This is the dimmer switch that dims the dashboard. I wonder if it will work to vary the voltage on your fan and thus control your rpm.
Can you use an automotive dimmer switch to regulate voltage?
- Thread starter Galileo
- Start date
yes, in theory it will work. the dimmer switch in your car is just a variable potentiometer (a varying resistor). you will have to play with it a bit because it does take much to vary the speed of most case fans. most people will use 5watt, 100 ohm pots for fan control, and i am SURE that the ones used in automotive use are a LOT bigger than that! you can go down to radio shack or CaseEtc has them. you can get some cool ones with knurled aluminum knobbies at RS. let me know if the dimmer switch thing works!
-LYHTSPD
-LYHTSPD
I have yet to find anyting less than a thousand ohm pot at RS. Maybe the Shack here sucks (actually I already know it does) but I can't find any on their website either.
Eric
Eric
Three words Pulse Width Modulation. I like saying that, plus might as well do things right and maybe learn somthing along the way.
THIS one controls the voltage
while THIS one controls the amperage
Just built the second one took about a half time + a full half of MSU game.
Hey are those six fans running? Geez I can't hear them, better go check.
Way too much fun, a once hard drinkin' party jock has now made the complete transition to geek. "I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible"
PS put an led in the box to make it glow and see the traces and components.
while THIS one controls the amperage
Just built the second one took about a half time + a full half of MSU game.
Hey are those six fans running? Geez I can't hear them, better go check.
Way too much fun, a once hard drinkin' party jock has now made the complete transition to geek. "I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible"
PS put an led in the box to make it glow and see the traces and components.
sitka.... that store is in Canada.
Caseetc has a rheostat but it almost comes to ten American clams with shipping and handling. It would be nice to have one though. I'll check a couple of auto parts store tomorrow and see. It might just help me get over the sticker shock.
Caseetc has a rheostat but it almost comes to ten American clams with shipping and handling. It would be nice to have one though. I'll check a couple of auto parts store tomorrow and see. It might just help me get over the sticker shock.
sygyzy
Lifer
- Oct 21, 2000
- 14,001
- 4
- 76
I bought the neon light kit from Caseetc and I messed up on soldering and broke my throwswitch. Can anyone tell me if I can just use any switch from RS or do I have to pick a special one? Also, I noticed on their website they have ones that are ilumniated. Would this work? The neon is 12v and the switch is a simple flip on/off.
wow what a great deal, that's the same one I got. Works great since last night anyways.
I have 12v coming from the power supply into the controller then the controller output goes to a terminal strip (fanbus) then to the fans. You lose the ability to control all fans indepentently. Just dial up the whole case. The whole kit is a little large. PCB is Wider than a drive cover unfortunately. my plan is to mount it in the case behind a window and attach a long handle to the pot that will go thru the window. I think it might look cool with the glowing led inside. By cutting down the heatsink it could be mounted in the front bezel without the project box. That might be nice.
What I don't understand is why different fans all slow down uniformly. I guess that is a good thing. Next step is to use a Qbasic chip to control the controller from the computer but may need help with that one.
Anyways that's the kit. I'd recommend it for the fun factor. Mind that this is my first time with this stuff, it was recommended to me as a better alternative than rehostats by a genius friend of mine. The documentation backs that up as does my recent experience.
I have 12v coming from the power supply into the controller then the controller output goes to a terminal strip (fanbus) then to the fans. You lose the ability to control all fans indepentently. Just dial up the whole case. The whole kit is a little large. PCB is Wider than a drive cover unfortunately. my plan is to mount it in the case behind a window and attach a long handle to the pot that will go thru the window. I think it might look cool with the glowing led inside. By cutting down the heatsink it could be mounted in the front bezel without the project box. That might be nice.
What I don't understand is why different fans all slow down uniformly. I guess that is a good thing. Next step is to use a Qbasic chip to control the controller from the computer but may need help with that one.
Anyways that's the kit. I'd recommend it for the fun factor. Mind that this is my first time with this stuff, it was recommended to me as a better alternative than rehostats by a genius friend of mine. The documentation backs that up as does my recent experience.
Sitka
Thanks man. That's great!
Your setup sounds good. Do you have a few pics you could post?
The baybus has an independent rheostat for each fan connection, right? And I think you're saying that the kit 67 over ride the baybus, right?
Then supposing you set the fans on the baybus to 8,10,and 12v and then adjust the kit 67 voltage up and down up to 8V, all three fans will go up and down equally and together, right?
Now supposing you adjust the kit 67 up and down between 8v to 12v, what happens then? Does each fan settle to the voltages and speed you have set each fan in? I'm just making sure I have the right picture in my mind
. If this is how it works, it might be out of necessity or the low voltage fans will go too low and stop, unless that's what you want, offcourse. What's your "feel" for ita ?
