Say NO to knobs - motorized fan controller!

[HiProfile]

I just got my package from AllElectronics with 5 ofthese fancy motorized pots. They work off of 6v (although they should take up to 13v I believe), have a few cool features - 2 pins are for the embeded red LED (!!) in the shaft, then the other row of pins effectively give you 2 seperate pot 'channles' (as in run 2 VR's with one knob), let you reverse them, and also let you use 2 other pins as constant 10k resistors.

I also got some micro rocker switches (frameless/bezelless) that are normally off, and momentary-on when they rock to either side. I plan on mounting the switches in one of my 3.5" bay faceplates, with the PWM controller relocated to the side of the 5.25" bays out of sight. I'm planning on using the -12v line for reversing the motor on the pot, but I'll probably put a small resistor to slow the motor down some.

I want to use this for the WC system I'm making in my PC-60, so I wanted small switches instead of round knobs for the fan/pump controller. I plan on using a 3amp LM350 for the pump so I can undervolt it if I feel like it... The other 3 channels will be for rad/case fans. Another idea I might toss in are hi/low LED's - rig up a red/blue LED for each switch, which turn on when the pot gets to the end of its travel (simple contact switches).


PS - Sorry if you thought this was a finished project...the Nexus I modded into a PWM fan controller let me refine my ideas, so this one shouldn't take long. I also have a much better pcb material & soldering iron to use, as the radioshack POS was prone to pads melting off w/the old 18w iron.

 

[Korndog]

I wanted to try those out. can't wait to see some pictures.

 

[HiProfile]

I've made good headway so far, only real problem is I'm dead tired all of a sudden.

All I have to say about the proto board is that Velleman makes a heluva product. In the picture I've wired up the components for 3 of the 4 channels. I have to slightly alter the LM317 layout for the slightly-different items I'm using for the 3amp monster LM350. Can you guess which heatsink is for the LM350? BTW those copper ones were the ones I had on my LM317-modded Nexus; the sinks are made from a low-profile Xeon HSF I got for $5. I'll probably need to have active cooling since the HSF section for the LM350 may only cool ~25watts on a cpu... Did I mention I was tired?

What I like is that the knobs can be moved by hand w/o them moving the motor's armature. The motor also keeps spinning after it reaches the end of travel, so I can't burn the communicator either. No, they aren't brushless...