Thermaltake 120mm Blue LED fan (a2018) question?

[barfly]

I'm thinking of putting 5 of these fans into my Silverstone TJ09-BW case and i have a question. This fan comes with a fan controller that goes into a PCI slot, will i be able to manage all 5 fans with that single controller? Anyone know?

[road]

The included controller seems to only offer a single fan connector. Someone has probably modified one for use with multiple fans on a single dial but I imagine that screws up the resistance/control it provides if not done correctly.

Would you settle for the always on setting on three of the five or using the temp sensors included? This would leave just 2 pci slots used for two controllers. I wouldn't want to reach behind my pc too often, someone here suggest a good controller?

Thermaltake controllers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ategory=11

[Alathald]

I doubt it would control all five as is, most fan controllers don't, but you could easliy mod it as road pointed out...you'd need to make sure the resist change is accounted for though, use ohms law to calculate what value resistor you will need to add to the circuit though. If you don't know how to do this, DON'T experment and hope it works...I'm sure if you post the vaule of the varible resistor we can help you out with the needed resistance but you'd have to do the soldering yourself...

[barfly]

Thank you for the replies! I had a feeling i won't be able to control all 5 of thosefans with that controller. I don't think i'll be able to mod it either,it sounds a bit complicated. I think i'll take an easier way out and get a TT A2349 fan controller or one made by Zalman (ZM-MFC1) as suggested by road. Or i can get 5 Antec Tricool fans instead, they have switch that let's one adjust the fan speed. Only reason i had the TT fans as my number one choice is because i was under the impression that they are quieter than Antec at lower speeds. I like the idea of having multi-speed fans since that will let me adjust speed depending on the system temperature. I welcome any other suggestions anyone may have.

[Alathald]

Thank you for the replies! I had a feeling i won't be able to control all 5 of thosefans with that controller. I don't think i'll be able to mod it either,it sounds a bit complicated. I think i'll take an easier way out and get a TT A2349 fan controller or one made by Zalman (ZM-MFC1) as suggested by road. Or i can get 5 Antec Tricool fans instead, they have switch that let's one adjust the fan speed. Only reason i had the TT fans as my number one choice is because i was under the impression that they are quieter than Antec at lower speeds. I like the idea of having multi-speed fans since that will let me adjust speed depending on the system temperature. I welcome any other suggestions anyone may have.

not to complicated if you're any good with a soldering iron...of course a real fan controller is probally best cause you won't have to cut anything (though if your innovative, you wouldn't have to cut anything...)

If you do this, you should still have each indivual fan plugged into the mobo, forgot to include that in my doodle below

Look on the back of the varible resistor to find it's value (it's usaully stamped on or if not use a multimeter).

With V=IR (ohms law), we want the current (I) to remain the same so
if you have n number of fans wired in series, the voltage would be nV so to keep the current the same, the resistance must be nR so nV=I*nR, everything is equal and the current is the same as it originally was.
you have 5 fans so the value of the resistor needed would be (5R-R) so 4R where R is the value of the varible resistor.

anyone else doing this, the value of the needed resistor is (n-1)R where R is the value of the varible resistor and n is the number of fans.
As you can see, if n=1 the value of the needed resistor is 0


Of course, if you do this you're on your own, the math is sound but I take no responsibility if you screw something up

[barfly]

Interesting, it doesn't sound that complicated on paper, however, i already decided upon and ordered the Thermaltake A2349 fan controller and 5 fans. I was sold on the controller because it will add some flavor my case, the blue LED display looks really cool and it displays some useful info like various system temperatures. It only controls 4 fans though, i guess i can use the sensor probe or that PCI slot controller to manage the 5th fan. I'm sorry you had to go into this all this explaining for nothing, but i still appreciate your and road's tips in helping me make this decision.

[Alathald]

...i already decided upon and ordered the Thermaltake A2349 fan controller and 5 fans. I'm sorry you had to go into this all this explaining for nothing, but i still appreciate your and road's tips in helping me make this decision.

Probably a much better (and safer) way to go, as for the explaining, I don't mind just sharing the knowledge (kinda fun actually)

Hope you enjoyed the reading