About the Q chip, that would be great if a software can modulate the kit 67 isn't it. Can you imagine your computer controlling its own fans as needed?
Yeah man! Thanks again. Keep posting what you're doing. Your liability for your advice is only as much as what those who asked paid for it, right?
If you would answere my questions above I'd appreciate it. I'm ordering the kit 67 in a few minutes.
Thanks man. That's great!
Your setup sounds good. Do you have a few pics you could post?
The baybus has an independent rheostat for each fan connection, right? And I think you're saying that the kit 67 over ride the baybus, right?
Then supposing you set the fans on the baybus to 8,10,and 12v and then adjust the kit 67 voltage up and down up to 8V, all three fans will go up and down equally and together, right?
Now supposing you adjust the kit 67 up and down between 8v to 12v, what happens then? Does each fan settle to the voltages and speed you have set each fan in? I'm just making sure I have the right picture in my mind
. If this is how it works, it might be out of necessity or the low voltage fans will go too low and stop, unless that's what you want, offcourse. What's your "feel" for ita ?About the Q chip, that would be great if a software can modulate the kit 67 isn't it. Can you imagine your computer controlling its own fans as needed?
Yeah man! Thanks again. Keep posting what you're doing. Your liability for your advice is only as much as what those who asked paid for it, right?
If you would answere my questions above I'd appreciate it. I'm ordering the kit 67 in a few minutes.
I just ordered it!
$11.50 and no charges for ground shipping! Can you believe that? I hope it's not an error.
$11.50 and no charges for ground shipping! Can you believe that? I hope it's not an error.
Hey Galileo, good topic considering your NICK, ha ha.
Well I went into stealth mode
Took the controller out of its project box and hid it behind the front bezel of the Antec sx1030.
I put it right in the middle and drilled a little hole in the fourth grill gill. The on off switch is reachable with a little stick thru the grill. The kit comes with a massive heatsink which was snipped down and bent over itself to make it lower profile. The back of the bexel needed a few snips to get the board sitting nice . I used some No.6 stove bolts thru the mount holes in the corners of the PCB facing out.. this created little legs and then used Plumbers GOOP as a bedding cement to hold it in place. Dries fast and real stong. The feed and output wires now include a 4pin fan adapter plugged into itself so I can simply detach the front bezel with one plug. This opens up other options because There is now 12V main going to the bezel. (Wish those blue LEDs weren't so expensive.) So to finish up I need a long handle for the potentiometer and a bezel for the front and I might rewire the little on off switch so it is externaly visable. This thing dosen't change the voltage. It puts out 12volts all the time but amperage ranges from 6 to about 1. What is great is that if you have your fans dialed way down and then start burning a cd the fans don't stall out because of the added draw on the powersupply. I had this situation when they were on a rehostat. It wasn't one of those nice 1K ones though so it may be a bad example.
I don't have a baybus just a little panel where all the wire go to. I was concerned that by controlling a bunch of different fans with one controller when they would slow down some would stop, but they seem to all slow the same. Now there may be a way to control each fan independently, maybe by including tweak pots in each line just before the fan. Not sure though. And that may cause some of the less than perfect qualities we are trying to avoid. Maybe just get more controllers. If you read the pdf at kitusa there is an explanation of why this controller is better than rehostats, It seems to really apply better to motors which load up but I feel better knowing that these Pulse Width Modulators are the right way to do it.
Plus you get to say.... Computer case environmentally managed with advanced Pulse Width Modulation control... I find tons of value in that especially if it was your handywork.
Well I went into stealth mode
Took the controller out of its project box and hid it behind the front bezel of the Antec sx1030.
I put it right in the middle and drilled a little hole in the fourth grill gill. The on off switch is reachable with a little stick thru the grill. The kit comes with a massive heatsink which was snipped down and bent over itself to make it lower profile. The back of the bexel needed a few snips to get the board sitting nice . I used some No.6 stove bolts thru the mount holes in the corners of the PCB facing out.. this created little legs and then used Plumbers GOOP as a bedding cement to hold it in place. Dries fast and real stong. The feed and output wires now include a 4pin fan adapter plugged into itself so I can simply detach the front bezel with one plug. This opens up other options because There is now 12V main going to the bezel. (Wish those blue LEDs weren't so expensive.) So to finish up I need a long handle for the potentiometer and a bezel for the front and I might rewire the little on off switch so it is externaly visable. This thing dosen't change the voltage. It puts out 12volts all the time but amperage ranges from 6 to about 1. What is great is that if you have your fans dialed way down and then start burning a cd the fans don't stall out because of the added draw on the powersupply. I had this situation when they were on a rehostat. It wasn't one of those nice 1K ones though so it may be a bad example.
