes where the little hooks at the heads of the pins will appear, then the order of wires should be black, red, and white from left to right. I didn't have a white cable (used for speed monitoring) so I just used the left and middle holes.
10. Finished.
I made a few bux and many free bar tabs on that one 8)
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