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Fractal Design built in fan controller

thedons1983

From what I can tell the built in fan controller on my Fractal Design Node 304, provides either 12V, 7V or 5V, depending on the setting of (High-Medium-Low), utilising the 7V/5V trick that is detailed here:

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article6-page1.html

 

Can anyone confirm please whether this is actually the case?  I naively assumed that Fractal were doing some proper voltage control, using resistors or something, with their fan controller... But from looking at the wiring going into it, it actually looks like they are just using the same 7V/5V trick described in the above article, which seems pretty bloody janky to me!  I'd love to know therefore, if my assumptions are correct, or if I'm being an idiot!  Cheers

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6 minutes ago, thedons1983 said:

From what I can tell the built in fan controller on my Fractal Design Node 304, provides either 12V, 7V or 5V, depending on the setting of (High-Medium-Low), utilising the 7V/5V trick that is detailed here:

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article6-page1.html

 

Can anyone confirm please whether this is actually the case?  I naively assumed that Fractal were doing some proper voltage control, using resistors or something, with their fan controller... But from looking at the wiring going into it, it actually looks like they are just using the same 7V/5V trick described in the above article, which seems pretty bloody janky to me!  I'd love to know therefore, if my assumptions are correct, or if I'm being an idiot!  Cheers

i can neither confirm nor deny as i don't have a multimeter to hand, all i can tell you is the one on my Define R4 is garbage i bought a separate 5.25" controler

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Fair enough, I've come to much the same conclusion regarding my case too, as with a BeQuiet Pure Wings 2 attached to the controller, the fan will not run at all at "High" or 12V, despite being a DC fan.  It runs fine from the MB header under DC control however.  Also one of the front 92mm Fractal SSR2 intake fans stops at 5V... sometimes... but works fine at other times, and the switch itself seems flaky as I if I touch it (slight pressure), but without switching modes, it stops some fans sometimes.  All of this makes me think that my PSU just doesn't love how the Fractal fan controller works... Which is fair, cause neither do I... Because ultimately they are doing it in such a half-assed way.  

 

I can't believe that not one single review has caught this problem whilst reviewing Fractal cases in the past, as a lot of them have this same controller.  Hell, Linus even did a video back in the day, showing how to to the 7V trick, but expressly saying that you should not do it.  

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3 hours ago, thedons1983 said:

I can't believe that not one single review has caught this problem whilst reviewing Fractal cases in the past, as a lot of them have this same controller.  Hell, Linus even did a video back in the day, showing how to to the 7V trick, but expressly saying that you should not do it.  

 

The thing with controller and fans is mainly fan issue. Since most 3pins have starting rpm at 40% and 5V might be lower than that. So on boot and if controller is set to low, fans don't start, not even when changed to high. It happens on other controllers too. One reason why they are dying breed.

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1 hour ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

 

The thing with controller and fans is mainly fan issue. Since most 3pins have starting rpm at 40% and 5V might be lower than that. So on boot and if controller is set to low, fans don't start, not even when changed to high. It happens on other controllers too. One reason why they are dying breed.

According to others evidence, the fans that I plan to use (NZXT FN V2) will start fine at 5V... Indeed my Bequiet Pure wings 2, my Fractal SSR2 140mm, my two 92mm Fractal SSR2s, and even my Corsair SP120s will ALL start at 5V without any problem at all... I'm thinking now that most DC fans will actually start at that voltage, unless they are just poorly designed, looking at the evidence I have seen.  The fans in question need no encouragement to spin, and will happily run at 5V all day long.  FYI.

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58 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

 

The thing with controller and fans is mainly fan issue. Since most 3pins have starting rpm at 40% and 5V might be lower than that. So on boot and if controller is set to low, fans don't start, not even when changed to high. It happens on other controllers too. One reason why they are dying breed.

Also the controller and fans in the example provided were all standard items provided with the case, so I think Fractal at least know how their fans work...

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1 minute ago, thedons1983 said:

According to others evidence, the fans that I plan to use (NZXT FN V2) will start fine at 5V... Indeed my Bequiet Pure wings 2, my Fractal SSR2 140mm, my two 92mm Fractal SSR2s, and even my Corsair SP120s will ALL start under 5V without any problem at all... I'm thinking now that most DC fans will actually start at that voltage, unless they are just poorly designed, looking at the evidence I have seen.  The fans in question need no encouragement to spin, and will happily run at 5V all day long.  FYI.

Just sayin'. Its different when if they would be connected to mobo (without ULNA aka 5V resistor) where mobo boots them to 100% as part of POST procedure.

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Just now, LoGiCalDrm said:

Just sayin'. Its different when if they would be connected to mobo (without ULNA aka 5V resistor) where mobo boots them to 100% as part of POST procedure.

Fair enough... But these are not connected to the MB, so that's kinda irrelevant.

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