<p>Where will the fan be, is it a parts cooling fan for your hot end or for an enclosure?</p>
<p>Will this be your main parts cooling fan or an auxiliary one?</p>
<p>First, check your main board, it may be a 24 V board, but does it have spare headers for 24 V, 12 V, or 5 V. Check that the Amps match too. You can have a higher amp rating on your main board than your fan without doing any damage, but not vice versa (The device supplying the power must be greater than or equal to the device receiving it).</p>
<p>Next, check that your main board has the spare capacity to control the fan and that the fan has a matching mechanism to be controlled. Some fans have a dedicated control wire, some are controlled by the main board varying the power level that is supplied to them.</p>
<p>If you don't have a matching control method then your fan will be always on\off and always at 100 % speed. Which may not be desirable for you.</p>
<p>Once you have checked these things, narrow down the fans available to you based on these criteria, rather than voltage.</p>
<p>Generally speaking (and I mean very generally) the higher the voltage the less &quot;effort&quot; the fan needs to go to to move the same volume of air. So if a 5 V fan and a 24 V fan claim to have the exact same specifications it would usually mean that the 5 V fan is pushing itself hard or the 24 V fan is underperforming.</p>
<p>Parts cooling fans and fans on the hot end are usually fast-moving and small, so they are normally lower voltage fans as they need to go lick a rocket but only to move a very small amount of air a short distance.</p>
<p>Fans in this case are usually slower moving but much larger, they need to move large volumes of air, so they need a higher voltage because they have to put in more effort (Greater effort = greater voltage requirement).</p>
<p>So, if you are offered a choice by your main board, go this way.</p>
<p>If you're not offered a choice, and you only have 24 V headers, then this is the way that your manufacturer intended you to go, and go for that instead.</p>
<p>I know that this isn't much help, but without knowing more details, such as the model and manufacturer, it's difficult to give more exact advice.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-14T08:20:21.943Z
2024-01-14T14:24:31.700Z
2024-01-14T14:24:31.700Z
Aaargh Zombies
<p>I'm looking for fans for my upcoming printer. In each common voltage, 5, 12 and 24 V, I see fans with the same advertised rpm, cfm, static pressure and noise.</p>
<p>So, if all else is really equal, are there any important reasons to go with one of these voltages over the others?</p>
<p>My PSU will obviously be a 24 V, like most of the recent designs, so there's no obviously problematic step-up converters. Step-downs for fans are included in most of the mainboards and toolhead boards, so I don't think that's an issue either, but maybe there's something I don't know?</p>

<diy-3d-printer><fans>
All else being equal, is there a reason to go with 5, 12 or 24 V fan?
Mołot
# All else being equal, is there a reason to go with 5, 12 or 24 V fan?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-13)

I'm looking for fans for my upcoming printer. In each common voltage, 5, 12 and 24 V, I see fans with the same advertised rpm, cfm, static pressure and noise.

So, if all else is really equal, are there any important reasons to go with one of these voltages over the others?

My PSU will obviously be a 24 V, like most of the recent designs, so there's no obviously problematic step-up converters. Step-downs for fans are included in most of the mainboards and toolhead boards, so I don't think that's an issue either, but maybe there's something I don't know?

**Tags:** diy-3d-printer, fans


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-01-14. Score: 1

Where will the fan be, is it a parts cooling fan for your hot end or for an enclosure?

Will this be your main parts cooling fan or an auxiliary one?

First, check your main board, it may be a 24 V board, but does it have spare headers for 24 V, 12 V, or 5 V. Check that the Amps match too. You can have a higher amp rating on your main board than your fan without doing any damage, but not vice versa (The device supplying the power must be greater than or equal to the device receiving it).

Next, check that your main board has the spare capacity to control the fan and that the fan has a matching mechanism to be controlled. Some fans have a dedicated control wire, some are controlled by the main board varying the power level that is supplied to them.

If you don't have a matching control method then your fan will be always on\off and always at 100 % speed. Which may not be desirable for you.

Once you have checked these things, narrow down the fans available to you based on these criteria, rather than voltage.

Generally speaking (and I mean very generally) the higher the voltage the less "effort" the fan needs to go to to move the same volume of air. So if a 5 V fan and a 24 V fan claim to have the exact same specifications it would usually mean that the 5 V fan is pushing itself hard or the 24 V fan is underperforming.

Parts cooling fans and fans on the hot end are usually fast-moving and small, so they are normally lower voltage fans as they need to go lick a rocket but only to move a very small amount of air a short distance.

Fans in this case are usually slower moving but much larger, they need to move large volumes of air, so they need a higher voltage because they have to put in more effort (Greater effort = greater voltage requirement).

So, if you are offered a choice by your main board, go this way.

If you're not offered a choice, and you only have 24 V headers, then this is the way that your manufacturer intended you to go, and go for that instead.

I know that this isn't much help, but without knowing more details, such as the model and manufacturer, it's difficult to give more exact advice.


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