I've made an on/off fan controller. pics :)

Trofeo · 5 Apr 2012 at 15:11

I wanted to add some switches to the front of my case but not overly fond of the idea drilling the bay covers that come with a case that cost me £110, so I found one off a lian li case I had left over from a build for someone else.

To make it flush with the front of my case and er, the right colour

I chopped the clips off another bay cover from my collection of random spare ones and stuck it together like so:

All the fans to be connected are the 4 pin PWM sort like the stock intel ones so speed is controlled automatically hence no need for any manual speed adjustment like a normal fan controller. I just want an easy way to shut the thing up when it doesn't need all the fans. Pics of wires to follow when they're done

Idleman · 5 Apr 2012 at 15:13

Nice tidy job. Congrats.

Kosmiche · 5 Apr 2012 at 15:19

Thats a good finish you achieved, looks top banana.

Doomedspeed · 5 Apr 2012 at 15:32

That is very nice. I would like one of them actually.

Tealc · 5 Apr 2012 at 19:24

Nice. Looks really clean.

Why did you use DPDT switches though? Have you got something planned for the off position? LEDs to display on/off perhaps?

Trofeo · 5 Apr 2012 at 19:49

DPDT because I got 20 of them last year off the bay cheap

nothing planned for the off position, the way I've done it in the past is one pole for 12v other pole for PWM signal, figured it can't hurt because I wasn't sure if maybe some fans might try powering them selves from it otherwise

. Thought about LEDs but I don't want them lighting up the room in the dark & I'll have on/off the same way around on all of them anyway so I'll be able to see by looking at them. I've done the whole lights all over the place type rig's in the past but this is more 'grown up' because I'm getting old and boring (23

)

Cheers for the nice comments guys

Tealc · 5 Apr 2012 at 20:04

You shouldn't need to break the PWM signal but I suppose there's no real harm in doing so, it just creates extra wiring. Try it without. As far as I know PWM signals are low voltage and very low current. MOSFETs in the fan act as switches to enable the proper voltage and current to come through.

chris-82 · 5 Apr 2012 at 21:12

Nice bit of DIY there mate

Philtor · 5 Apr 2012 at 21:15

Worked a treat

Roverno · 5 Apr 2012 at 21:42

You know what you've done there? Bossed it...

chilipeppersc · 5 Apr 2012 at 22:23

Roverno said:
You know what you've done there? Bossed it...

Have to agree, great mod

MonsterMoshi · 5 Apr 2012 at 22:28

Very nice, just gotta be careful you don't leave them off by accident when you need them

jackocurly0074 · 5 Apr 2012 at 22:36

Cool.. idea

Nice work there

! Something I could have really used on my last pc which had a fan that rattled sometimes when it was cold..!

shadow_boxer · 5 Apr 2012 at 23:11

Nice tidy job, very professional looking. Well done.

Hagar · 5 Apr 2012 at 23:18

Now you need some of those switch extensions they made for the old mini dashboards

LizardKing · 5 Apr 2012 at 23:22

Looking good!

There was a guy on here that use to make similar items (think Baybus was his username??), you'd send a spare blank cover to him and he would fabricate a custom solution to your requirments, a much more elegant solution than the current items on sale if you ask me

Still use mine today. (Switchable 7v/off/12v)

Tediore · 6 Apr 2012 at 00:22

MonsterMoshi said:
Very nice, just gotta be careful you don't leave them off by accident when you need them

Like he does already with the fans on his cooling towers? :rolleyes:

Trofeo · 6 Apr 2012 at 00:47

Tealc, yep I think your right I'll just switch the 12v never know may find a use for the spare pole in the future.

LizardKing, could be something to keep me busy if I wind up joining the ever growing que to the job centre, at the moment tho working 6 days a week hardly have time to even use my computer

Tediore's referring to er, once or twice I might have shouted a bit that the gfx card's 80c after we've done a few rounds of bf3

The idea started out as just moving the switches you can see hanging down the side of the cooling towers in the first pic onto the front of the case, as I decided to do that I thought I may as well connect the fan in the top of the case and the 2 on the back of the hot-swap bays as well.

I should have some time to do the cables sunday or monday (bank holiday!

) will post pics when it's done.

Again cheers for the comments

Trofeo · 9 Apr 2012 at 22:25

I said I would do it this weekend, I've thought about doing it, and not done it still

So here's a diagram I did of some thinking about it for you instead

Plan is to use a bit of strip board, I've changed my mind already about only having 2 mounting holes each end because it's 10cm long & might be a bit bendy in the middle. I'll use a slightly wider bit of board to accommodate a couple extra in the middle.

The idea here is that all cables are detachable for easy installation not only the first time but also when I come to change things around in my rig in the future.

I de soldered a molex connector earlier off an old cd rom drive so I think I have everything I need now, that is apart from time because it's back to work tomorrow

maybe one evening in the week :rolleyes:

Tealc · 9 Apr 2012 at 23:09

Nice plan.

Just wondering about the GPU fan though. Is it wise to go passive on that? What if you forget to switch it on? If this were mine I'd be a lot happier if I had some sort of fail safe circuit going on, maybe a comparator working off temperature or PWM frequency to switch it on when it's needed.