Fan controller woes

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I bought this fan controller to replace my dying Nexus fan controller. I really liked my old fan controller because it supported 18W per channel x 4. However 2 of the rheostats burned out or something because I can only use 2 and with my recent fan upgrades I got 4 medium RPM 120mm fans and 2 are running on the loud side.

Unfortunately for me, I have one fan on 4 pin molex connectors, so my old fan controller had a 4 => 3 pin female (dude you can't even find these on Newegg anymore wtf.. took me on a treasure hunt to buy another one of these adapters), and consequentially you lose RPM sensing. Another fan, my Panaflo 120x120x38 for my CPU has only 2 wires (3 pin connector) so it has no RPM sensing. My 3rd fan I can't really tell but I believe it's a Yate Loon like my first fan so it's also a 4 pin molex => 3 pin.

Either way, these 3 fans when plugged into my fan controller power up briefly (5 sec or so) and then turn off. I know these fans run under 0.5 A (more like 0.3A) and the fan controller can take 1A per channel. I don't see how it could use too much power. After all they started up for a few secs.

My knowledge tells me these aren't PWM fan controllers (right??? PWM = 4 pin small connectors) and are voltage fan controllers. However something tells me that RPM wire matters. Why did I get these ghetto fans without RPM sensing?!?!?!?

Here's the final clue. 4th fan is a new Zalman ZM-F3 to replace my whining Antec case fan. RPM sensing 3 pin with 3 wires! It turns on, and the RPM shows up. I can dial it up or down. Most importantly, it STAYS on.

I don't give a damn about RPM readings. I just want my fans to be able to be controlled. I don't see why this voltage based fan controller can't do this. Am I missing something about the product here?

Anyone recommend me a fan controller? I've always known about the Sunbeam ones but those LEDs are blinding and I don't want a laser light show at night.

I could either get a new fan controller, but I'm wondering if power is an issue too? Or is RPM sensing required in almost all fan controllers now? Why can't they make something simple! GRRRrrrrr... My other option is to go buy some new fans. Petras Tech Shop is literally like 10 min from my work so I can drop by and pick up 2 new Yate Loons for a price less than my dinner, but then I'll have fans lying around doing no good in my house.

 

[Zepper]

Would be good if you tell us what the brands/models of the fans you have and whether there are: 2, 3 or 4 wires coming directly off the fans (no matter what the power connector is) - also the brand/model of the fan controller.. All PWM fans I'm aware of have all 4 wires: +12V, Ground, RPM sense, PWM control and they should work just like a normal fan when plugged onto a 3-pin (non PWM) fan header whether on mobo or separate fan controller. Not ALL 4 wire fans are PWM as some are special for companies like Dell - so if you bought some of your fans from an odd-lot jobber like BGMicro or All Electronics, then it's hard to be sure what you have. Many separate fan controllers use PWM technology (because it is less expensive for parts), but don't require PWM fans because the controlling is done on the PCB of the controller and not at the fan itself. PWM is NOT a voltage control method, its a POWER control method - good to understand the difference...
. The original Sunbeam Rheobus and a few others are true voltage controllers - most others use PWM technology and provide power control. Power controllers don't necessarily change the voltage, but change the amount of time the power is applied (thus reducing the average power to the load), by changing it from DC into variable width pulses. The older PWM based controllers could have negative effects on some fans: sleeve bearing units could buzz and ball bearing ones might whine. Newer ones have better control of the width and timing of the pulses, so don't have such effects as often.

.bh.
.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

My fans?

2x Yate Loons the medium speed ones - 4 pin molex
1x Panaflo medium - 3 pin connector but only 2 wires (no RPM sensing)
1x Zalman ZM-F3 - 3 pin connector with 3 wires - this is the only fan that stays spinning.

I'm thinking of returning this and just getting a Sunbeam but I really hate the LEDs. It's not like I can't do modding but im lazy =P

 

[PM650]

Sounds to me like your fan controller doesn't like fans w/o rpm sensing.

Technically speaking, a PWM controller can provide DC voltage control; its called a DC-DC converter (the Nexus NXP-201 is a buck converter - a variant of the many PWM based DC-DC converters). Of course, if you take a buck converter and remove the LC filter, you get a variable duty-cycle square wave voltage, which some fans do not like to be driven by (hence the 4-wire fans now that support this type of control).

 

[Zepper]

All the Yate Loon fans I've had here, have the standard 3-pin fan connector plus a hard-wired 4-pin (large peripheral power plugs) pass thru - use either the 3-pin or the bypass - never both at the same time! I often cut off the Molex pass-thru from the Y-Ls as I almost never power my fans directly off the PSU and the extra connectors just get in the way. The controller you linked doesn't require speed sensing fans to work (except perhaps for one of the auto modes). It appears that your controller can work in several different modes (full auto, semi auto, and manual) be sure you know how you have your channels set in order to get the results you expect. The specs claim that it's a true voltage control, but generally that requires some fair sized heat sinks for chips that handle the claimed 1A and I don't see any on the controller's PCB. Does that Panasonic have a standard 3-wire shell, but with only two wires in it? If so then it should work. Make sure all your polarities are correct as the fans won't work if they are not - you shouldn't even get a little spin out of them as most DC fans are diode protected from reverse polarity connection.

.bh.
.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Zepper
All the Yate Loon fans I've had here, have the standard 3-pin fan connector plus a hard-wired 4-pin (large peripheral power plugs) pass thru - use either the 3-pin or the bypass - never both at the same time! I often cut off the Molex pass-thru from the Y-Ls as I almost never power my fans directly off the PSU and the extra connectors just get in the way. The controller you linked doesn't require speed sensing fans to work (except perhaps for one of the auto modes). It appears that your controller can work in several different modes (full auto, semi auto, and manual) be sure you know how you have your channels set in order to get the results you expect. The specs claim that it's a true voltage control, but generally that requires some fair sized heat sinks for chips that handle the claimed 1A and I don't see any on the controller's PCB. Does that Panasonic have a standard 3-wire shell, but with only two wires in it? If so then it should work. Make sure all your polarities are correct as the fans won't work if they are not - you shouldn't even get a little spin out of them as most DC fans are diode protected from reverse polarity connection.

.bh.
.

2 wires for the Panaflo. I got these fans almost 4 years ago. Yate Loons were just coming out, and mine were rebranded as Young Lin or something. It was this online yahoo store with a yellow background. Maybe that's why because now when I check out Frozen CPU or Petras or other shops all the fans have 3 wires. Bleh, times have changed. Also they're definitely plugged in correctly as 3 pin connectors have a notch.

Oh well. I requested an RMA on Newegg to return this Scythe controller. I grabbed a Sunbeam Rheobus yesterday and it works flawlessly. The guys at Petras are extremely helpful.

I believe this Scythe Kaze Server crap works properly but it probably uses the RPM wire to detect the presence of a fan. The fans spin up for 5 secs and the ones without RPM wires shut off. 1A certainly needs some heatsinks like you said, but they have some tinyass heatsinks. My guess it they will blow out if they truly did 12W load 24/7. My fans are medium speeds so at most they only pull 0.3-0.4A.

 

[Zepper]

YW.

.bh.

 

[Modelworks]

You can make RPM signals with this:
http://www.semiconductorstore....rd.asp?idproduct=13842

Placing it close the center of the fan and putting one wire on pin three to become the rpm signal and another wire to pin one for +5v and ground on pin two.
Just throwing this out there for the curious.