Thank you so much for this!!!! you don't know how much time you saved me as I normal would just get what i thought i might need and start throwing it to together to see if it would work
Also do i need to add that last cap to each controller if i do more than 2 like lets say 4 in a row?
No just one. It stops the main power bus from fluctuating.
And Unfortunately my whole server is currently off line. I am having some network issues and some virus issues that I do not wish to pass on the the viewers. Im sure my server is clean but I dont want to take the chance so once its scanned and I fix up my network it should be up an running again.
Sorry about that.
ThePCGuy said:
Oh how I know what you mean. I just finished stripping a stereo I found in the garbage. The only thing wrong with it is that the cd cover had broken. If I could have found all the pieces, I'd have glued it back together. Well, can't let it go to waste.
You should see the piles of crap I have in my basement. I have a whole file cabinent filled with circuit boards from old TVs, Stereo,s, Radios, etc.
Plus piles of computer stuff on shelves etc. Im a bit insane.
PS for those that don't know, all fans do not need to be lubricated, mostly sleeve bearing fans are the ones that will need to be oiled more often than a ball bearing fan, some ball bearing fans have sealed raceways or tracks making oiling impossible..
Lastly, NEVER EVER use WD40 to lubricate any fan, sleeve or ball bearing, because it's a water displacer, that's what the WD stands for, it's will only provide temporary relief to a noisy fan, a day later it will squeek again.
In the link above it shows a ball bearing raceway, many times ball bearing fans will make noise if the raceway gets damaged or dinged.
PSS, Skeith, interesting site, your alright in my book.
I just used your fan repair information on a laptop blower fan and it works great. The only thing that has to be done differently to silence a laptop fan (at least with mine) is you must remove the blade assembly from the casing and oil the solid motor assembly, no stickers on these babys.
Hiya Skeith,
I was wondering, the BUILD YOUR OWN PWM FAN CONTROLLER on the first page, what is the voltage range for it?
(I'm a beginner modder, so I can't understand a whole lot )
I was thinking about doing it for my cpu fan because it is WAY TOO LOUD for my project.
Hiya Skeith,
I was wondering, the BUILD YOUR OWN PWM FAN CONTROLLER on the first page, what is the voltage range for it?
(I'm a beginner modder, so I can't understand a whole lot )
I was thinking about doing it for my cpu fan because it is WAY TOO LOUD for my project.
12v. up to about 13v i think, anything higher and you risk burning out the NE555 unless you put it on a regulator. On a regulator however the transistor needs to be biased differently. The fan needs to be between 12v and the collector, base to the NE555, and emmitor to ground.
I have it wired as emmitor follower which is the complete oposite, collector to 12v and the fan between the emmitor and ground. I didnt notice it till after I had built it. It works fine for this application but will cause problems on any voltage other than 12v.
Okay I think I understand this right now. So, it runs at 12v, but not constantly, right? The dial, when turned lowers/increases the amount 12v is pushed in. Therefor lowering RPMs, correct?
(That's what I'm trying to do, the cpu fan is too loud for my... private project)
Okay I think I understand this right now. So, it runs at 12v, but not constantly, right? The dial, when turned lowers/increases the amount 12v is pushed in. Therefor lowering RPMs, correct?
(That's what I'm trying to do, the cpu fan is too loud for my... private project)
It doesnt change the voltage, it turns the fan on and off very fast to controll is speed. Basicaly if its off longer than its on, it will run slower, and so on and so forth. The speed is related to the length of time the fan is on and the lengt of time it is off, this is called duty cycle.
this was a good read..i dont think i can build one thoe..
anyone know of a controler that can handle 5 fans? one knob 5 fans?
someone wana build it? i found one that someone built but i dont understand how they did it.
I noticed allot of people like to use the 7V fan mod, this is fine I suppose but it is very ineficient, and it doesnt allow for RPM monitoring.
I have Built a fan controller out of fairly cheap and readily available parts that is extreamly efficient, reliable and doesnt endanger your computers PSU. I feel very sure that anyone who knows how to solder can build this device, whether they understand the electronic workings behind it or not.
For those of you who dont know what Pulse Width Modulation is and why it is more efficient than voltage drop speed controll read the following paragraph, If you already understand the concept feel free to skip ahead to the construction stage.
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is the practice of rapidly turning a motor/device on and off to controll its speeds. This is a very eficient speed controll method because it runs the motor at its rated voltage, thus more torque, more accurate speed controlls and lower starting speeds. Motors can be slowed by loweing their voltage but this in turn reduces the motors torque and in computer fans this could mean less CFM. But how does it work?
A generated frequancy from an oscilator is passed into an OP amp. In the op amp is where the actual Pulse width modulation takes plase. The OP amps threshold is set. (the threshold is the voltage on the frequancy that will trigger a logic High (+5v) on the op amps output. By changeing the threshold you change the length of the pulses and thus change the speed of the motor. The output from the Op amp is then sent to a power management device. Usualy a power transistor, which operates like a normal transistor but can handle higher current. The result from the power output is the motors rated voltage very rapidly changeing from off and on stages.
