Don't Get Burned By Sunbeam Tech With Their Theta 101

[BonzaiDuck]

Heads up, everyone.

At something like $24 bucks a pop, I ordered two Theta 101 controllers after reading the review at "ModTheBox.com" for the item. That was almost two months ago. I got hung up on the acrylic enamel paint with my case-mod, so I haven't got around to it until now.

Whoopee-doo-dah. The fans -- at least -- spin up.

Installing the software, I find that the units don't show anything but 0C degrees for the temperature sensors, and they don't show anything but 0 RPM for the fan speeds. I tried every angle -- uninstalling and then reinstalling the software. But even the essential test of changing the fan-voltage ratio failed: the Theta 101 units I received don't even control the fans through the software.

I went back to the 2005 ModTheBox review. The review refers to calibration rheostats -- colored light-blue and white -- on the circuit card, and shows them in the pictures. I didn't remember seeing them on my units, so I checked again.

Nothing but open solder-holes.

I sent e-mails to FrozenCPU and HeatsinkFactory suggesting they check their inventory. I got a lightning-fast response from HeatsinkFactory, and no -- the units they have do not conform to the test-sample that had been sent to ModTheBox for review.

I don't think of the Chinese as "an enemy," because of what they suffered in the "Rape of Nanking" and Stilwell's American Experience in China. But they really need to adopt some Japanese Quality Control -- and that goes for dog-food, also.

 

[Aquila76]

Good to know. I was thinking of adding a couple to my new build; but, I'll wait until this gets resolved. That's like Dell selling a PC and leaving out the CPU!

 

[PCTC2]

Thanks BonzaiDuck!

I was actually going to use one to control my fans in my new W/C build coming up. Maybe, if you can't RMA them, then you can find the specs of the rheostats and try soldering them on yourself.

 

[Zepper]

This is kind of a dumb question, but did you hook the USB cable up to a known-good port? And perhaps Sunbeam decided that a fixed resistor value would work so they don't need the trimmers any more. Bad USB cable, bad USB port? Does the card show as being detected by the USB driver? Generally, the software for USB devices should be installed before connecting the device unless specified otherwise by the device manual. How about the power connector (on the back side of the board) - card gets no power from slot or USB port. I'd check the voltage pins on the card with a DMM to be sure it's getting voltage. I've found that the cheap Chinese contacts loosen easily.

Here's their contact page:
http://www.sunbeamtech.com/CONTACT-LEFT.htm

.bh.

 

[Bluefront]

These things have been around for several years. In that time I've never heard anyone who was happy with his unit......and I've never read a good review of it.

Actually on paper this could be a good, cheap fan controller. But the buggy software has never seemed to work properly. Now there's possible hardware quality issues....I've always been tempted to buy one to check it out myself. Seems like the OP did it for me.....:frown:

 

[Binky]

I bought one of these 6-12 months ago, tried to get it to work, then stuffed it in a closet where it still sits. I never could get a temp reading out of any of the sensors. Piece of crap if you ask me.

Will sell it for $12 shipped if anybody wants to tinker with it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

In the case of the unit I installed, its USB light goes on, and the operating system posts a system tray icon for the USB device. It shows the USb device to be "working properly."

But it isn't working properly. I've called their customer-service/RMA department three or four times, and have yet to get a response.

I spoke with people at FrozenCPU and HeatsinkFactory. They checked their inventory, and found what I had found with the units I purchased: the calibration rheostats on the circuit card -- mentioned and shown in the www.ModTheBox.Com review of 2005 -- are on none of them.

HeatsinkFactory implied from their conversation with Sunbeam that the Chinese (or Taiwanese?) company was outsourcing producting of the Theta 101 to a contractor.

My biggest concern at this time hinges on the failure of the device to do what it was hyped to do, or work with its own software. How do I know if it won't shorten the life of my fans? How can I be certain about anything related to it -- and regardless of what the OS says "is working properly?"