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Fan Controller / PWM Booster / Regulator / Converter / Etc. Thread!

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Hello Good Day to Overclockers Forum , I am calman for florida.. I have never purchased a PC computer We always built my machine with SCSI HDD thus I was to tell folks I have a" PC /with MAC Parts" , although now their based on Imtel Specs.

I am here about my New Build a CM HAF_X Case Tower with Six 200mm Fans , Four 120m fans ,three radiators, a Vega Heater Core, a single 120mm fan/rad , SR1 360 rad with three(3) Delta AFC1212DDOO .PWM.DC12.0.80A, in whch the problems in Controlling RPM's , I need a ""PWM controller" to better accomplish the task at hand and so I donot damage my , MSI Z77a gd65 gaming motherboard.
I would like to see if I can work out a Deal on there good looking PCB based PWM CONTROLLER on Overclockers forums, Thamk For Reading . . . .Calman....

Bobnova made some very nice PWM boosters and stuff. It could run over 1000 fans in theory.
But he left shortly after the forum upgrade - he stated he didn't like the new layout at all :(
 
forum upgrade - he stated he didn't like the new layout at all :(

I can understand that. Looks like mostly for phones now and if we are all on phones...well we won't be discussing computers for much longer. Some of my longer threads in AMD section are causing me to have to go in and move sentence sizing around so the threads still make sense or are more readable. Always change in the name of progress...unintended consequences often abound.

RGone...
 
I've had a quick look at implementing LCD. There are readily available libraries for monochrome LCD. I reckon it would not be too much effort to do it given current scope. I haven't thought about what would be displayed on it yet. Maybe some ideas?
I would personally love a PWM controller with a small dual display (two lines) where one line shows PWM "payload" 0-100% and the second line showing RPM. RPM would need to be 4 digits for my need.
It's for a PWM pump-controller outside of and not connected to any PC.
Anyone know of a design for this? Or a complete one preferebly :)
 
have you considered ardiuno?
ardiuno has pwm control, thermal sensors and display outputs.
Thank you for your idea.
edit: Sorry about large images. Don't know how to make thumbnails in here..

Edit2: I would really love to buy one of those from the original poster as well, but for some reason I am not allowed to enter the link he has posted. Anyone has any ideas why that is?

I did consider it, but only very, very briefly. I did make my own Arduino/Freeduino some years ago.

IMG_3701-0000.jpg IMG_3702-0001.jpg

There are some issues using those kinds of controllers:
  1. They can't do what I want out of the box, everything has to be setup/coded and wired up in all sorts of ways.
  2. It takes both a lot of time and Space for each usage.
  3. I have different use cases and only 1 Arduino.

My Use Cases:
  1. Soldering:
    I have made my own fume exhauster by using a normal pwm 120mm fan, an active carbon-filter and some cardboard. Made it able to tip for better sucktion control.
    I would like a small effective fancontroller.
    I know I could find all sort of fancontrollers and currently I just use the 5-7-12 molex method. But I like readouts and stuff.
    IMG_3668.JPG IMG_3669.JPG IMG_3670.JPG
  2. Watercooling - RPM,PWM and flowrates
    I do a lot of custom watercooling and would like to be better able to corollate PWM signal to RPM to L/H. Currently it takes several different devices to do so, and it is a bother outside of an actual computer (I don't own all kinds of fancy measuring equipment).
    Often I have to hook it up to a live machine and I'd rather not do that.
    With a simple device that shows both RPM and PWM I only need 1 device to measure flow. If I could just get it out/away from live PC I could better make manual Measurements using big buckets if I had to.
    IMG_3674-0001.jpg IMG_3676-0001.jpg IMG_3677-0002.jpg
  3. Inside computers - watercooling:
    I pretty much only build mini-itx, U1 and other small/er form factors, and an arduino would simply be too bulky when considering the wiring needed etc.
    These cases does not have room for such a contraption (arduino + wires etc).
    Here is the small house of an Aquaro 5 LT - I often will not have this much Space.
    DSC04525-0001.jpg DSC04526-0000.jpg
 
Last edited:
It's unfortunate but Bobnova left the forum when we went through our upgrade to the new BB format. You may be able to locate him in one of the "other" forums but not positive.
 
Don't think Bob left for good, I think he's just busy with life and doesn't frequent the forum as much as he once did. Additionally, you cannot access the classifieds section until you have at least 100 posts on the forum.
 
Don't think Bob left for good, I think he's just busy with life and doesn't frequent the forum as much as he once did. Additionally, you cannot access the classifieds section until you have at least 100 posts on the forum.
Ohh, that's quite an obstacle. Would be nice if the error message reflected that instead of some generic error message :)

Anyone know of any other good PWM controller? Seems the ones I find in searches only have 2 wires for some reason (I'm not very Electronics technical minded).
 
The only PWN controller I can think of that works is the Aquaero 6. Corsair Link is another one but has very buggy software.
 
