safe to run power supply without fan?

[jabboo]

would it be alright if I took the fan out of a 200w power supply ?
its an old computer power supply the AT kind
im going to cut all the external connectors off it and only leave a +12v
wire and a ground wire
so I can use it to supply power to a circuit which uses about 1.6amps
without it overheating ?

also another question
would there be much voltage drop if I run the 12v over a 3m length of cable
? carrying the 1.6amps

 

[HP Guy]

go buy a 12v downlight transformer and wire in a big bridge rectifier with
heatsink, it'll give you 4 amps, thermal overload protection and peace of
mind.

 

[Unbeliever]

would it be alright if I took the fan out of a 200w power supply ?
its an old computer power supply the AT kind
im going to cut all the external connectors off it and only leave a +12v
wire and a ground wire
so I can use it to supply power to a circuit which uses about 1.6amps
without it overheating ?

Many of these supplies won't even start up without a substantial load on the
5V. Might run without the fan, might not. buy a 12V plugpack & be done
with it.

also another question
would there be much voltage drop if I run the 12v over a 3m length of cable
? carrying the 1.6amps

This depends entirely on the resistance of the wire (determined mainly by
material and cross sectional area). Bugger all over some jumper cable,
probably a few volts over some wire wrap wire.

 

[AccuLab]

I also had this problem a couple of months ago. I wanted to build a good
quality car sound system into a bedhead and needed a 12v supply with some
half decent current so I used an old AT power supply which provides around
8-12amps I think. I wasn't too sure about not having a fan at all but was
concerned about the noise it would produce in the dead of night so I used a
resistor on the fan supply to slow it down to the point where I couldn't
hear it but it would still provide cooling. Works like a charm. Now my bed
rocks
Chris