Is there a such thing?

mka_786

mka_786

mka_786

Associate
Joined
5 Jun 2012
Posts
85
Ok I had a really weird idea for fans that I was hoping was maybe real (yeah I'm an optimist ;) ). Basically is there a such thing as fans that you can change thee colour using a RGB colour selector on a front panel (YouTube the NZXT Hue- same principle but with the fan LEDs). Does anyone know of any fans such as this? I have seen the xclio 256 fans but personally I think their poorly designed? Thanks :D
 
And if you would have to mod the fans yourself does anyone know of any step by step instructions? Have some spare time an this seems like a nice little project ;)
 
There is a fan that does it, no idea of the manufacturer, but its not xclio.....and for modding the fan, look in case central.
 
I think there's a type of enermax vegas that has red/white/green/blue modes, which you can switch through.

Looks tacky as hell though.

As for a rgb one, not seen one.
 
Yeah isn't that the Vegas one? Only has red and blue LEDs but can make nice effects using it? That similar to what I want but I want more customisation ;)
Surely you can buy rgb LEDs and replace the fan LEDs with them? And then somehow wire in some sort of a controller? I'm no expert but someone on these forums may be able to help :)
 
My bad, the fan I was thinking of is the xclio 256 :(
My friends just bought it, looks ok....and is silent, but its more show.
 
RGB LEDs are fairly hard to wire up and control (well, relative to regular single colour LEDs). It's possible to DIY it but for best results you'll need to use a micro controller of some sort I think. Arduino would be my shout, the Pro Mini or perhaps the Nano

There is probably some off the shelf solution you can butcher to get a similar effect. Hopefully Tealc will be along shortly... :)
 
My bad dude, the fan is called the "Xclio 256". I thought it was something else as all I saw was it spinning. Normally I found Xclio stuff to be really cheap, but this was silent up to about 75% and the colours are awesome.
 
d_brennen said:
RGB LEDs are fairly hard to wire up and control (well, relative to regular single colour LEDs). It's possible to DIY it but for best results you'll need to use a micro controller of some sort I think. Arduino would be my shout, the Pro Mini or perhaps the Nano

There is probably some off the shelf solution you can butcher to get a similar effect. Hopefully Tealc will be along shortly... :)
Click to expand...

Ouch that looks a lot more complicated than I thought'd be -.- hopefully there's an easier way or otherwise I won't be able to do it by myself :'(
 
Why? Never too late or early to learn something. RGB LEDs are cheap, a prototyping micro controller platform like Arduino clones can be had for sub £10... It'd be a fun learning experience :D
 
Rik1254 said:
My bad dude, the fan is called the "Xclio 256". I thought it was something else as all I saw was it spinning. Normally I found Xclio stuff to be really cheap, but this was silent up to about 75% and the colours are awesome.
Click to expand...

I saw that on YouTube:

I just don't like the LEDs being in the centre like that - to me it looks tacky as the fans don't look lit up it just looks like LEDs are inside your case (if you know what I mean ;) ) does it look better in real life or is that video an accurate representation?
 
d_brennen said:
Why? Never too late or early to learn something. RGB LEDs are cheap, a prototyping micro controller platform like Arduino clones can be had for sub £10... It'd be a fun learning experience :D
Click to expand...

Do you know of any tutorials that are based on rgb lighting for the micro controller? Can't seem to fid any :(
 
http://www.instructables.com/id/RGB-LED-Tutorial-using-an-Arduino-RGBL/

The thing with Arduino is you take examples of what other people have done before and hack at it to do what you want it to do. The first step is learning how to flash an LED on and off :D Maybe I understated the learning curve a little, but it's doable if you have an interest, and your fans will be one of a kind!
 
d_brennen said:
http://www.instructables.com/id/RGB-LED-Tutorial-using-an-Arduino-RGBL/

The thing with Arduino is you take examples of what other people have done before and hack at it to do what you want it to do. The first step is learning how to flash an LED on and off :D Maybe I understated the learning curve a little, but it's doable if you have an interest, and your fans will be one of a kind!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help but I haven't really dabbled in that sort of thing yet. I probably would like an easier solution however I've brought a board anyway just to see what I can do with it :)
 
d_brennen said:
There is probably some off the shelf solution you can butcher to get a similar effect. Hopefully Tealc will be along shortly... :)
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm late. ;)

it's actually pretty simple to make an RGB controller. You'd need 3x 555 PWM circuits, each controlling one of the individual colours. Of course you'd need to dial in the colours you want on three potentiometers. If you want random colour generation and cycling then some sort of oscillator that changes each colour at a different frequency. I breadboarded both these circuits last year sometime.

But really a microcontroller is the easiest way to do it, or at least I'd imagine it is as I've not worked with PICs, Arduino or anything like that yet. I'm still fiddling with discrete components and doing things the old fashioned way.

As for an off the shelf solution, well there is and I have two of them. One controls the LEDs in my keyboard and the other has a strange visible oscillation in one of the colours. I got them with an RGB led strip, it's controlled by an IR remote. It would be simple to adapt this to drive LEDs around a fan.
 
Tealc said:
Sorry I'm late. ;)

it's actually pretty simple to make an RGB controller. You'd need 3x 555 PWM circuits, each controlling one of the individual colours. Of course you'd need to dial in the colours you want on three potentiometers. If you want random colour generation and cycling then some sort of oscillator that changes each colour at a different frequency. I breadboarded both these circuits last year sometime.

But really a microcontroller is the easiest way to do it, or at least I'd imagine it is as I've not worked with PICs, Arduino or anything like that yet. I'm still fiddling with discrete components and doing things the old fashioned way.

As for an off the shelf solution, well there is and I have two of them. One controls the LEDs in my keyboard and the other has a strange visible oscillation in one of the colours. I got them with an RGB led strip, it's controlled by an IR remote. It would be simple to adapt this to drive LEDs around a fan.
Click to expand...

Could you give me a link to the ones you have? Thanks :)
 
Yeah Xclio make some 256 ones, their really good (great DB/cfm ratio) , they also make fan controllers that work with them too altering the speed and letting you select the colour or cycle the colour (controllers come built in to their cases with 256 fans). I bought an Xclio A380 256 colour case nearly two years ago and its been great, front and side 25cm fans, rear 12cm and all three are independently speed controllable and have linked 256 colour function. I also have an Xclio propeller case from 3-4 years ago with a 30cm side fan and that's running fine still too.
 
Last edited:
Tealc said:
But really a microcontroller is the easiest way to do it, or at least I'd imagine it is as I've not worked with PICs, Arduino or anything like that yet. I'm still fiddling with discrete components and doing things the old fashioned way.
Click to expand...

Off topic a little, I've been using these guys lately for my Arduino fiddling

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-ATMEGA...Supplies_ET&hash=item4ab6e20fe9#ht_5145wt_967

They also sell 2 for £9 on there somewhere. It IS an Arduino, just with out the fancy PCB :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom