Zalman LED flashes after fan controler install

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vsboxerboy

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So I installed the Lian-li 3.5" bay fan controller in my rig...its pretty cool and seems to work well BUT I hooked it up to my Zalman CNPS7000LED and the blue led light blinks rather annoyingly probably 3-5 times a second. Now, I'm assuming this has to do something with the fan controller providing less than +12V to the cooler right.

Basically, is there any way that I can get the light to stay on, and if so can I get it back to the brightness that it was once at...possibly changing out the LED with one of a lower resistance?? can this be done, has it been done?? Thanks again guys

oh and I'll also looking to do the same on the VF700CULED that I have yet to mount on my brand new MSI diamond plus...mmmmmmmmmmmmm HDMI
 
You could go from blue to red, red LED's have a lower cut in voltage then blue. Or you could try to change the resistor leading to the LED, it might be in the motor housing somewhere though.
 
Does that controller use PWM or Vcontrol?

If it's using PWM signals... You're pretty out of luck.
 
Pulse Width Modulation...

Rather than varying the voltage, it sends x pulses of voltage/second to control the speed of the fan... Producing the flicker you see (kinda like the flicker seen from a set of LED christmas lights, as they're actually turning on/off 60 times a second) when speed is reduced.
 
hummm so assuming this is the pulse width modulation, theres no...eh reverse capacitor if you get what i mean that would smooth out the pulses?

btw is PWM bad for fans or louder at all?
 
I found a review online of that controller.

http://www.caseclosed.co.uk/article_review_citrusc_lianli_tr3lcdfancontroller.htm

from the review

"It's also worth noting that this unit is powerful enough to cater for high drain fans as well, such as the HE DELTA and Vantec Tornado series: bare in mind the unit is designed for standard fans, so you'd need to get a 4pin to 3pin converter for the Tornado fans and forgo the automatic speed monitoring system - all the unit can do is monitor these type fans, not control them.

In the case of the DELTA fans, automatic speed control is possible, but only at voltage levels - the controller doesn't know you've got a super high speed fan connected, so it would only reduce the speed of the fan in relation to a voltage to temperature ratio. This isn't a bad thing though, the fans still run a lot quieter when the temperature of the area it is monitoring is low."

So that tells me its probably using pulse, and not just voltage control

But, that is just a guess on my part.

Im glad you posted this, and I will be able to give you more of an answer later on, becuase I was wondering If I could hook up that cooler to my fan controller. I have one being shipped to me from the egg as we speak(the 9700 that is), supposed to arrive today...

I have a different controller than you, I have the Vantec/Nexus 205... and i very much want to hook it up to my 9700, and i was wondering if anyone had hooked it up to their fan controller.

I will test mine when i get it, and let you know what it does, so you can know if its the cooler, or your controller.
 
bradyapba said:
I have a different controller than you, I have the Vantec/Nexus 205... and i very much want to hook it up to my 9700, and i was wondering if anyone had hooked it up to their fan controller.
Click to expand...

I have the same Nexus fan controller.... but the CNPS9500LED. Didn't notice any pulsing or dimming of the LED when lowering fan speeds (or at full speed - 90% of the time). Recently took out the 9500 in favor of Water Cooling... did notice when the side cover came off... that the LED was no longer "emitting light" (yes, system was still on). Since I don't have a windowed case, LED's don't mean much to me.... unfortunately, I bought the LED version when they first came out and before the non-LED versions were available in mass. So that will give you some indication on how old my 9500 is... not sure when the LED stopped working, less than 2 weeks ago, cause I just cleaned out the dust from my PC.
 
thanks for the info. Good to know i will probably be able to use it. It does seem, its the OP fan controller thats the issue.

Ill test mine out later today hopefully.

They make replacement fans for the 9500 (in case you wanted to make the LED work again, or if you were gonna sell it, use it in a different pc, etc)

I am hoping they do the same thing with the 9700... as i would prefer a different color than blue...
 
yeah I tried it with my fanmate 2 that I had lying around and had no flickering, I guess I'll just rig it all toteher so I'll have the lian-li fan controller controlling the case fans and a fanmate 2 controlling my video card and CPU cooler fans becasue those have LEDs but I'll still send the RPM signal wire to the lian li fan controller....its a really nice unit and I would reccomend it to anyonen that doesnt have LEDs as it has 3 temp probes, a clock, alarms if a fan stops spinning (good to have), as well as if a temp threshhold is reached.

post results when I get around to doing all that..........damn work
 
You could actually probably rig a capacitor up on the line to smooth out the voltage pulses sent out by the fan controller. The trick would be finding just the right value and that part of my long ago electronics courses escapes me completely. :p
 
So I got everything rigged together and it was working fine for a little while when I noticed a smell of burning that nicely complimented the puff of white smoke emerging from the front of my case. It turns out that the problem with the fan controller might not have been PWM, as the pulses were nowhere near 60Hz, but probably the controller itself as the front fan connector began to melt to the thingie (technical term) adjacent to it:

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I ended up just using that little squid thing that comes with the zalman 700cu (molex to 3pin fan 5Vx2 and 12Vx2) with my case fans (Nexus 120mms) running at 12V and my CPU and VGA cooler running much slower. I also replaced the fan in my power supply with a quiter one and WOW my computer is SOOO much quieter with no change in temps either.
 
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