XCLIO Case Fan Wiring Issue

[devilDogbert]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased an XClio Touch 320 case in which to build my girlfriend a Christmas PC. It looked interesting and the price was right, so I snapped it up before doing my due diligence. As it has a front panel fan controller included, I expected to see your average 3-pin fan cables plugged into the control box when I opened it up. This is not the case. XClio uses smaller 3-pin cables that I haven't been able to locate online anywhere, and based on user reviews of their customer service, have decided not to waste my time asking there. I will post pictures shortly.

The mobo I got her doesn't have the fan connections to accommodate all 5 extra fans I got, plus I'd like to utilize the fan controller if at all possible.

My question is this: Can I just splice the normal 3-pins that come with average case fans to fit the new ports in the control box? Or are there separate cable formats that I've just not seen or heard of? I know the power output to fans needs to be within a certain range, but does the cable connection have some bearing on that?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Diggrr]

I found a pic of the power module, you mean this (bottom pic) ? The front 6 ports are for fans, no?

**edit. on second look, that set's for PWM fans with 4 wires. If the locator keys in the plug slots are downward, keep your 3 pin connectors to the left and plug 'em in. The controller might not change their speeds, but they'd have power from there.
Other than that, I'd suggest a separate controller for 3 pin fans you bought, OR you can get molex drive power adapters and power them directly off the power supply OR you can get PWM fans.
Not perfect, but that's all I got.

Don't know what the tiny 3 pin ones are for, but to think of it, I've seen that plug on graphics card fans before--just like the standard ones, but tiny.

 

[devilDogbert]

You found the exact one, Diggrr, they are 4-pin not 3-pin.

If the 4-pin fans are PWM, what is the designation for regular fans? And do you know of any converter cables between the two?

 

[Diggrr]

I've never needed a converter because the socket for PWM fans is also made to accept the 3-wire plugs, that's why the key (tabs on the side) is offset on PWM plugs. The fourth, unused wire, is for the PWM function.
I'm using a 3-pin case fan on my 4-pin motherboard header right now, by just shifting it to the left when I plug it in. It's a quiet fan, so I haven't been bothered that it's speed isn't controlled.
There's no converter cable that I'm aware of, as the sockets are supposed to accept both types. If their sockets are not standard, shave off the keys.
If you want to control your 3-pin case fans, you'll need an additional controller or PWM fans.


**as for the small sockets on there, it might be an Asian market thing. The only small 3 pin fan plugs in use here are on some power supply fans, GPU fans or on Panaflo fans (their wiring is removable). If you'd like to splice wiring, you can get a "Panaflo tail" wire and give it a try...I say splice because you'd still end up attempting to plug a male fan plug into a male tail plug. Sidewinder.com has these tails in stock. I have NO idea if your controller would change the speed on those sockets...
Sidewinder fan cables HERE

 

[devilDogbert]

Hrm, I will give it a shot. For now I'm picking up a 5.25" fan controller, but i'm wondering if I couldn't just buy a few of the female narrow 3-pin plugs and then swap those for the plugs on my standard case fans.

 

[Diggrr]

Might be able to do that with 4 pin plugs too, I just dis-assembled my PWM fan connector for ya, and the metal bits look the same.
HERE

 

[devilDogbert]

That is awesome, I learn something new every thread
So, even if the fan isn't PWM, I can still pop a 4-pin connector on it and plug it into the case controller? Even if that fourth pin is still receiving power, it won't have a negative effect on the system as a whole?

 

[Diggrr]

Nope, no problems.
PWM (pulse width modulation) works by turning on&off the drive voltage in the fan like flipping a switch. The wider (longer) the "on" pulses, the faster the fan spins. That 4th wire is the signal wire that tells it's built in chip when to pulse the power, so it can be ignored with no ill effects by a normal fan.
No idea why they wanted that chip in the fans instead of in the controller, could have saved a whole bunch of issues.

Have you tried to plug your 3 pin fans into the PWM controller yet? If it follows the standard, they should fit (on the 3 left-most pins according to that pic I found, leave the right-most pin ignored).

*Oh, and be careful when swapping to keep them in the same order as they are on their old connector.

 

[devilDogbert]

Have you tried to plug your 3 pin fans into the PWM controller yet?

Yep, first thing I did. The connectors are different sizes entirely, the case controller is PWM 4-pin, my case fans look like this:


The 3-pin connectors are too thick to fit in the PWM controller sockets But I will try swapping those connectors out.