Noctua has announced that the NA-VC1 is available to purchase beginning today via Noctua’s official Amazon stores at a suggested retail price of EUR/USD 24.90. A long-awaited product, according to Noctua, the NA-VC1 is a 24V DC to 12V DC step-down voltage converter that allows users to run standard 12V fans in 24V environments (e.g., 3D printers or industrial and automotive applications).
“Customers have been using our 12V fans in 24V environments such as 3D printers for a long time, but often had to resort to cheap, poor quality step-down converters in order to do so”, explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). “As these cheap converters can pose a serious safety hazard, we have created our NA-VC1: A compact, safe and dependable solution for running 12V fans in 24V environments.”
From a Noctua press release:
With a maximum operating temperature of up to 60°C, integrated protection against short-circuits, reverse polarity, overcurrent and overheating, the NA-VC1 is as bulletproof as a voltage converter can be. At the same time, its neat, ultra-compact and lightweight design makes it easy to integrate into virtually any environment.
Many 3D printers are 24V-based (e.g. Creality Ender 3 and CR-10, Anycubic Mega, etc.) and use 40 or 60mm fans for cooling the hot-end or the printed part. The NA-VC1 makes it possible to use standard 12V fans such as the NF-A4x10 PWM, NF-A4x20 PWM or NF-A6x25 PWM in order to achieve quiet, efficient cooling on such printers.
The NA-VC1 is barely larger than a standard 4-pin fan connector (31x16x8.5mm) and weighs only 6g. As a result, it can simply be interconnected between the fan cable and the power source, with no need for extra fixation in most applications.
Supporting a total output power of 9W, the NA-VC1 is fit to run single fans with high power draw or multiple lower power fans that are connected to the device using optional splitter cables (NA-SYC1 or NA-SYC2) or fan hubs like the NA-FH1.
Designed to operate in challenging environments, the NA-VC1 is internally protected against short-circuits, reverse polarity, overcurrent, and overheating by a resettable fuse. It will shut down automatically for protection and can be reset by disconnecting it from the power source in a safe operating temperature (<60°C). Unlike many cheap voltage converters, the NA-VC1 has been carefully tested for product safety and EMC compliance. Carrying CE, UKCA and UL certifications and meeting all applicable standards (EN 62368-1, EN 55035 and EN 55032), it is a safe, quality device through and through.
