Does color mixing work? Also, fan controller limitations?

[CorvusDove]

I currently have a computer case which will be accepting 36-40 120mm fans. It has two sections (Thermaltake WP200). My favorite color is a shade of blue-violet that just doesnt' come in LED form with case fans. if I mix violet or blue fans with an internal blacklight, or mix two different fan colors (blue and violet), will I get the "average" lighting effect I'm looking for, or am I better off going with only one fan color per section?

Additionally, with the average "5 channel" fan controller, does this mean that if I'm using DC fans I will need an array of 6+ fan controllers down the face of my case to control them all?

 

[Nebulous]

Hard to say without actually seeing those colors in action. Only one way to find out.

 

[EarthDog]

Not sure about the colors...i dont bling.

As far as your fan question...it depends on the controller and how much wattage per channel it supports. Also a consideration, the fans you use... you need to know how much power they pull (look it up). You can likely get a lamptron fc5 which is 30w per channel and combine several on one channel.

Now i have to ask.... how and why so many fans?????

 

[CorvusDove]

Now i have to ask.... how and why so many fans?????

8 on top, 6 on the bottom, 4 on one side, 12 on the other, 2 in back, 4-8 up front. There will eventually be a second rig in the box. I thought about maybe using this time to change to water cooling, but I'm using a Noctua D-15 with 3 of their fans on it, so that seemed like sinking the same expense into one or two components instead of many smaller, more replaceable ones.

 

[EarthDog]

For air cooling, is there a point to put fans in the bottom chamber?

Just sounds like a lot of noise for no reason, that many fans.

 

[CorvusDove]

The power supplies go in the bottom section, as will any components that normally "hang" off of aesthetic components like the RF receiver for its remote, a couple of HDD , and probably at least one raspberry pi. I'm also considering dropping a switch down there so that everything in the case is on its own subnet and is portable with the case, since it has wheels.

In other words, there will be warm stuff down there lol

 

[knoober]

Maybe I can shed some light on the situation... Oh yeah! Punny

My initial instinct is that light not mix like paint to produce other colors, but I should say straight out that I am not certain if it will or not. Light travels in waves and has a color spectrum with literally all the colors in the rainbow. When your eye perceives a color, it is seeing the light that is bounced back from the object. for example if you look at an apple and it appears red, that is because the apple skin has absorbed ever color in the white ambient light (white light is comprised of all colors) and is bouncing only the red spectrum back at your eyes. When you mix paint, say red and yellow to make orange, you are changing the material or object that is doing the bouncing back. White ambient light is still hitting the object , and the object (paint in this example) is still absorbing all the colors except for the one perceived by your eye. So having stated that, I beleive when you have 2 different wavelengths of light (lets say red and blue LEDs) from 2 sources, you will not get a blending. You will have red wavelength and blue wavelength shining at the same time. There will be no violet wavelength for your eyes to see. While there is a possibility that your eyes might trick themselves into seeing purple, I think that will depend on where your light eminates from and what it is shining on and alot of other complicated factors. Theater lighting guys might know something about how to do that kind of stuff though

Let us know what you decide to do in any case. Always glad to see awesome builds

 

[CorvusDove]

I think I sorted out the lighting plan. All purple fans, plus internal LED strips with variable lighting intensity and color. The exterior will be a classy black and purple, but the window and the internals should be more tuned based off of what I do with the LED strips.

Now to handle the fan quantity...I'd reduce the fan count and use 200mm fans, but just one of those costs as much as a three pack of some 120mm fans, so that could get prohibitive quickly.

These are the fans I'm looking at, to resolve the quantity affordably:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071FT1PCP