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FEATURED Building PWM Controller for 4 wires PWM fan
- Thread starter Brutal-Force
- Start date
- Joined
- May 10, 2009
Yup, direct from the PC, even comes with a USB cable.
They're selling them at or below cost I'd guess. They come with $4.80 of MCUs! That's not including the USB-RS232 conversion on the board.
If they turn out to be promising and you want a couple (few, dozen, whatever) I could ship you some. If you don't mind waiting for the slow boat (literally, I suspect) to get there I think shipping on that sort of thing would run maybe $13.
If they're worth it and you're interested we can work up a deal using the classifieds so we're above board.
They're selling them at or below cost I'd guess. They come with $4.80 of MCUs! That's not including the USB-RS232 conversion on the board.
If they turn out to be promising and you want a couple (few, dozen, whatever) I could ship you some. If you don't mind waiting for the slow boat (literally, I suspect) to get there I think shipping on that sort of thing would run maybe $13.
If they're worth it and you're interested we can work up a deal using the classifieds so we're above board.
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2011
thanks bob,
I'm still lack of confidence to getting started with the MCU...
sticking around with proteus would be my first action when I'm dipping my toe inside this scripting world
I'll be sure to contact you after I get some progress in writing codes and decide to abandon the arduino though
please post the demo version of this TI MCU, would ya
I'm still lack of confidence to getting started with the MCU...
sticking around with proteus would be my first action when I'm dipping my toe inside this scripting world
I'll be sure to contact you after I get some progress in writing codes and decide to abandon the arduino though
please post the demo version of this TI MCU, would ya
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2007
Fans are here and intense. Next up for the electronics manufacturing division is a fan pressure measuring system
Just finished this:
View attachment 93423
View attachment 93424
View attachment 93425
The three outputs go to the fan connector on the right for easy plug'n'play.
On a multimeter they do exactly what I expect them to, tomorrow I'm going to go get my PWM fan as well as plug this thing into the scope and see what things look like.
I should be able to trace all three PWM outputs at the same time... I'll get a pic of that if I remember to bring the camera.
EDIT:
The smaller black electrolytic isn't on the schematic, I added it cause I had room and have a bunch of 'em. Certainly won't hurt.
2.EDIT:
Ignore the wire color on the molex, it was originally a fan adapter, I moved the pin from 12v to 5v, but changing the wire color is somewhat harder.
3.EDIT: The pressure system will be a box, likely cardboard, that the fan attaches to. In this box there will be a hose, the hose will lead to a fairly sensitive pressure sensor ripped out of a cavalier fuel sending unit when the pump died, read by an Arduino clone (BBB or RBBB) and fed into the computer from there. Or maybe into a 2x7 segment display if I get off my tail on that one.
4.EDIT: Neither fan is PWM, despite the Nidec having four wires. Donno what wire #4 is.
Hey guys, whats up? Its been a year and a half since you built this for me Ed, and I'm happy to report that it is still working perfectly, thanks again
I'm considering adding 12 more fans (an upgrade to push-pull) and I'm wondering if you think the controller could handle it? Let me know
Btw, have you tried SpeedFan ?
Although I don't have that mobo, from googling, it uses Nuvoton NCT6776F super IO chip (tech spec HERE) and SpeedFan supports this chip since version 4.43 (check history HERE at 4.43, quoted : "- added full support for Nuvoton NCT6776F, including PWM control"), worth a try though.
Anyway, if you decided to build the controller, share the results here please.
I'm considering adding 12 more fans (an upgrade to push-pull) and I'm wondering if you think the controller could handle it? Let me know
Miah, I think you should try it, I have a gut feeling that the mutant controller of yours should be beefy enough.
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I have downloaded speedfan as a matter of fact... The version is 4.47
According to Speed fan the MVE runs a Nuvoton NCT6779D super IO chip. I have mucked around with Speedfan for a while, but cannot boast yet that I have fully learnt all the controlling features.
