Fan Controller for radiator

GMdoubleG · Jan 24, 2010

Hello all,

Has anyone seen a decent fan controller that could handle 6 fans soldered in parallel to run off of one channel? I am putting 6 fans on each of my XSPC radiators and want to control the fans as one. There will be a total of 12 fans between the two radiators so I don't need a fan controller with lots of channels.

Each radiator will have three yate loon mediums on one side and three Ultra Kaze 2000rpm 38mm fans on the other side. I believe each channel will need a minimum of 2amps (please correct me if I am wrong). I've looked extensively and I haven't found anything that would work. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, has anyone tried to make their own?

Thanks

Gotts · Jan 24, 2010

I was asking the same sort of Q over here. Doesn't seem there are many options for 3 fans, let alone 6. Maybe it's not that common to have 1 chan control an entire set of fans on a rad? [whereas I thought it was].

Conumdrum · Jan 24, 2010

6 fans per rad? Not normal. Might need to move up to the BigNG with USB support and chainable. Big $$

muddocktor · Jan 24, 2010

This Sunbeam controller here can handle 30 watts per channel and has 6 channels. And this Lamptron model here is also rated for 30 watts/channel and has 4 channels. Unless the fans you plan to use are rated higher than 5 watts each, either of those controllers will do what you want.

atomic ferret · Jan 24, 2010

So, correct me if I'm wrong but:
P=IE
So each channel needs to be able to handle 2A, which at 12V is only 24W. Several Lamptron controllers can handle that.

baditude_df · Jan 24, 2010

GMdoubleG said:
Hello all,

Has anyone seen a decent fan controller that could handle 6 fans soldered in parallel to run off of one channel? I am putting 6 fans on each of my XSPC radiators and want to control the fans as one. There will be a total of 12 fans between the two radiators so I don't need a fan controller with lots of channels.

Each radiator will have three yate loon mediums on one side and three Ultra Kaze 2000rpm 38mm fans on the other side. I believe each channel will need a minimum of 2amps (please correct me if I am wrong). I've looked extensively and I haven't found anything that would work. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, has anyone tried to make their own?

Thanks

Why two different fan types? Do you already own some and don't want to buy more?

Conumdrum said:
6 fans per rad? Not normal. Might need to move up to the BigNG with USB support and chainable. Big $$

I think it's just a push pull config he's talking about, no?

muddocktor said:
This Sunbeam controller here can handle 30 watts per channel and has 6 channels. And this Lamptron model here is also rated for 30 watts/channel and has 4 channels. Unless the fans you plan to use are rated higher than 5 watts each, either of those controllers will do what you want.

This is the way I see it. If he's using six sub 5watt fans like a YL highspeed, then he should be able to wire all six into one channel of a Rheobus extreme. In this case the wattage load should be somewhere ~24w.

GMdoubleG · Jan 25, 2010

The 6 fans are in a push/pull configuration on both radiators. One radiator for my 5870 and one for my i7. I already have 5 Ultra Kaze 38mm fans, 3 38mm San Ace fans, and 12 yate loon mediums laying around from multiple water cooling builds for friends. I figured that putting three 38mm fans on the push side and 3 yate loon mediums on the pull side would work well. Am I wrong on that? I wanted to put all 6 fans on the radiators on one channel since I thought they should always be running at the same speeds to keep good air flow through the radiator.

Ultimately, I am trying to build the very best cooling possible without it being really LOUD. I figure I can handle the noise created by more medium speed fans over fewer high speed loud fans as long as I have a fan controller that can limit the noise during movie watching.

Edit: What about this controller?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9...Controller_525_Bay.html?tl=g34c17&id=zJqpjgbX

The specs say:
Specifications: Pulse width modulation fan speed control module
Voltage: 12V DC Input 12V DC output x2 (3A/12V DC)
Wattage: 20W per fan speed control channel
Supports: Control 6 fans (2 fans per channel)

How does it handle 3A per channel at 12V DC? Does this mean it can handle my 6 fans?

boucher91 · Jan 25, 2010

it seems as it could but i suggest the sunbeam rheobus extreme i have 4 and they work great..
1 used to power 10 tornados gawd glad thier long gone now....

Conumdrum · Jan 25, 2010

You need 4-pin fans for PWM. Make sure the controller works with just 3 pin fans, otherwise they will run at top speed if you can't use regular voltage control.

looking at the back of the controller, it has 6 3 pin connections and two PWM connections.

