Antec TriCool 80mm Red LED Cooling Fan with 3-Speed Switch

Worked as advertised

It's hard not to love this product. We needed a hobby fan that we were going to use to exhaust air out the back of a cabinet that we sometimes heat food up in, to avoid the moisture that fogs your glasses when you are stirring the food. I wasn't sure how I was going to figure out which pins did what, but they are very clearly identifiable based on what they give you and how it is wired.Out of the fan case itself, pops two cables. One cable has a switch that has H M L on it, for high, medium and low. This is the speed control.The other cable has a three pin female connector, into which a 3 wire male plug containing three wires arrive already plugged in. A red and black wire for power, and a white wire for control. The red and black wires are already built into a 4 prong Molex connector (two fo the prongs are unconnected) that has both male and female on different sides, so that you can plug the male side of the Molex into a power supply connector, and then plug another device into the female side of the Molex. The white wire is terminated by another three wire connector, with two of the positions left unconnected.If you have a motherboard that has the three wire connector, that provides both control and power, you can pull the male plug that has the three colored wires out of the end of the cable coupled to the fan (lift the tab on the side and then slide the plug out) and pop the plug at the end of the clear wires onto your motherboard and let the motherboard do the speed control for you. Try this arrangement first: if the fan spins when you turn it on, you're fine.If you have a motherboard that has a three wire connector, but only the control is functional, leave the wires plugged into the three wire connector, plug the second three wire connector into your motherboard, and then plug the molex into your power supply. So if you unplugged the three colored wires, plug them back in after you make the connections I described above.If you have no three wire plug for fan speed control at all, leave that wire unplugged, and just plug the molex into your power supply.Finally, if you don't have a fan speed control plug or it doesn't work, use the speed control switch that comes with the fan to set it on the highest setting that doesn't bug you, preferably high.Note that the speed control reduces whatever voltage you give the fan and that drops the speed of the fan. But the fan needs 5 volts minimum to spin. If your power supply isn't putting out all 12 volts, the speed control will drop the voltage down too far at the lowest setting, causing the fan to stop spinning. But that probably means the medium setting is about as low speed as you can get with the voltage you have available.Finally, if you are using it as a hobby fan, not with a computer, like we are, connect any 5V-12V power wart that you have lying around (clip the ends of the power wart off and jam them into the connectors with the red and black power wires (the white is the control), or clip the red and black wires off the molex plug and twist one of the wires from the fan to one of the wires of the power wart, then repeat with the other wire from each device.The fan will spin backwards if you connect them incorrectly, so reverse the wires or the fan orientation, as needed. If I had to guess, I'd assume the side with the round Antec sticker is the side the air comes out of.We used 4 - #6 x 1.25" screws in our hobby application, as the fan is slightly under 1" thick, and we were screwing them into 1/4 inch masonite. #8 screws probably would have worked as well. If you are using them for a computer, you'll need 1" screws that fit the holes in your computer's case.It's a great product and a great value. It would have been nice if the manufacturer told you all this stuff, but now armed with this information, you should find that this fan works in nearly any application, computer or otherwise. We're really happy with it.

Product in Review:  Antec TriCool 80mm Red LED Cooling Fan with 3-Speed Switch I've been using Antec cases and fans since 1999 and I know their quality. I felt confident that this fan would last for at least a few years. I'm a designer and can be very picky about the details of my projects. First and foremost, components I choose must be reliable; but getting just the right design, look or color is also big deal to me. As a systems engineer, I have had to settle for function and stability over appearance way too often. I was happy to find these little gems because they meet both of these qualifications. I didn't expect the fan to be so inexpensive; nor did I expect it to have such perfect lighting. I ordered two of them!~ Why did I buy these? ~My family hooked me up with some great pc components for a new workstation build for Christmas. As I was putting this together I found that I needed to cool two key areas of the interior. Two of these red fans worked perfectly.~ What are these fans like and what do the color options compare to? ~This Antec 80mm red LED fan is brilliantly lit with a perfect red color that happens to match the ThermalTake Riing fans  Thermaltake Ring 14 High Static Pressure 140mm Circular Ring Case/Radiator Fan with Anti-Vibration Mounting System Cooling CL-F039-PL14RE-A Red  I am also using. I love the ThermalTake Riing engineering... you just can't beat TT Riing fans for the price but they don't currently have anything smaller than a 120mm product--that's when I thought to search for some of the Antec offerings. These are perfectly sized to stick in a recessed area or corner of a case to make sure target areas get sufficient cooling. These also work great as HDD bay cooling fans as they create very little noise and are super stable with no wobble or vibration. The speed selector also allows you to tune the airflow & resulting noise to the levels you need for your particular use.~ Summary ~If you are looking to build a system with red interior lighting, consider these.These come with all the necessary hardware to mount them. They don't rattle; are well balanced; and very quiet. The amount of air that these guys move can be adjusted to just the right amount. Even on low/silent the airflow is perfectly adequate. When I need to do some number crunching, I slide the selector switch a notch or two and the airflow increases plenty with only minimal noise increase.I won't hesitate to recommend these to anyone looking for quality led fans that have adjustable manual speed options. Pair them with red ThermalTake Riing 140's / 120's for a nice matching interior color and constant, but quiet airflow.** What else can you use these on?I have used these and other Antec LED fans on microcontroller projects, PC mods, personal cooling systems, cooling units and power supplies for 12v LED lighting systems used indoors, in automobiles, on parade floats and also in house boat projects such as homemade led fixtures.

The fan is quiet and the lights are bright.

Cumple su funcion, la led es de buena intesidad funcionamdo despues de 3 meses de uso

No problem with this fan.ordered 3 of them.soo far so good.

Good fan with speed control, not quieter then my old Coolermaster fan when set to the same speed.

The fan do is job well. The 3 speed is cool and it will fit on a Antrec p180. At low speed not the fan is almost silent but at mid and high speed the noise is very noticeable.I got a very hard time with the fan screws.They are cheap. I use the one I got with my computer.