Today I did some testing on one of the Chassis fan outlets after getting another short reply from Asus technical. All that was said was that the output is a normal PWM output. However either my board is dodgy, or that is not the case. I plugged a PWM fan into the board and could see that when the fan's speed was reduced, the 12volt rail reduced accordingly.....plus I cannot control a pwm fan with the 12v and earth taken straight from the PSU and the other two pins to the fan outlet.........that works no worries from the CPU output. All I get from any other fan connection is the PWM fan goes max revs. If I connect all four pins, then the MB sees the fan and is able to control the speed....but I am unaware as to how that is done, but it appears to be DC.
I still have five parts of my electronics order to arrive........but will take a pic or two once I can put it together....at least on the breadboard first.
Speaking again about the Super IO, I did not find a summary on the site you mentioned, although I was able to find a few references. One of them appears to be drivers for this particular IO designed for Linux:-
.......... https://github.com/groeck/nct6775
Reading through that (and I also picked it up elsewhere), there appears to be a dual control ability for fans....either DC 0-12 volt ...or PWM. Clearly these linux drivers have an ability to set for either "PWM[1-5]_mode .. =0 for DC and =1 for pwm"
This is almost what I am seeing in this motherboard. Although there is clear mention and abilty to adjust a PWM signal, (including duty cycle) for each fan outlet in the bios....what I am seeing from the MB is more a DC control actually coming out of the fan pinouts. I can find no mention anywhere of a choice between DC and PWM, however.
Anyway, thanks for your interest Bing.... At this stage I am tooling up to build a controller......but also am trying to connect to a reasonable tech person at Asus Taiwan. I am being assisted in that via ROG Sydney. I find it unacceptable today, to not be able to find accurate information concerning an expensive motherboard in the area of fan outlets.
According to Speed fan the MVE runs a Nuvoton NCT6779D super IO chip. I have mucked around with Speedfan for a while, but cannot boast yet that I have fully learnt all the controlling features.
Today I did some testing on one of the Chassis fan outlets after getting another short reply from Asus technical. All that was said was that the output is a normal PWM output. However either my board is dodgy, or that is not the case. I plugged a PWM fan into the board and could see that when the fan's speed was reduced, the 12volt rail reduced accordingly.....plus I cannot control a pwm fan with the 12v and earth taken straight from the PSU and the other two pins to the fan outlet.........that works no worries from the CPU output. All I get from any other fan connection is the PWM fan goes max revs. If I connect all four pins, then the MB sees the fan and is able to control the speed....but I am unaware as to how that is done, but it appears to be DC.
I still have five parts of my electronics order to arrive........but will take a pic or two once I can put it together....at least on the breadboard first.
Speaking again about the Super IO, I did not find a summary on the site you mentioned, although I was able to find a few references. One of them appears to be drivers for this particular IO designed for Linux:-
.......... https://github.com/groeck/nct6775
Reading through that (and I also picked it up elsewhere), there appears to be a dual control ability for fans....either DC 0-12 volt ...or PWM. Clearly these linux drivers have an ability to set for either "PWM[1-5]_mode .. =0 for DC and =1 for pwm"
This is almost what I am seeing in this motherboard. Although there is clear mention and abilty to adjust a PWM signal, (including duty cycle) for each fan outlet in the bios....what I am seeing from the MB is more a DC control actually coming out of the fan pinouts. I can find no mention anywhere of a choice between DC and PWM, however.
Anyway, thanks for your interest Bing.... At this stage I am tooling up to build a controller......but also am trying to connect to a reasonable tech person at Asus Taiwan. I am being assisted in that via ROG Sydney. I find it unacceptable today, to not be able to find accurate information concerning an expensive motherboard in the area of fan outlets.
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- Joined
- May 10, 2009
Hey guys, whats up? Its been a year and a half since you built this for me Ed, and I'm happy to report that it is still working perfectly, thanks again
I'm considering adding 12 more fans (an upgrade to push-pull) and I'm wondering if you think the controller could handle it? Let me know
Awesome! Nice to know it's still going strong.
