RGB fan that can be controlled by motherboard?

[alexruiz]

Hi everyone.
I am building a PC for a customer, and he wants additional RGB fans.
I was checking the egg and found the aigo r3 3 pack for a good price.
After reading more details I noticed that the fan has a proprietary 6-pin connector, and this connector goes into the aigo controller. They can only be powered by their controller

This is a big let down as that means that the fan cannot be synced with the case strips, and that without the proprietary controller the fans are useless. It also means that all 3 fans have to be used at the same time, not possible to use 1 in one build, 2 in another, etc.

I suspect that I am not the first one facing this issue with a proprietary 6 pin RGB fan connector.
Does anyone know of an adapter for this 6 pins connector to 3 pin fan + 4 pin RGB?
The signals have to the 12V, GND, sense, R, G, B with 12V spliced to both the fan motor and the RGB lights.

The easiest solution is just to pick different fans.
I built a PC before with a Biostar B350GT5 racing that included a vivid LED RGB fan, and that fan had 3 pin fan + 4 pin RGB connector. The fan doesn't seem to be available for purchase by itself though
Can anyone recommend RGB fans that can be controlled by the motherboard (3/4pin fan + 4 pin RGB)?

Thanks

Alex

 

[Crono]

Phanteks Halos RGB fan frames can be used on any standard 120mm or 140mm fans and are motherboard RGB header (Aura) controllable.

 

[alexruiz]

Phanteks Halos RGB fan frames can be used on any standard 120mm or 140mm fans and are motherboard RGB header (Aura) controllable.

Wow, I never thought something like that existed!
Will get some.

Thank you, that was a great suggestion!

 

[aigomorla]

i have those fans but decided not to use them in my build.

The controller controls how you want to RGB to cycle, and it syncs all the fans on the port nicely.
The control unit is powered by a 4 pin molex connector.
Your not going to find a adapter for those fans, they dont sell them.
I highly doubt there is a sense on the fan, because i dont remember there being a sense on the controller.

Also the controller allows you change the config on the fans from cycle, to static.
It not as bad as you think for the price it costs. I cant think of any Fans which connects via motherboard to control RGB for that manner.

Just a heads up on that phanteks is that you will need a aura supported case to use that feature.

 

[alexruiz]

i have those fans but decided not to use them in my build.

The controller controls how you want to RGB to cycle, and it syncs all the fans on the port nicely.
The control unit is powered by a 4 pin molex connector.
Your not going to find a adapter for those fans, they dont sell them.
I highly doubt there is a sense on the fan, because i dont remember there being a sense on the controller.

Also the controller allows you change the config on the fans from cycle, to static.
It not as bad as you think for the price it costs. I cant think of any Fans which connects via motherboard to control RGB for that manner.

Just a heads up on that phanteks is that you will need a aura supported case to use that feature.

Thanks for the heads up about the case!
I think Phantek's own P400 or DeepCool EarlKase will work, as those are the 2 I am targeting.

 

[wags69]

I recently got some Bitfenix Spectre Pro RGB. They are 3 pin fan and 4 pin RGB and can be controlled by the mobo.

 

[Christopher Lennon]

I purchased a set of 5x Aigo Aurora fans of aliexpress for only $50 with a controller, so I was willing to tinker with them. Basically, I took the 6pin connection from each fan, split it into two parts, (1)Fan motor control and (2) addressable LED control (which is just 3 pins, 5V, Data and ground), slapped some new 3 pin JST connectors on each and bang, I'm able to control the addressable LEDs in the Aigo fans with ANYTHING that can control typical 5V, 3 pin addressable RGB LEDs, whether thats an addressable header on a motherboard, or one of the many controllers available, or even something like a rasberry pi, or an arduino. Since the aigo fans use standard addressable IC's, WS2182B I think but don't quote me on that, motherboard lighting control software such as Asus Aura or Gigabyte fusion recognizes them as just any other standard addressable led strip. The one downside is that obviously they'll no longer be working with the included controller since it only has the 6pin proprietary connections orginally on the fans. This does require disassembling each fan, using a volt/amperage meter, and I wouldn't recommend doing it without a reliable, guaranteed and clean 5V DC power source that you can easily connect and disconnect and that you're confident will not throw spikes into the LEDs, and it's also important to be comfortable with a soldering iron, heat shrink, and burnt fingertips. But, since that's not the best and by far not the easiest solution, I'm currently prototyping an addressable RGB LED fan cover like phantek's Halo series, but actually making a good product. The Phantek's Halo is very disappointing as it DOESN'T have addressable RGB LEDs, and doesn't have as many as I would like, so my version is fully addressable, and it contains 45 LEDs instead of the 8-12 in theirs, also you'll be able to daisy chain them meaning they'll only require a single addressable header on a motherboard, or in a controller to connect 3 fans (perhaps more). Now. I'm just working on the best way of diffusion to eliminate hotspots and such. I've included a picture below

. The finished product will have a milled aluminum or maybe stainless mounting plate, and I'm still determining on whether to add a front fascia to direct the light off of the fan blade like phanteks did, or whether I'm going to use a translucent plastic to give it that diffused ring aesthetic

***BTW, not to be mean or unhelpful, but I'm way, way too busy to be able to talk a complete stranger through this process, but I'm sure anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence can figure it out with a little google research just like I did.