If it was 3 Amps each channel would be 36 watts.
3 amps x 12 volts = 36 watts. Wow, you'd be looking at 9 Amps through a cheapo molex connector to power the device. Whats the max amp rating of a basic 4 pin molex?
Looks like 11 Amps, the 8981 series, look at the right side, it has the specs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molex_connector

GMdoubleG · Jan 25, 2010

Conumdrum: Are you saying that I need a fan controller with PWM (4pin) control?

Conumdrum · Jan 25, 2010

No, but the one you listed had PWM. I'm pretty sure all of the fans you want to control are 3 pin? Then no, you DON'T want PWM fan control.

I was bringing up the point that it was a PWM controller, and looking into it more it has headers for both, but only two PWM controllers on the back I can see.

GMdoubleG · Jan 25, 2010

Oh ok. I think the PWM connectors are for the option for cathode lighting. No?

A side note, if I have three San Ace Fans pushing ~100cfm and three Yate Loon fans pulling ~70cfm through a XSPC RX360 radiator, should I have any foreseeable problems?

Conumdrum · Jan 25, 2010

I have had cathodes. They have two wires. Dunno if you can vary a cathode light. I don't think so.

Push pull, I dunno. Most just run the same fans. Never seen tests on different fans, don't expect to.

Actually, I don't see your reasoning. Your trying to make this rad act like a BIX rad. You got a low FPI rad and your trying to make it work like a high FPI rad. I don't see the gains your looking for to be honest.

If you can handle the noise, buy a BIX rad that responds uberly to what your trying to do.
Take away 25% of the performance and then compare to your XSPC RX. You will see what I mean.

GMdoubleG · Jan 25, 2010

I thought that the BIX rads only responded to really high cfm fans? Would the Push/Pull configurations with these fans work with a BIX?

Conumdrum · Jan 26, 2010

LOL, you got 100 CFM fans. Try looking at Martins review of the GTX 480. 100 CFM fans is way above my GT 1850 fans. And I got a XSPC RX 120.3 rad on my GPUs.

Calculation says............... my fans are 57.6 CFM. And quiet. Yours are 100 CFM, and loud as silly.

GMdoubleG · Jan 26, 2010

Hmm, I haven't actually listened to the 100CFM fans yet. I think I should plug those in and see what they are really like. If they are as loud as you say, I think I may need to go Yate Loons all the way around.

You are running one RX360 with 3 GT1850 for only your i7 965, right? What are your temps and OC (assumed)?

Conumdrum · Jan 26, 2010

No overclock, no need to but I always get the urge to OC. Gotta staty green and just no reason too, it's hard. Just upgraded to the XT, my CPU for 5 min loads at under 50C at 63F 23C room temps. Barely hitting 50C in past tests for an hour and fans are at meduim speeds. Room temps about the same. I'm easily under 55C after an hour.

Ohh idle right now is in the low 30's, at 29/30 at boot up.

So even with a 4.0 my overclocks would be really good.

Sorry I don't have any OC data, just everything is fast enuff for now. I did push my E66o0 and my old 8800GT cuz I needed to. We'll see what happens tomorrow night, I'll be installing Mass Effect 2.0 WOOT!!!

Conumdrum · Jan 26, 2010

ACK redo, I got my PA 120.3 on the CPU. With a shroud. But close to the tests of the XSPC RX, which I have on my GPUS. So yea, my temps are way fine without the need of planet moving fans. And just 3 fans (same) on each rad.

GMdoubleG · Jan 26, 2010

After reading through the triple rad reviews on Martin's. I noticed that the BIX is the better choice with any fans over 1500rpm. Would the closer fins on the BIX cause a louder noise than the RX360 because of resistance? Jab-tech has the BIX360 for $99 and since that is the same price as the RX360, why would anyone choose the RX360 over the BIX360?

GMdoubleG · Jan 26, 2010

After reading through the reviews on Martin's, it seems that the BIX360 outperforms the RX360 with any fans over 1500rpm. Would the closer fan grouping on the BIX cause more noise than the RX360 simply because of air resistance (excluding noise caused by the fans themselves). Jab-tech has the BIX360 for $99 and since that is roughly the same pricing as the RX360, why would someone choose the RX over the BIX?

Fan Controller for radiator

Member

Registered

Member

Retired

Member

Northern Senior

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads