Fan speed (noise) control

[4wd]

For anyone who may find this interesting, here are the simple mods in my Vantage twins (originally fanless and hot).

One got an electronic fan control box fitted by previous owner, which presumably gives a large startup voltage then drops to the level set by the adjustment pot.

The other one I fitted 2 leds in series (mounted tucked away under power board) these then in series with the fan, 'somehow' this dropped the voltage perfectly while still giving enough fan start-up voltage.

Both boxes cool and in practice silent. Also experimented with resistors, but vey difficult to get decent fan startup voltage and keep low speed\noise. BTW, both boxes are from 2008, known intensive use and still works perfect, with all original capacitors (miracle really, have seen caps go burst in just a few years in other equipment).

 

[2cvbloke]

The LEDs aren't dropping the voltage, they're limiting the current going to the fan so there's not enough juice for it to run at full speed, though the LEDs will probably burn out eventually, so a suitable resistor or a potentiometer would be preferred...

 

[4wd]

The LEDs aren't dropping the voltage, they're limiting the current going to the fan so there's not enough juice for it to run at full speed, though the LEDs will probably burn out eventually, so a suitable resistor or a potentiometer would be preferred...

Hello, 6 months with 10 hours daily and still ok, no problem yet :O)

Voltage across each LED: 2,4 V, rest to fan: 7,3 V, no situation to cause any LED problem.

 

[Terryl]

The fans is acting like a dropping resistor, it's keeping the LED from burning out..

I use fans from FrozenCPU, they have some very quiet fans, and controllers.

Check these hummers out.

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g36/c437/s1123/list/p1/Fans-12_Volt_Fans_by_dB-0_-_9_dB_Fans-Page1.html

 

[Channel Hopper]

I did some design work on fan blades years ago, the most suitable material that was to be inside a hard chassis turned out to be pigeon feathers.

Needless to say, man designed something 'better' but cheaper and did not last anywhere near as long.

http://www.hartware.de/news_41665.html

 

[4wd]

I did some design work on fan blades years ago, the most suitable material that was to be inside a hard chassis turned out to be pigeon feathers.
Needless to say, man designed something 'better' but cheaper and did not last anywhere near as long.
http://www.hartware.de/news_41665.html

Link refers to owls feathers capabilities "Die Eule ist der Vogel mit den geringsten Fluggeräuschen".
Maybe I'll buy some owls (& pigeons) for my next coooling needs lol

a suitable resistor or a potentiometer would be preferred...

The fans is acting like a dropping resistor, it's keeping the LED from burning out..

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g36/c437/s1123/list/p1/Fans-12_Volt_Fans_by_dB-0_-_9_dB_Fans-Page1.html

Using leds in series to drop voltage to the fan (or maybe can be seen as a fan in series to drop voltage to the leds :O) was just an experiment, which turned out to be a stable solution with that particular fan. The controller in the other box is a fan mate which has been excellent. Thanks for the link to frozencpu, fantastic collection of products. (and selling this as well lol > http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g32/Caffeine.html?id=7TdRL2sX)