Constructuion:
The parts you will need are as follows
(1) 390 Ohm resistor (orange , white , Brown)
(1) 330K Ohm resistor (Orange, Orange, Orange)
(1) 10K Ohm resistor (Brown, Black, Orange)
(1) 0.1uF (Microfarad) Capacitor. (commonly stamped with the number 104)
(1) 10K Ohm Potentiometer (Vriable Resistor)
(1) TIP31 or similar power transistor (I used a TIP122)
(1) NE555 timer.
(1) IC PC Board multi-purpose - 417 (by NeXXtech)
(x) 2 pin connector. (these are used to plug the fan into the controller. I salvaged mine from an old motherboard. The type that are used for jumpers.) The number of 2 pin connecters depends on the ammount of fans you wish to run on the channel. I used 2 sets. (to connect 2 fans) keep in mind that the Tip31 can only supply about 2 Amps without a heatsink.
Where to get the parts?
All of these parts are available from Radio Shack (or The Source as its now known in canada). The resistors and Capacitor can be ripped off from an old circuit board if you wish. All of these parts should cost you under $8 if you buy them all. Personaly im cheap so I scavanged for the parts in my junk bin, all I bought was the NE555, the prototype board.
Now for construction. Here is a picture of my first channel that I have complete.
I built this one first so that I could determine if this actually worked. It did! So the information following is explaining how to build a replica of the device. (I built a second identical channel next to the completed one so I could take pictures of the step by step precedure. And belive me there are quite a few).
Follow the pictures. If you followed exacly as they show you should end up with a working fan controller.
So now the procedure starts. First take the NE555 IC and pop it into place. Its pins should end up on either side of the two middle strips in the board. Not in them but in the holes next to them on the smaller perpendicular strips. The middle strips will become your positive and negative rails.Make sure the holes right across from the pins are free as they will be needed to solder in components. Solder it in place.
Now that the IC is in place you need to give it power. Locate Pin one on the NE555. It is marked with a dot. Use a wire to connect this pin to the bottom rail. This will be your negative rail. Connect pin 8 (the pin directly across from pin 1) to the top rail. This is now your positive rail. (you may want to lable them with a felt pen so you remember as you will be using them in future steps. Picture
Jump a wire across the IC to connect pins 2 and 6 together. Then connect pin 2 and 3 together as shown with the 330K Ohm Resistor. Picture
Next take the 10K Ohm resister and use it to connect pins 7 and 8 together.
Use a wire to connect pin 6 to the 3rd free strip from the IC as shown in the picture. Connect the 0.1uF capacitor to that strip and then to ground. (remember its the bottom rail.) Picture And from a different angle
next comes the potentiometer. on the row of holes nearest the edge is where you will want to mount it. Align the center pin of the pot with pin 5 of the NE555. Push it in (it might require a bit of force as most pots have larger terminals). Solder it in place. run a wire from pin 5 of the NE555 to the center pin of the potentiometer. Left are the two end pins on the pot. Connect one to the positive rail and the other to the negative rail. Picture
Now the next step might be a little hard to see, so look carefuly. First use a wire to connect pin 4 of the IC to the positive rail. Then use the 390 Ohm resistor to jump from pin 3 over pin 4 and conect it to the strip next to pin 4's strip. Picture
Next comes the power transistor. Bend the leads right where they change size at a 90' angle backwards (toward the back metal plate of the tansistor). Pin one will be placed into the strip attached to the 390 Ohm resistor. Pins 2 and 3 will go into the single holes. Pin one is the base of the transistor and is what will be driving it, aka turning it on and off. The transistor simply acts as a high speed digital switch. Picture
now comes a bit of a tricky part. Turn the board over. you have to conect pin 2 of the transistor to pin 4 of the NE555. Bend a wire in an L shape and solder it to each pin. Since pin 4 is being supplied with 12 volts this is the shortest way to get the supply voltage to the transistor. Picture Soldered connection.
Now comes the 2 pin connectors to supply the modulated power to the fans.
put pin 1 of the connector (not that it matters theres only 2 and they dont have special shape lol) right across from pin 3 of the transistor on the edge strip. I installed 2 sets for 2 fans. the pins on the side nearest the transistor will be the fans positive. Mark it so with a felt pen for future referance. Picture
Now a bit more tricky soldering. Turn the board over and using a piece of bare wire solder pin 3 of the transistor to the positive strip of the connectors as seen in the image. Picture
Now take a wire and connect it to the negative rail and bring it into the other side of the connectors. (the side away from the transistor). Its the blue wire in the center of the picture. Just poke it through dont solder it yet. Picture
Now what you have to do is bend it over toward the connectors and solder it the strip. (not the positive on or you will get a direct short) This gives the fans their negative power. Picture
Finnaly solder a molex connector to the corresponding negative and positive rails to supply power to the board. Check over your completed device to make sure that everything is right so that you dont end up blowing something on your test run.
Once your confident that its ready to run connect a fan to it (observe polarity) , conncet it to a power supply (I dont recomend your good one in case something is wrong use something cheap like an old school AT powe supply as I did.) once the unit is pluged in turn on the power supply and adjust the potentiometer. You should see your fan change speeds. If they do then you have succesfully built a home made PWM fan controller.
