What would make LED's on a fan go out?

[Insomniator]

Just got my Thermaltake element V refurb and I'm having some funky problems.

The case has 4 fans that can change colors when you press the button/fan controller knob down on the top of the case.

This worked perfectly for like... 5 minutes. I turned it off and rearranged some wires and now two of fans do no light up and the button only changes the colors once or twice, then stops responding.

This sounds like something is shorted or some wire is on backwards... kind of weird. Anyone have this case or have any idea what I'm talking about?

 

[EarthwormJim]

Do the LEDs in the fans work when not plugged into the controller, but directly into a Molex or fan header?

 

[Insomniator]

They do not. They all have 4 pin molex connectors that met in the bottom of the case and were already connected so I just plugged a molex from the psu into the back of the chain.

There are also however 3 pin connections for each one up closer to the control button/controller. If I disconnect and reconnect any of them while the pc is running the lights change and the button again works for 2 or 3 hits.

Its not a big deal I don't really care about the lights, its just really weird and probably an easy fix.

 

[EarthwormJim]

They do not. They all have 4 pin molex connectors that met in the bottom of the case and were already connected so I just plugged a molex from the psu into the back of the chain.

There are also however 3 pin connections for each one up closer to the control button/controller. If I disconnect and reconnect any of them while the pc is running the lights change and the button again works for 2 or 3 hits.

Its not a big deal I don't really care about the lights, its just really weird and probably an easy fix.

If you wait a while after the switch stops responding, does it work again?

 

[Insomniator]

It does not

 

[aigomorla]

Oh i think your board is downvolting the fan to 5V levels.

some fans cant handle 5V.

When you pull the fan out and plug it back in, you reset that fan header to 12V

(my initial thoughts... meaning it can and can not be correct..)

 

[EarthwormJim]

Maybe the contacts for the side panel fan aren't lining up properly and/or are shorting something out?

Can you hook each fan up individually to test them out one at a time on the fan controller? There's no good pictures online of the wiring for the controller, so I'm out of ideas after that.

 

[faxon]

Oh i think your board is downvolting the fan to 5V levels.

some fans cant handle 5V.

When you pull the fan out and plug it back in, you reset that fan header to 12V

(my initial thoughts... meaning it can and can not be correct..)

the fans arent connected to his board anywhere. they're connected to a fan controller that came with the case, which is powered by a molex connector

 

[cschill1290]

I would assume it has something to do with the connector you added to the chain of molex's for the fans. Unplug that and plug it into another molex connector somewhere else and see if that has an effect. Unless the reason you connected it is because it needed power from the psu to work, in that case disregard my post.

 

[Insomniator]

There are only 3 LED fans in the case. The top one when connected alone to the controller lights up, changes colors and speed perfectly.

The other two fans do not light up or change speeds when connected to the fan controller by themselves or to the mobo. I assume they are faulty fans which is possible with a refurb. You would think they would have checked this though...