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[O/C]Lamptron Touch Fan Controller Review

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I was about to spring for one of these, but realized that I still have one more question.

My PC is watercooled, so it tends to idle near room temp easily with the two main case fans only, which are very quiet at their lowest settings. The 3 fans on the rad probably aren't needed (surely not for an idle PC), but once the hot weather comes and I'm gaming, its difficult to keep the system cool to my liking.

So, can this be set in some manner to shutoff a fan(s) when the temperature is below a certain setting? It seems it can ramp the voltage down all the way to 0%, but will this do what I want to do? I wouldn't want to burn out my fans if the controller tries to run them at 10% or some other setting too low to start spinning for long periods of time.
 
I was about to spring for one of these, but realized that I still have one more question.

My PC is watercooled, so it tends to idle near room temp easily with the two main case fans only, which are very quiet at their lowest settings. The 3 fans on the rad probably aren't needed (surely not for an idle PC), but once the hot weather comes and I'm gaming, its difficult to keep the system cool to my liking.

So, can this be set in some manner to shutoff a fan(s) when the temperature is below a certain setting? It seems it can ramp the voltage down all the way to 0%, but will this do what I want to do? I wouldn't want to burn out my fans if the controller tries to run them at 10% or some other setting too low to start spinning for long periods of time.
Unfortunately I have no idea; never used the feature that way. I bet spawne32 can answer though.

How is the touch screen on this? Any problems dragging the speed bar around or selecting the individual fans?
It's actually quite good; I've had no issues with the touch screen whatsoever.
 
Maybe resurrecting the dead here a little but figured I'd post about an issue I was having regarding this controller. I just purchased it with the intent of using it with two Delta FFB1212EH-F00 120mm 4,000 rpm fans ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835213006 ). The controlled powers up beautifully and looks great, but it does not start the fans at all. Not only this but it only gives me the voltage from Fan 1, shows nothing for Fan 2. I thought maybe it was the fans so I plugged in a couple generic Antec fans to channels 3-5 and they also did not come up as if the controller was even detecting them being connected. I contacted the website where I bought it and they suggested sending it back so they can test it. Kinda a pain in the *** though :cry:

Any suggestions before I send this lovely piece of hardware back? Thanks.
 
Sounds like you have a bad controller that made it past QC. It should power those fans (ONE PER CHANNEL!) no problem.
 
Ya that's what I was thinking. I was only doing one per channel, and only tried running the one fan off the bat since my systems in pieces at the moment. FrozenCPU said they would test the one they sent to replace it, just annoying. Thing cost $80 shipped gotta pay to ship it back again. Bahhh!

Thanks for the reply dude, hows your controller holding up?
 
It's running great. Right now it runs six fans including two delta screamers. They're not as strong as yours; mine are only .80A, so they're both on one channel. Nary a hiccup since installation.
 
Ah, I'm hoping this is just a minor issue than. I got this controller due to its high output per channel (30w) so hopefully that's enough for the fans, but as you said, it should be perfect. My mobo started them up and holy god do they push. Happy I'm still in the midst of my build and thought to test this out now at least. Definitely the most refined looking controller on the market IMO.
 
Hi Jeremy, great review!
But I have one little question:
What is the slowest speed you can slow a fan down with the Touch?
Obviously this will differ from fan to fan, but as you turn down the dial, at what point does the fan stop working?
For example, if you slow a fan down to 10% it might very well still spin but I imagine a 10% setting is too low to get the fan started at power up. So what's the minimum setting you can use, and which fans are you using for this?
 
Does the unit power the fans on automatically upon powering up the PC, or does one have to power the PC and then the fan controller? It would not be a good thing to power on the PC and forget to power the fan controller if it does not come on automatically with PC powering up. One might say well who would not do both (if necessary), but what happens if someone comes along that does not know or perhaps forgets because it is not their $4000/5000 dollar rig?
 
It's like any other fan controller in that regard; it retains its settings and turns the fans on when you turn the PC on.
 
It's like any other fan controller in that regard; it retains its settings and turns the fans on when you turn the PC on.

Thanks for the info. That is a good thing to know and will help in my deccission as to whether or not to get one.

I read the part about retaining its setting, but they never said whether or not the thing comes on when the PC is powered up or if it only came on when one touched the button as shown in the article.

And another reason I asked is because the article called it a power button instead of calling it a button to view the screen and or hide the screen. Calling it a power button sounded as if it would turn the fan controller on and off, whereby one would then needs be to actually turn it on or off with the button. The ones with knobs do not have power buttons so I figured that they would come on and off by the PC powering up or down. So again it was the use of the term power button, instead of screen viewing/lighting button, that threw me.

Anyway, I have never had a fan controller before so I had no clue, and am doing research before hand on my first PC build, and I do not want any surprises when I (first) power it up.
 
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Thanks for the info. That is a good thing to know and will help in my deccission as to whether or not to get one.

I read the part about retaining its setting, but they never said whether or not the thing comes on when the PC is powered up or if it only came on when one touched the button as shown in the article.

And another reason I asked is because the article called it a power button instead of calling it a button to view the screen and or hide the screen. Calling it a power button sounded as if it would turn the fan controller on and off, whereby one would then needs be to actually turn it on or off with the button. The ones with knobs do not have power buttons so I figured that they would come on and off by the PC powering up or down. So again it was the use of the term power button, instead of screen viewing/lighting button, that threw me.

Anyway, I have never had a fan controller before so I had no clue, and am doing research before hand on my first PC build, and I do not want any surprises when I (first) power it up.

That just enables the touch controls. It turns the fans on when you turn the PC on just like any other fan controller.

Here's my seven years on hot take: If you don't want to have your motherboard control all of your fans, get a fan controller with knobs or slides. There is less in the way of electronics that can go wrong years down the road, and it's easier to control knobs/slides than it is to power on and control the touch screen.

Don't get me wrong, this is a sweet fan controller and it works great; it's just not what I would choose for my rig. Give me simple, easy to control and access slides/knobs. One exception would be if you had a PC case with a door on the front. In that event, knobs/slides would get in the way and this would be the perfect solution.
 
That just enables the touch controls. It turns the fans on when you turn the PC on just like any other fan controller.

Here's my seven years on hot take: If you don't want to have your motherboard control all of your fans, get a fan controller with knobs or slides. There is less in the way of electronics that can go wrong years down the road, and it's easier to control knobs/slides than it is to power on and control the touch screen.

Don't get me wrong, this is a sweet fan controller and it works great; it's just not what I would choose for my rig. Give me simple, easy to control and access slides/knobs. One exception would be if you had a PC case with a door on the front. In that event, knobs/slides would get in the way and this would be the perfect solution.

Yeh, I like the knobs too, such as with the Lamptron FC5 fan controller that has a screen readout as well so that I can see whats going on. But I also figure that I will dedicate one screen out of four just to monitor the machine and that could just as well have the fan and temp read outs too. For that reason I was also concidering the Lamptron FC8 or the FC2. But for some reason this Lamptron Touch appeals to me as it is not only one fine looking controler as with all of Lampton's fan controllers but I like the idea of the fan picking up speed as the temps heat up without me having to be awake, as there are times that I fall asleep at the PC and have no clue as to what the temps would be for hours on end.

I plan on having at least nine to eleven fans and thought that I could either run eight of them on a controller and let the mother board configure one too three of them, or I could control six and let the mother board do three.

I plan on running a Threadripper 16 core cpu with turbo boast and will be giving it multiple task to do, so I figure that I would want some fans beingt controled by electonic and I could set the rest at a quite but steady pace just to make sure temps stay within range.
 
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