Daisy-Chaining Fans

[PerlAddict]

Just a quick question:

My setup is going to include an Antec True Control 550, 10 Panaflo L1A's for the case, and 1 Panaflo H1A 92mm for the heatsink (going onto an SP97).

How do you go about hooking up all of these fans to the PSU? Can molex connectors be daisy-chained? I really have no clue when it comes to all this.

Also, since the True Control includes a voltage control panel for a 5.25" slot, could I just use that to control the speed of my fans by raising and lowering the voltage?

Like I said, total noob here about how all the electrical circuitry and wiring hooks up from the mobo, PSU, fans, peripherals, etc ... so any help is appreciate. Zip222 helped me out a whole lot in this thread: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=282570

And I ended up buying the 10 L1A's. But I'm still just at a bit of a loss as to how I go about hooking them all up (and since the PSU and the fans aren't here yet, I don't really have the option of tinkering and figuring it out, so I'd like to have a slight idea before they arrive).

Thanks!
- Dave

 

[itshondo]

you can hook them like that, I just wouldn't physically hook the fans up to the hard drives' connectors.

I have soldered groups of fans (thier leads) together with one connector, limits the clutter. I believe that the molex connectors are rated for 8 amps, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Also after soldering groups of fans together, you can hook them up to a rheobus (get one with max wattage capacity) so that you can adjust the fans speed/noise.

As far as the True Control goes, I had one that I RMA'd (replaced with a Sparkle 530) but you can control SOME of the fans with it. It's leads are smaller than the regular leads and I believe the manual said 2 fans max per lead. Download the manual from Antec's website and see what it says.

 

[PerlAddict]

Well, I don't have a soldering iron, so I'm pretty much gonna have to hook them up without any permanent connecting. I just wasn't sure if molex connectors could be chained together like that. I'm gonna hook up all the fans (except maybe the HSF one, as I'd like to be able to monitor its RPMs) directly into the PSU.

I've seen a few people around here RMAing Antec True series PSUs. I was under the impression that these were some great power supplies. Think most of the instances around here are just unlucky cases, for the most part? I had thought about getting a Fortron/Sparkle, but someone told me it had a tolerance of 5%, whereas the Antec has a 3% one.

Still, I'd like an explanation in even more detail, if possible. Pretend I'm 5, and I have no idea what a molex connector looks like besides having 4 pins in it, and no clue where and what kind of hook ups exist on a PSU (I may get a rheobus later, but want to keep it simple for now. If the noise is too bad, I can always order one after the fact).

Start to finish, what do you need (non-hardmodding wise) to hook up all the fans to the PSU properly and not run too much power through anything?

 

[itshondo]

most fans come with molex connectors that allow chaining them together - so that won't be a problem.

You hook your fans to the 4 pin Molex connectors coming from the psu. And with the true ccontrol unit it has dedicated connectors just for fans. So you can hook up some fans to them and others to the regular connectors.

My True Control kept making my rig reboot and lock up before posting. I just didn't want to go thru it again with the same PSU so i went with the Sparkle FSP530-GNA, a known reliable hi output PSU.

 

[obsolete]

PerlAddict,

I just wanted to add that if you wish to control the fans with the 5.25 control panel that comes with that PSU you must hook them up to the dedicated connectors (there is two different molex connectors you can hook them up to).

The fan control option on the control panel adjusts fan temps on that dedicated line & your PSU fans. There is a 3 pin adapter that comes out of your PSU (it will be a blue wire with 3 pin on end) that you can plug into any 3 pin male on your motherboard for fan monitoring (but I think it just tells you how fast the fans in your PSU are spinning at, which you can probably assume are the speeds of the fans hooked up to the dedicated line). The dedicated fan connectors for that PSU allows up to (I believe off the top of my head) 2900 RPM for a max.

I had two standard 80mm fans hooked up to it & I also had two 120mm fans hooked up to it. (changed it since then, I have a fan controller with four adjustable control knobs for fans that I decided to take advantage of)

-ºb§

 

[obsolete]

**Edit** Sorry....Didn't want to confuse you....

The fan control option on the control panel adjusts fan temps on that dedicated line

SPEED, NOT temps, lmao.

 

[Barn_Angel]

10 fans? jeebus.

well, if you wanna rig it, the black wire from one fan can go into the red wire of the next (unless the FANS +12 isnt red anymore...i beleive it is)

just make sure to clean up with elec. tape, bare wires = fried parts.