High Amperage fans using PWM Splitter

GotNoRice

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I'm curious if anyone has any experience running high-amperage fans via a PWM splitter.

I'm talking about something like this: https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?area=en&pid=526

I use one already, but the fans I have connected are all rated between .20a and .50a. It works great with those fans.

But what about fans like these?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/293967917401

The hubs are great because they take power from a SATA connector instead of the motherboard header, but I assume the splitter still has a limit. Unfortunately I can't find any guidelines on what that might be. About 10 years ago I had a 5.25" drive-bay manual fan controller and tried to use a 120mm Delta fan similar to the one linked above. The fan seemed sluggish when cranked up to full power and after a week or so one of the capacitors in the fan controller died.
 
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Yeah, it makes sense that the SATA power connector would hit it's limit at some point. I'm mainly wondering about a per-fan limit on the individual fan headers. If 4.5A is the limit of the SATA connector, then would that mean I could run two 2 amp fans, or even a single 3 amp or 4 amp fan?
 
Yeah, it makes sense that the SATA power connector would hit it's limit at some point. I'm mainly wondering about a per-fan limit on the individual fan headers. If 4.5A is the limit of the SATA connector, then would that mean I could run two 2 amp fans, or even a single 3 amp or 4 amp fan?
that's up to the controller, and as far as I can tell, they don't list per fan header specs. I personally wouldn't exceed 1A on any header that doesn't explicitly state it is rated for more.
 
that's up to the controller, and as far as I can tell, they don't list per fan header specs. I personally wouldn't exceed 1A on any header that doesn't explicitly state it is rated for more.

Well that would be a shame. My main goal here would be to use fans that are more powerful than what could be hooked directly to a motherboard fan header, while still being able to control them via PWM. The fan headers on my motherboard are already good for 1A each.
 
Well that would be a shame. My main goal here would be to use fans that are more powerful than what could be hooked directly to a motherboard fan header, while still being able to control them via PWM. The fan headers on my motherboard are already good for 1A each.
you could contact the manufacturer directly. They might be able to get info as to what it is specced for, but I wouldn't count on it.
 
I got the ID-COOLING FH-07, which works, surprisingly enough. Not sure how, but you can put the sata connector on either side and it "just works".

I removed the power and comm pins from the motherboard side, because I didn't feel comfortable with the prospect of feeding power from the sata plug to the mb (although theoretically it shouldn't).

Now, whether it'll melt with 4A going to a single fan, I don't know. You definitely will want to check the pinouts on those fans though, as some server fans have different layouts from standard PC fans.
 
Well that would be a shame. My main goal here would be to use fans that are more powerful than what could be hooked directly to a motherboard fan header, while still being able to control them via PWM. The fan headers on my motherboard are already good for 1A each.

If you stay within power specs of the supply point, you can do what you like.
The current flow (and power use) is low enough not to care about heat unless you bandage the connections up.
 
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Wire used in SATA cables is 18 AWG. 7 amps is pretty much where you want to stop (5% transmission loss for a six foot run)
 
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