I have a few questions regarding molex fan connectors

[the_ub]

So i have 5 case fans, all of which use 4 pin molex, but no molex devices to plug into after the fan connectors. i had to use adapters for my sata hard drives and vid card power plugs from molex instead of using straight sata power, or GPU 6 pin. it works, but my case is littered with cables and adapters. i was wonder if i can just hook up all the fans to one another and just use one adapted molex plug after all the fans? or how many in a row you think i can safely use?

 

[the_ub]

well, after some research, i discovered that molex is not very descriptive. in all the cases i used molex, sub in "4 pin"

 

[cadder]

Yes, you can plug them all together. Fans typically don't take much power. Maybe a couple of watts for each normal fan vs. 10 watts or so for one hard drive.

I did the same thing with 4 fans in my case, plugged all the adapters together and plugged into one connector from the power supply. The whole mess hides out of sight behind the hard drive cage.

 

[the_ub]

i should have stated that I have 4 120 mm and 1 200 mm. still be fine? also, dont you have to plug something into the back side of the 4 pin fan connector?

 

[cuecuemore]

I don't know for sure(disclaimer), but Wiki says 11 A/pin is the current limit. Does that mean you can run 44A @12V through a Molex? If so, or even if it's 11A@12v for the whole connector, then 5 case fans won't be a problem.

Edit: You certainly don't have to plug anything into the extension on the Molex.

 

[the_ub]

you were right cuecue, you indeed dont have to plug anything into the back of the fan molex conector for it to work. I dont know why, but the past 2 times ive tried it, it didnt work. apparently i was doing somehting wrong, cause its working this time around. but damn, removing all those sata to molex adapters and gpu 6 pin to molex connectors, along with wiser cable management, cleared up so much clutter in my case. thx for the input guys.

 

[thrakazog]

Chaining fans directly from a good PSU shouldn't be a problem. Just be sure to never do that with a mobo fan connection. Even if by some miracle you could run all those fans off of a single mobo connection, the fan start-up load would probably fry the board.

 

[the_ub]

@ thrakazog: yea, i dispersed the 5 molex fan connector over 3 molex plugs just to be safe