I don't have a baybus just a little panel where all the wire go to. I was concerned that by controlling a bunch of different fans with one controller when they would slow down some would stop, but they seem to all slow the same. Now there may be a way to control each fan independently, maybe by including tweak pots in each line just before the fan. Not sure though. And that may cause some of the less than perfect qualities we are trying to avoid. Maybe just get more controllers. If you read the pdf at kitusa there is an explanation of why this controller is better than rehostats, It seems to really apply better to motors which load up but I feel better knowing that these Pulse Width Modulators are the right way to do it.
Plus you get to say.... Computer case environmentally managed with advanced Pulse Width Modulation control... I find tons of value in that especially if it was your handywork.
Sitka...
Why is it always a pain to find the right spot to put stuff in your computer? I mean, why can't they turn one of the 5.25 slots into a control panel drawer that you can pull out and have all your switches and knobs and vu meters and digital readers, etc, nice and neat, huh? Huh?
I put my two HDD on toggle switches so I can run with one or the other or both on. Findind a spot for the switches took a lot of time. The only practical spot was on top of case towards the back. They freak Windows or maybe my bios sometimes but they get over it.
I'll probably be putting the 67 inside the case on the front frame with the knob sticking out through one of the holes and towards the back of the bezel. It looks like there are cavities in the back of the bezel where it can go. Then I can just just pop the front open to make adjustments. I don't want to make permanent cuts as of yet. If I can't assemble the 67, I'd send it to my retired elect engr uncle to assemble. He did that a lot.
Why is it always a pain to find the right spot to put stuff in your computer? I mean, why can't they turn one of the 5.25 slots into a control panel drawer that you can pull out and have all your switches and knobs and vu meters and digital readers, etc, nice and neat, huh? Huh?
I put my two HDD on toggle switches so I can run with one or the other or both on. Findind a spot for the switches took a lot of time. The only practical spot was on top of case towards the back. They freak Windows or maybe my bios sometimes but they get over it.
I'll probably be putting the 67 inside the case on the front frame with the knob sticking out through one of the holes and towards the back of the bezel. It looks like there are cavities in the back of the bezel where it can go. Then I can just just pop the front open to make adjustments. I don't want to make permanent cuts as of yet. If I can't assemble the 67, I'd send it to my retired elect engr uncle to assemble. He did that a lot.
I went analog for a fan controller. This also has a thermistor controller for your speed.
thermistor controlled fan speed controller
thermistor controlled fan speed controller
Sitka
heh heh....I'm running way behind schedule and sorta ran out of steam and imploded! On top of that, got to catch up with lots of housework and yardwork. That's what happen when you don't have someone regular nagging you. I don't have a clear idea yet what I'm going to do with the Enlight so I think I'll sit tight for a couple of months and wait for some inspirations. What are you up to these days? Going water cooling?
etech,
by analog, do you mean rheotats or the thermistor-regulated fan in that link you provided. You know, somebody could make some money by building that fan controller and sell it to us.
heh heh....I'm running way behind schedule and sorta ran out of steam and imploded! On top of that, got to catch up with lots of housework and yardwork. That's what happen when you don't have someone regular nagging you
. I don't have a clear idea yet what I'm going to do with the Enlight so I think I'll sit tight for a couple of months and wait for some inspirations. What are you up to these days? Going water cooling?etech,
by analog, do you mean rheotats or the thermistor-regulated fan in that link you provided. You know, somebody could make some money by building that fan controller and sell it to us.
Galileo, by analog I meant the thermistor controlled circuit. To be more specific, the mos-fet is used as an analog controller vs. it's normal function as an on-off device(switch-mode). I was only concerned with controlling up to 1/2 amp of current for a 120mm fan and the analog controller is easier to construct and trouble-shoot then a PWM especially for people that don't have much in the way of electronic equipment.
Jwyatt, see question #38
tellurex
Jwyatt, see question #38
tellurex
Thanks etech.
I just read that link again and I ended up reading your posts in ARS Technica. I didn't realized that you're that good and the author of an awesome circuit. Unfortunately, to be honest, I won't know where to begin if I have to do something like that, even with the parts list and all, though I think it's something that a lot of us here would like to have. I can use them on my Antec 300W SmartFan (L*O*U*D) and the cpu fan.
I did go to an automotive parts store and told them about the probability of using a dimmer switch. They didn't have any but instead showed me a couple of off-lo-med-hi heater fan controllers that might work. They were too clunky though, so I passed them up.
I just read that link again and I ended up reading your posts in ARS Technica. I didn't realized that you're that good and the author of an awesome circuit. Unfortunately, to be honest, I won't know where to begin if I have to do something like that, even with the parts list and all
, though I think it's something that a lot of us here would like to have. I can use them on my Antec 300W SmartFan (L*O*U*D) and the cpu fan.I did go to an automotive parts store and told them about the probability of using a dimmer switch. They didn't have any but instead showed me a couple of off-lo-med-hi heater fan controllers that might work. They were too clunky though, so I passed them up.
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