Sure beats spending like $40 on one, plus the building experiance is fun and when your at a lan pary be sure to tell and show your friends... and enemys that your fan controller is home made and built by none other than you!
Here is an image of my fan controller. 2 independent channels capable of controlling 4 fans (and more if i add more connectors.)
Good luck with your project.
If you have any questions please let me know, also I would like to hear from those of you that attempt this project.
Monitoring Fan RPMs while PWMing.
Here is a simple way to do this.
Take a couple connectors from on old PC case (the ones used for the pwr switch/ HDD LED etc.) Cut and strip the wires about a 1cm. Tin the ends with a soldering iron. Attach a 2 conector one to the +12 and ground of the fan. Use the coloured wire for positive and the white or black wire w/e it may be for ground. Now take a 1 connector wire. If your like me and you didnt have one available you can use a 2 connector. take only one of the wires strip it and tin it. It goes into the signal wire of the fan. put a dab of hot glue to keep the wires from poping out. The power conector will attach to the PWM circuit and the other one will attach to the signal pin on the motherboard. If you used a 2 conector wire just make sure the signal line is in the correct spot the others dont matter because those wires arent attached to anything.
sine all the circuits in a computer are common ground this will work with only 1 single connection to the motherboard!
Here are some pics to help you visualize. Fan Connections Motherboard connection Complete setup
Peace out.
A PROFESIONAL LOOKING PCB THAT YOU CAN ETCH YOURSELF.
Alright A little late but like I promised Here is the working completed PCB for a 3 Channel PWM controller. The file is a .PCB and can be opened with Circuit Maker 2000. the DEMO can be downloaded
Im not sure if this link is legal or not all I know is that it was at one time legal to download the 30 day trial for free from microcodes page. However they dont seem to have it on their page anymore since a release of a new software package.
in a ZIP archive. If you have trouble opening the link try right clicking and save as, the service I am using for free hosting doesnt like direct linking.
to make the board. The kit expects you to use the Sharpie as a etchant mask but what you will do is instead use circuit make 2000 to print out the PCB on a piece of paper. Copy and paste them (i should have done it for you) so you get more than one copy before printing. This is key in case you mess up on the following steps as a begginer probably would, as I did the first time I did it.
Once you have the image printed (I think I fit 4 to a sheet.) get it photocopied to a transparancie. Or If you have a LASER printer you can print it directly on a transparancy. It must be a LASER printer because of the heat transfer method used with the toner.
Next mesure and cut your circuit board to your desired size. It should fit just within a 5" drive bay if cut properly. Now use a one of those green dish washing pads. (a clean one ) to clean off the copper it will become nice and shiny. This is key for the ink to stick.
Now get an Clothes iron, an news paper and a clean sheet of printer paper.
set the Iron to Mid High heat and let it heat up.
Cut out one of the transparancy PCB templates for the controller. Look at both sides. The image on one side is shiny and the other is dull. The dull side is the side with the Ink on it. Keep it in mind.
Place the cut and cleaned ciruit board on the newspaper copper side up and place a piece of printer paper over it.
Now Iron it LOL for a couple minutes.
Take the paper off and get ready to put the transparancy on the copper INK SIDE DOWN. Align it by peering through the transparancy with the copper before placeing it down because when it comes in contact with the hot copper the ink will stick.
Place the blank paper on top of the board once again and then Iron it. Iron it for a good 20-30 Sec. Carefull though you dont want the plastic to melt or it will smudge the ink. Now quickly put down the Iron and SLOWLY and CAREFULY peel the plastic off the copper. It should leave behind the INK on the copper. If you feel up to it you can try peeling it as I do by keeping heat applied to it by pulling up on the transparancy and slowly moving the Iron across the copper with the transparancy as it comes off the copper board.
If you messed up let the board cool and re clean it and cut out a new template and start again.
If it looks decent let it cool, it doesnt have to be perfect as you can now use the marker to touch up and copper showing through the lines. Once ready follow the instructions in the Kit to etch the board in the solution.
I find that using a 50/50 mix of the Fehric Chloride and water works beautifully. Move the board around in the liquid exposing it to oxygen perioduclay (ever few seconds) the faster you can move the board the faster it will etch. Try not to spill the chemical as is stains and is corosive. (not that splashing it on my skin ever did anything but dont take the chance) I sugges reading the MSDS sheet for Fehric Chloride before using it. Once your finnished you can bottle the solution and save it for the future.
Next drill the hole for the components on your board. I belive the kit come with a bit. It is very small so be carefull not to break it. If the bit looks too big for the pads i suggest going to a surplus store (like princess auto if your in canada) and pick up a smaller one. A drill press or a dremmel drill press converter is highly recomended because if the bit is pressed at and angle it will break verry easily. Also dont force the bit, If you see it starting to bend your pressing too hard.
Good luck everyone!!!!
PS. Please leave my name in the PCB if you make one as it is my work.
Although I dont mind if you edit it your your own needs.
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