The only PWN controller I can think of that works is the Aquaero 6. Corsair Link is another one but has very buggy software.
I have the Aquaro 5 LT. I would like to buy Aquaro 6 due to more PWM channels, but I don't need the LCD panel, so it's massively overprized for my need..

I really just need a simple pcb with a knob for adjustment.

I see lots and lots of 2 or 3 wire PWM controllers.. anyone know what's up with that?
I'd need a 4-pin pwm controller. I could make it myself (soldering etc) if I had some kit to assemble.
 
can anyone build this or something similar to it

I think it's time for me to stop nuking the DIY PWM Fan Controller Thread and make my own for my projects and such.

This thread is the place to discuss the following, plus anything you'd like to see me build, are interested in building, anything you'd like me to add to my stuff, etc. Also fielded will be questions on PCB design and so on. Also included will be links to purchase the various bits from the classies.

Custom PWM Fan Controller
Active PWM Booster / Splitter
Voltage to PWM Converter, Stackable

More things will be added to this post as they exist.

can anyone build something like this to control my two corsair ram fan leds? the corsair mini only has one led port. I have two of the airflow platinum ram fans. link to products: http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-commander-mini and have two of these: http://www.corsair.com/en-us/dominator-airflow-platinum-led-fan. Corsair used to sell a lighting node that two ram fans could be plugged into but discontinued. nobody sells them anywhere. Can someone build something that I can attach both my ram fans to that I can control the leds with? thank you
tony
 
I would really like to see a small controller where there is a voltage or pwm input which regulates a voltage (not pwm) output with ~6-10A current capacity. Motherboard headers can only do 1A.
 
I would really like to see a small controller where there is a voltage or pwm input which regulates a voltage (not pwm) output with ~6-10A current capacity. Motherboard headers can only do 1A.

you mean a fan controller?
 
There is something I want for my project and it's very minimal compared to most of what I see being done here. I'm not an electronics kind of guy so if it's not real simple I might not be able to do it myself but I am willing to try. I'm overclocking a Dell BTX Dimension E520. I've got it running 3.45GHZ on a QX6800 so far. It runs 3.73GHZ but not stable. The BYX form factor is built around 1 fan to cool everything. The current fan is a Delta 1.7A PWM 120X38mm connected to the MB. Normal for BTX. I have no control over the fan profile in the locked BIOS. I have a Delta GFB1212VHG two motor PWM fan 3.4A total 120X50mm that fits in the BTX fan mounting ( not installed yet). I'm mostly happy with letting the MB control the fan, in fact it only really speeds up very much when running Prime95 . It does get a little hotter than I would like before it speeds up but not really a problem for normal use.
Her is what I would like to do-
1: Run the fan off of a Molex to remove 1.7A. draw from the MB (can do this myself)
2: Leave the PWM control on the MB for nromal use (ditto)
3: Have a toggle switch to tun the PWM fan (either one) at 100% speed (or close to it) for benchmarking runs, or stress testing sessions.
A- first position normal operation
B- second position 100% PWM signal to fan
I have a DPDT switch and can wire the first position OK ( blue wire(s) connected). The second position I don't have a clue.
 
There is something I want for my project and it's very minimal compared to most of what I see being done here. I'm not an electronics kind of guy so if it's not real simple I might not be able to do it myself but I am willing to try. I'm overclocking a Dell BTX Dimension E520. I've got it running 3.45GHZ on a QX6800 so far. It runs 3.73GHZ but not stable. The BYX form factor is built around 1 fan to cool everything. The current fan is a Delta 1.7A PWM 120X38mm connected to the MB. Normal for BTX. I have no control over the fan profile in the locked BIOS. I have a Delta GFB1212VHG two motor PWM fan 3.4A total 120X50mm that fits in the BTX fan mounting ( not installed yet). I'm mostly happy with letting the MB control the fan, in fact it only really speeds up very much when running Prime95 . It does get a little hotter than I would like before it speeds up but not really a problem for normal use.
Her is what I would like to do-
1: Run the fan off of a Molex to remove 1.7A. draw from the MB (can do this myself)
2: Leave the PWM control on the MB for nromal use (ditto)
3: Have a toggle switch to tun the PWM fan (either one) at 100% speed (or close to it) for benchmarking runs, or stress testing sessions.
A- first position normal operation
B- second position 100% PWM signal to fan
I have a DPDT switch and can wire the first position OK ( blue wire(s) connected). The second position I don't have a clue.
I got the DP switch in case I have to wire in a load of some kind for the open MB PWM wire. It's an on/on switch
 
I have a DPDT switch and can wire the first position OK ( blue wire(s) connected). The second position I don't have a clue.
That's literally all you have to do, a disconnected PWM wire generally gives 100% fan speed.
You win on that one, it's one of those lovely things that turn out to be easier than imagined :D




Bonus reply section:
Regulating 6-10 amps takes some doing. You need a real buck controller at that point with both high and low side MOSFETs.
Doable? Sure.
Easy? Kind of, if you're experienced at tat kind of thing.
 
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