Help me understand how to use Thermaltake Commander FP

[shepy22]

I currently have 8 fans I want to connect and monitor their speed. 6 arctic p12, 2 pure wings 2. When I plug each of them in will I still be able to set fan curves in the BiOS because it says that only one side of the plugs has signal detection? Could I also use 4-pin splitter/connectors? Can someone link me a 3x 4-pin to 4-pin mobo piece?

[Robchil]

if you use a splitter 1 cable will have a sticker marked pwm signal, it can only read the speed from one fan the rest are basically DC fans(3pin).. 

 

anything more than 3 fans should use a powered controller since the fan headers on the mainboard only deliver so much ampere on each header if you add too many you can easily burn out a fan header over time that will not work at all anymore. 

a 10x fan controller are dirt cheap, some have molex power, i would choose one with sata power connector. 

 

it will read the speed of the fan plugged to port 1, and deliver equal power to all connected fans depending on fan curve. that means you can have any pwm fan connected, and they will run with equal power % delivered.

 

if you want to monitor more than 1 fan, you need to connect the fans directly to a fan header..

 

if you have 3 in the front, with a splitter you will monitor those 3 as 1 fan. and only use 1 fan header for those 3 fans, as speed will be the same on all 3 if they are the same brand and model. 

 

you have to look up the rpm range of your fans, some are 3000rpm some only 1800.. with same % power delivered to them the speeds will be different so you can mix them but you won't read the speed on all when they are on a splitter/fan hub. 

 

just google pwm 3 way splitter you get them in 2 and 3 pack's too. or search on amazon

 

 

[RevGAM]

10 hours ago, shepy22 said:

When I plug each of them in will I still be able to set fan curves in the BiOS because it says that only one side of the plugs has signal detection?

Yes, if they are plugged into separate headers. Signal detection on one side is not a reason for concern. Even if the headers are 3-pin, they can still vary the voltage to control the speed. 

 

10 hours ago, shepy22 said:

Could I also use 4-pin splitter/connectors?

If 2 or more fans share the same header/ hub/repeater, the first fan will be the "master", and all subsequent fans on that header or hub will follow its lead. There are some controllers that allow individual control of each fan directly plugged into a header on it.