Powering a 5V fan DC fan with a 6V power supply.

[Skiguy411]

I am trying to use a 5V cooling fan for a project of mine and radio shack only has 6V power supplies.

Would it be ok to use this power supply for the fan? Will this shorten the life span of the fan?

If not, I do have a 5V voltage regulator. Should I wire that up to it to bring the voltage down to 5V?

 

[Matthias99]

Probably it'll work just fine. It may shorten the lifespan a bit and/or run faster than intended.

If you want to run it at 5V, you can probably just put a small resistor between the power supply and the fan to drop the input voltage. The voltage regular would work but seems like overkill.

 

[PottedMeat]

^yep, 6VDC would probably work fine. If you're that concerned about the lifetime, do the resistor with a drop of ~1V at the fans rated current. Soldering in a regulator with caps is too much work.