 

[khalid]

I purchased a set of 5x Aigo Aurora fans of aliexpress for only $50 with a controller, so I was willing to tinker with them. Basically, I took the 6pin connection from each fan, split it into two parts, (1)Fan motor control and (2) addressable LED control (which is just 3 pins, 5V, Data and ground), slapped some new 3 pin JST connectors on each and bang, I'm able to control the addressable LEDs in the Aigo fans with ANYTHING that can control typical 5V, 3 pin addressable RGB LEDs, whether thats an addressable header on a motherboard, or one of the many controllers available, or even something like a rasberry pi, or an arduino. Since the aigo fans use standard addressable IC's, WS2182B I think but don't quote me on that, motherboard lighting control software such as Asus Aura or Gigabyte fusion recognizes them as just any other standard addressable led strip. The one downside is that obviously they'll no longer be working with the included controller since it only has the 6pin proprietary connections orginally on the fans. This does require disassembling each fan, using a volt/amperage meter, and I wouldn't recommend doing it without a reliable, guaranteed and clean 5V DC power source that you can easily connect and disconnect and that you're confident will not throw spikes into the LEDs, and it's also important to be comfortable with a soldering iron, heat shrink, and burnt fingertips. But, since that's not the best and by far not the easiest solution, I'm currently prototyping an addressable RGB LED fan cover like phantek's Halo series, but actually making a good product. The Phantek's Halo is very disappointing as it DOESN'T have addressable RGB LEDs, and doesn't have as many as I would like, so my version is fully addressable, and it contains 45 LEDs instead of the 8-12 in theirs, also you'll be able to daisy chain them meaning they'll only require a single addressable header on a motherboard, or in a controller to connect 3 fans (perhaps more). Now. I'm just working on the best way of diffusion to eliminate hotspots and such. I've included a picture below

. The finished product will have a milled aluminum or maybe stainless mounting plate, and I'm still determining on whether to add a front fascia to direct the light off of the fan blade like phanteks did, or whether I'm going to use a translucent plastic to give it that diffused ring aesthetic

***BTW, not to be mean or unhelpful, but I'm way, way too busy to be able to talk a complete stranger through this process, but I'm sure anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence can figure it out with a little google research just like I did.

hi bro ...... thx so much for that I wanna know what happened with ur RGB fans ??? plz I was looking for some 1 did that.. I wanna know what the 6 pin in the Aigo fan is ? I wanna buy it and control it like what u said "ANYTHING that can control typical 5V, 3 pin addressable RGB LEDs" .... thx so much again and sorry for my bad English ...

 

[Chpohan]

(1)Fan motor control and (2) addressable LED control (which is just 3 pins, 5V, Data and ground).

hi bro ...... thx so much for that I wanna know what happened with ur RGB fans ??? plz I was looking for some 1 did that.. I wanna know what the 6 pin in the Aigo fan is ? I wanna buy it and control it like what u said "ANYTHING that can control typical 5V, 3 pin addressable RGB LEDs" .... thx so much again and sorry for my bad English ...

There are actually 4 PIN RBG LED and 2 PIN FAN (+ and -)
Bellow is photo of RGB pins, as i understood it is 5V Din GND Dout, but I'm not sure, I'm going to make controller using Arduino NANO

 

[UDsquare]

There are actually 4 PIN RBG LED and 2 PIN FAN (+ and -)
Bellow is photo of RGB pins, as i understood it is 5V Din GND Dout, but I'm not sure, I'm going to make controller using Arduino NANO

I HAVEN'T TRIED THIS YET SO TRY IT ON YOUR OWN RISK!!

Hi,

I believe that RGB 4 pins works like following: 5V,Din,GND will be input from a controller like ESP8266 and then from one fan to other fan it will be linked like 5V,Dout,GND -> 5V,Din,GND (This is already done by Aigo fan controller). This way all fans are connected in series and can be controlled one by one. For Fan1 If you disconnect Din from PCB and connect it to ESP8266 data pin (let's say D4). Then connect 5V & GND pin to ESP8266 to power it up. This way you will be able to control RGB strip with least amount of modification. FYI you can use something like "WLED" to control LEDs.

I will post an update after I try it.