Fan Controller Question

[Mythmaker]

Fan controllers answers are so hard to find, googled a few hours still no result lol... hopefully someone can help clear my doubts

1) Does a FC have the same concept as a speaker? As in variable resistor controlling voltage to fan determines how fast it will spin?

2) If the fan emits high pitch sound when set at every other setting other than the max setting, is it the fan's fault or FC?

3) Following #2, what if the fan is tested okay at 5v and 7v via connecting from PSU? That means no high pitch noise. So is the fan controller faulty?

4) If it's the fan controller that is faulty, is it possible to solve the issue by changing the capacitor (gather from google that mostly is capacitor problem)? If so which capacitor should be bought?

5) If a FC says it supports 50w per channel and you have a fan running at 12v*0.25A = 3W, does that mean that it's possible to attach 16 of such fans to a knot?

thanks alot guys...

 

[s9521428b]

My silver stone the fan controller there hor, i dont see a fuse but i think there is la, a small one inside the small little square box, its just a tuner to adjust the voltage.
The higher the magnetism caused by the voltage, the faster it will spin o.o

 

[NicedayIntl]

5) yes, tested before.

 

[Mythmaker]

wow, that's nuts lol. But why would anyone need to attach so many fans?

Anyway, any idea for #3? I'm going down uvinum tmr to 1 to 1 exchange my Lampton FC3... I'll test on the spot. if it's still the same problem I'll probably have to get another FC, probably NZXT sentry 2 or something.

But scared is change FC liao still same problem lol.

 

[cnt]

if use 1a fan den can only connect 4 mah

 

[jarred1223]

wow, that's nuts lol. But why would anyone need to attach so many fans?

Anyway, any idea for #3? I'm going down uvinum tmr to 1 to 1 exchange my Lampton FC3... I'll test on the spot. if it's still the same problem I'll probably have to get another FC, probably NZXT sentry 2 or something.

But scared is change FC liao still same problem lol.

Bring the fan along to test

 

[cnt]

it seems to me tht the fc switch betw diff lines from the power supply to get 3,5,7 n 12v to get 4 speeds

 

[NicedayIntl]

the sound now from the fc ? i last time encounter fc make noise when i reduce fan speed.
your problem dunno cause only you and a few others have that fan.

i not sure about fc-3 i like another model from lamptron.

 

[commach]

Fan controllers answers are so hard to find, googled a few hours still no result lol... hopefully someone can help clear my doubts

1) Does a FC have the same concept as a speaker? As in variable resistor controlling voltage to fan determines how fast it will spin?

Almost the same, both are using linear VR (in most cases) to control the resistance.

2) If the fan emits high pitch sound when set at every other setting other than the max setting, is it the fan's fault or FC?

Hard to say, not all fans and FC are construct uniformly.

Some DC fan might not work at all when the input voltage is less than 40% of the default voltage, some will work at a slower speed but emit rattling or humming noise due to under voltage supply. High pitch noise rarely happen for under voltage supply, high pitch noise can be a result not limited to design flaw on the filter capacitor implemented on the FS.

3) Following #2, what if the fan is tested okay at 5v and 7v via connecting from PSU? That means no high pitch noise. So is the fan controller faulty?

Highly possible, but more tests need to be conduct to conclude the finding.
Did you try using other DC fan on the FC?

4) If it's the fan controller that is faulty, is it possible to solve the issue by changing the capacitor (gather from google that mostly is capacitor problem)? If so which capacitor should be bought?

If the FC can control the speed of the fans, we can't say it's faulty, flaw will be a better word unless the FC simply failed to control the fans.

Changing the filter capacitor might not fix the problem if the flaw is not on the capacitor, it could be due to bad VR or flaw on the entire circuit.

5) If a FC says it supports 50w per channel and you have a fan running at 12v*0.25A = 3W, does that mean that it's possible to attach 16 of such fans to a knot?

thanks alot guys...

In paper, yes.

But in reality, no.

