High amp auto fan control

J.K.B. · Oct 14, 2012

I am looking for a commercially available fan controller that will run 1 240cfm delta and 2 ultra kaze fans.

I have read the reviews on here and other places about the Lamptron FC9 working great, but haven't seen any mention of how long the "Touch" would last running these fans. I have watched the youtube video of the touch running 6 of the deltas but that was just for a short time. I'm not interested if it will only work for weeks or months and burn out. Anyone on here know about long term success with the touch and running the fans I have?

I'm tempted to just get one any try it, but would rather save the time and money if someone else has any experience. I've e-mailed Lamptron as well.

Thanks!

Seebs · Oct 14, 2012

It's simple... Figure out what the power consumption is on the fans and then compare that to the power rating on the controller you want.

I'm guessing here, but these are the fans you're interested in running:

Scythe Ultra Kaze 120mm x 38mm - 3000 RPM --> This fan is rated for 0.6A at 12V DC... That means its power consumption is 13.2 Watts (can be 1.5 to 2 times that during startup).

Delta AFB1212GHE 120mm x 38mm - 5200 RPM - 240.96 CFM --> This fan is rated for 3.24A at 12V DC... That mean its power consumption is 38.88 Watts (can be 1.5 to 2 times that during startup)

So basically; you're looking for a fan controller that is rated for at least 50W per channel... That leaves you with a very short list of controllers... A couple of Lamptron are rated that high, but the "Touch" is not one of them... The "Touch" is rated for 30W per channel; it will be able to handle the Kaze Ultra fans without a problem, but running the Deltas for an extended period of time will definitely result in a dead or degraded fan controller.

J.K.B. · Oct 14, 2012

Seebs said:
It's simple... Figure out what the power consumption is on the fans and then compare that to the power rating on the controller you want.

I'm guessing here, but these are the fans you're interested in running:

Scythe Ultra Kaze 120mm x 38mm - 3000 RPM --> This fan is rated for 0.6A at 12V DC... That means its power consumption is 13.2 Watts (can be 1.5 to 2 times that during startup).

Delta AFB1212GHE 120mm x 38mm - 5200 RPM - 240.96 CFM --> This fan is rated for 3.24A at 12V DC... That mean its power consumption is 38.88 Watts (can be 1.5 to 2 times that during startup)

So basically; you're looking for a fan controller that is rated for at least 50W per channel... That leaves you with a very short list of controllers... A couple of Lamptron are rated that high, but the "Touch" is not one of them... The "Touch" is rated for 30W per channel; it will be able to handle the Kaze Ultra fans without a problem, but running the Deltas for an extended period of time will definitely result in a dead or degraded fan controller.

I'm not saying you aren't correct, and based on your numbers I definitely agree with you, but the data from delta and newegg show the AFB1212GHE to draw 29.4watts (2.45A at 12V) which is why I thought it should technically work, but wasn't sure why I couldn't find anything documenting long term success for with that fan.

Something else I wanted to find out was how the lamptron touch regulated its voltage? The delta fan was more than I needed for my situation, and if I set it to not exceed 10V (hypothetically), I should never exceed 24.5w. Most of the time I expect it to run at its rated 6v minimum speed as the computer idles probably 75+% of the day.

If that doesn't sound like a good plan, I'll probably just get 2 more kaze fans and scrap the delta for now since it would handle 4 of those fine. I would have to arrange some stuff in the case to get the 4th in there.

Thanks for the help

Seebs · Oct 14, 2012

I got the data for the Delta from FrozenCPU (here), but on further research; those figures are wrong... The correct number is the 29.4 Watts that you found at Newegg.

That would put it below the "Touch's" rated specs; remember though that the fans will draw considerably more power for a few seconds during startup and that will push the power draw beyond what the "Touch" is rated for... I doubt that a few seconds of "over rating" use will damage the controller, but the risk is still there.

The "Touch", and most other fan controllers regulate fan's speeds by varying the voltage the fan gets. Some use very rudimentary circuitry with variable resistors (Potentiometers) and others use very intricate designs that use programmable chips to generate all sorts of signals; then those signals are used to feed the LCD with the pertinent information and also used to control the output voltages to the fans.

I'm sure you've already seen videos of the Delta in action and are aware of how loud them things are so I'm not even going to say anything on that part...

As far as what would be better for you; well... Since you already have some of the Kaze fans, why not go with more of them.

J.K.B. · Oct 14, 2012

Thanks, and yes I'm very aware of how loud the deltas are

Didn't think they could be "that" bad when I ordered them, but I have one for the exhaust fan on both my home and office computer. The home one is in a conditioned closet, so it just runs wide open all the time with some 250mm fans blowing on the HDs and MB. The one on the office comp is slowed down with a rheostat right now, but the case is pretty deep under the desk and isn't convenient to mess with all the time and frankly, it isn't something I really want to have to pay attention to when I'm working anyway.

If the Touch does a good job on my office comp and designed such that it saves energy when the fans are slowed down and not just wasted (converted to heat), I'll probably get one for the home pc as well.

I appreciate the help and will post about its success or lack-thereof if the delta proves to be too much.

Seebs · Oct 15, 2012

No problem... I am far from a fan controller "expert", but I think that all fan controllers that regulate speed via voltage adjustment will do so by converted the rest to heat... Only way I see no chance of that happening would be on PWM fans and using a PWM controller... That way the controller is always sending 12V to the fan, but in ON/OFF pulses based on the duty cycle selected.

J.K.B. · Oct 15, 2012

Lamptron is pretty responsive with their customer service e-mails. They responded twice to me already in less than 2-3 hrs. They assured me that the Delta will work fine on it and that the start up doesn't last anywhere near long enough to damage the controller. And I have an amp reader that I can put on my power supply and just do fan adjustments to see if it actually reduces power consumption or just bleeds it off in the form of heat when fans are slowed down.

RnRollie · Oct 16, 2012

Bitfenix recon would be very good if you want programmable, but it lacks in Watts/channel
http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon#overview

but programmable AND handling a lot of power: mCUBED T-balancer
http://www.hfx.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151&Itemid=212
see also http://www.overclockers.com/mcubed-fanamp/

Also Alphacool Heatmaster
eg http://www.alphacool.com/product_info.php/info/p674_Alphacool-Heatmaster.html

Also Aquacomputer PowerAdjust
eg http://shop.aquacomputer.de/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=2517

Also Koolance controllers
eg http://koolance.com/ctr-spd10-12v-pump-or-fan-speed-controller

NOTE: most "pump"-controllers handle fans very well

Now, you could of course just use a couple of switches to swapt the delta from 12v to 7v and to change the UKs from parallel to serial (of vice-versa)

wagex · Oct 16, 2012

RnRollie said:
Bitfenix recon would be very good if you want programmable, but it lacks in Watts/channel
http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon#overviewnot enough watts

but programmable AND handling a lot of power: mCUBED T-balancer
http://www.hfx.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151&Itemid=212only 20 watts on analog
see also http://www.overclockers.com/mcubed-fanamp/

Also Alphacool Heatmaster
eg http://www.alphacool.com/product_info.php/info/p674_Alphacool-Heatmaster.html Up to 24 watt pro fan/pump channel.

Also Aquacomputer PowerAdjust
eg http://shop.aquacomputer.de/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=2517this one looks promising 48w

Also Koolance controllers
eg http://koolance.com/ctr-spd10-12v-pump-or-fan-speed-controlleronly36w

NOTE: most "pump"-controllers handle fans very well

Now, you could of course just use a couple of switches to swapt the delta from 12v to 7v and to change the UKs from parallel to serial (of vice-versa)

High amp auto fan control

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