Possible to run multiple fans on one controller channel?

Goose · 17 Sep 2010 at 18:58

I'm looking into buying a fan controller (never had one before) because the stock fans on my new CM 690 II aren't quite as quiet as i'd like. Additionally i'm going to be adding two Enermax Silence fans (although these might be quiet enough at max RPM to not need controlling) as well as an additional 120mm fan attached to my Accelero S1 GPU cooler.

My question basically is whether or not each case fan has to run on one channel of a fan controller meaning I could potentially need 6 channels. Since the stock CM 690 fans all run at 1200rpm it'd be kinda nice if they could all be controlled at the same time on the one channel. Ditto the two Enermax (should they not be quiet enough).

Assuming this can be done which controller would you recommend (if any at this price) for ~£30?

Thanks.

Goose · 17 Sep 2010 at 19:29

How do i find out the wattage on each fan? For the enermax for example there's nothing on the fan itself about the wattage and on the website - http://www.enermax.co.uk/tbsilence.html (specs tab) - all there is is 'Input Power (W) 1.8'. Surely thats not the right thing though as the NZXT Sentry 2 for example has 10 watts per channel so 1.8 for the enermax seems too low?

Goose · 17 Sep 2010 at 20:01

I'm still a bit clueless as to how to work out the wattage of my fans. Can anyone help?

Goose · 17 Sep 2010 at 23:58

piggin said:
What you need to work out is your current.

This is worked out using the formula

Current = Watts ÷ Volts = Amps

Therefore your 1.8 watts ÷ 12 Volts = 0.15 Amps

So each of your fans draws 0.15amps.

(If you purchase the zalman it will handle this with no problems)

Yeah the Enermax Silence is 0.15 amps so 0.15 amps * volts (12) = 1.8 watts? That just seems awfully low as i would be able to run like 6 or 7 of them off one 10 watt channel.