More connector/join and lenght/quality of wire lead to higher resistance, hence it's not a direct divide or multiply factor.

 

[NicedayIntl]

Like i said i did it before 7 fans 0.37A one channel, +1 for reality.

 

[commach]

Any indivdual can connect 10 dozens of fan to a single rail if he/she likes that idea.

As a matter of principle and safety, i will not provide any advice that lead to overloading.
+1 for safety and principle.

Edit: Typo

 

[Mythmaker]

thanks boss commach for the very detail explanation!!!!

I went to 1 to 1 exchange the Lamptron FC3 today and the new set had the same problem. So I bought a NZXT Sentry 2 and to my surprise, it worked perfectly! No high pitch noise or anything. My rig is pretty silent now.

So it was the fan controller that is "flawed" =)

to commach:
I had tried other DC fans on the FC, only 1 didn't emit the high pitch sound. Just wondering whether there's an explanation for this weird behavior?

Kaze Jyuni 1200rpm
12v/0.26A
1200rpm
sleeve bearing

Had tried sflex D and E and kaze jyuni 1900 as well.

 

[GegeV2]

You should watch out for PWM controllers, which are what causes the clicking with fans on the FC-2. You'll want to look for something that actually steps the voltage down, the FC2 is good....with most on paper only. In reality, it's quite disappointing. some that is

 

[commach]

Are you able to see the rating (voltage and uf) on the filter capacitor on the Lamptron FC?

I suspect the filter capacitor is under voltage for the job.

I noticed some better quality fans (Sunon, NMB and Panaflo) come with surface mount capacitor to filter the electronic noise on the incoming (+) rail. So my guess is the Kaze's fan is a better quality fan, will take note of this for future purchase, haha.

 

[Mythmaker]

i took a look at the lamptron FC3 and there's 1 big capacitor at the side. Suspect u meant this:

It says 220uf and 50v.

 

[commach]

From the picture, the capacitor is at the output after the VR, 50V seem too high for such application, 16/25V will be good enough to filter the line.

Higher voltage doesn't neccessary mean better when using capacitor as line filter, try to change it to a 16 or 25V 220uf capacitor, the noise should be eliminated once and for all.

 

[Mythmaker]

ah thanks!!!! I'll search for a 25v/220uf capcaitor when I head over to slt. Hopefully I'll be able to use the lamptron back... don't really like the nzxt sentry's touchscreen lol. Prefer knots

 

[commach]

Do take note you need to solder the capacitor exactly as the default polarity, you can't change the + and - different from what it's now.

 

[megalord]

Actually unlike what many people think today, most PC case fans nowadays are Brushless DC motor driven. Its not directly driven by the voltage one feed to the case fan, like in the case of a DC motor.

In the case fan, there is a fan controller, or more precisely motor driver. Most of the fans i dismentled today are 3 phase BLDC motor. 3 Phase BLDC driver can cause acoustic noise depending on what topology the driver is built upon. That aside, bearings of the motor is one of the prime causes of noise, unless you happen to get hold of a fluid dynamic bearing version. Anyway, if one day anyone of you are feeling advanterous, try a professional commercial BLDC driver from any reputable companies (Maxxon, NI etc etc) and hear the difference.

For filter capacitors, if the voltage rating is too low, it would likelihood have exploded. For switching applications, the capacitor has to have low Equivalent Series Resistance, aka ESR, for optimal filtering effect. Having a large capacitance and voltage rating on a capacitor doesn't directly result in low noise ripples for switching applications if the ESR rating is not low.

 

[NicedayIntl]

You should watch out for PWM controllers, which are what causes the clicking with fans on the FC-2. You'll want to look for something that actually steps the voltage down, the FC2 is good....with most on paper only. In reality, it's quite disappointing. some that is

i agree. the simple 0v 7v 12v is the best for FC. PWM controllers although can control multiple fans in one channel may cause the noise. I think noise isolator FC issue was mentioned before.

zalman that old fan controller very good.