In theory it should do it without a sweat, PWM specs call for 5ma max draw and each channel out of that thing is rated at 200ma. Even if the fans draw more than they're supposed to, it should work fine.
If it blows up I'll make you the Ultimate, with a PNP / NPN MOSFET pair that can put out amps of PWM signal (don't let that one short out!). I'd be quite surprised if it died though really.
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2010
- Location
- Sunshine State
OK thanks guys....I'll let you know if I decide to do it
Also, I have not been following fans lately....is it still possible to get the non-PWM Scythe GT fans and mod them for PWM?
I think that only works on the AP-29, AP-30 and AP-31 series of GTs... The low speed stuff doesn't have the PCB with the PWM bits on it.
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2011
finally, got the PCB arrive and do some soldering work
(sorry for the dark image, even photoshop has given up on it
)
still need lots of practices to solder things right
and I really hope bing doesn't mind that I named this one "infinity" since it has infinite function (selectable kickstart, working frequency, and reverse/non-reverse PWM selector),
furthermore, these jumpers keep reminds me to the DFI
and bing,
when I tried to measure all the pots that I had, the value always vary from one to another.
should I keep the 9.1K value for the R3 and R4, or should I use the nearest resistor value with the pot?
thanks in advance
(sorry for the dark image, even photoshop has given up on it
)still need lots of practices to solder things right
and I really hope bing doesn't mind that I named this one "infinity" since it has infinite function (selectable kickstart, working frequency, and reverse/non-reverse PWM selector),
furthermore, these jumpers keep reminds me to the DFI
and bing,
when I tried to measure all the pots that I had, the value always vary from one to another.
should I keep the 9.1K value for the R3 and R4, or should I use the nearest resistor value with the pot?
thanks in advance
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
thanks for all of your supports
well it's a little bit shameful, but can anyone show me how to determine the polarity of an smd led, since they really look identical on both of it's end
take your multi meter and put it on the continuity setting and touch the leads one way if it shows current traveling then its right the red is positive and black is positive
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2011
- Location
- Cádiz (Spain)
take your multi meter and put it on the continuity setting and touch the leads one way if it shows current traveling then its right the red is positive and black is positive
If your DMM has no "continuity" setting, use the lowest resistance setting. It's more or less the same thing, but the continuity setting usually triggers a buzzer.
If not, you can always use this.
http://lighthouseleds.com/blog/polarity-guide-of-0402-0603-0805-1206-and-most-all-smd-leds.html
- Joined
- May 10, 2009
Got the boards. Guess what? Convinced it to cough up a 25kHz signal and it controls an Intel fan quite nicely!
From 0% to 100% in ~640 steps. That fine enough control for everybody?
At 16kHz you get ~1000 steps.
This is just ~15m of playing with it, there are a bunch more PWM options I think. I've just scratched the surface and abused some code someone posted asking for help. Blindly, I might add, as I couldn't find the info in the datasheet I was reading.
Right now I'm woefully late cooking dinner, so I need to do that.
After dinner, some pictures and a code snippet.
From 0% to 100% in ~640 steps. That fine enough control for everybody?
At 16kHz you get ~1000 steps.
This is just ~15m of playing with it, there are a bunch more PWM options I think. I've just scratched the surface and abused some code someone posted asking for help. Blindly, I might add, as I couldn't find the info in the datasheet I was reading.
Right now I'm woefully late cooking dinner, so I need to do that.
After dinner, some pictures and a code snippet.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2011
- Location
- Soviet Mexico
I thought i smelled the start of a dinner from my vantage point in your neighbors bushes, where I do all my spying on your electronics projects
I am gonna order up a few the the DIP 20, attiny 861's i thinkand probably build a fan controller around it for fun. Need a extra controller for the benching room anyways.
I am gonna order up a few the the DIP 20, attiny 861's i thinkand probably build a fan controller around it for fun. Need a extra controller for the benching room anyways.
