PWM to Analog converter circuit
- Thread starter Tealc
- Start date
A few pictures of more updates.
Shrunk a few up today and started another.
Leeroy's Gentle Typhoon controller all complete and ready for sending.
This one is a little different. It's to control the graphics card fans and therefore has those strange GPU fan connectors. I've used up everything I had so if any more were ever needed I'd have to buy more stuff in. The black connector plugs into the graphics card, the controller gets tucked behind the motherboard, gets Molexed up nicely, and then the other lead runs back to the graphics card's fans. The connector will only go one way around so this should be simple for Leeroy to fit.
The black bit is from a GPU to standard fan converter I bought 2 years ago and then never used.
This end is actually a 5 pin with one of the pins removed and a little bit of hot glue stuffed down the empty cavity. The connector fits in lovely, just like a glove.
So I thought I was done. Everyone who has asked for a circuit to be built has had them built and fully tested. Then it occured to me, there is one person who wanted one of these, ME!
The whole point in this was to develop something to control my DC fans with my PWM pulse.
So I busied about making my own.
As before the components fly onto the board but it's the connectors and wiring that takes a long time, especially when you sleeve the wires with Orange braid.
Yes I went for a potentiometer protected from melting by a 1k resistor. I'm only looking to control 1x Noctua 86mA fan for the moment so don't need anything beefy. If I want to control another one I will just make another.
I was thinking about having a flying lead off the end but the orange connector looks quite nice on the board and I will need to make a hole for the potentiometer anyway.
Not quite finished as I haven't actually powered this one up yet, but I'm confident.
Blew another B772 today. Good thing a new batch of 10 arrived this morning.
Shrunk a few up today and started another.
Leeroy's Gentle Typhoon controller all complete and ready for sending.
This one is a little different. It's to control the graphics card fans and therefore has those strange GPU fan connectors. I've used up everything I had so if any more were ever needed I'd have to buy more stuff in. The black connector plugs into the graphics card, the controller gets tucked behind the motherboard, gets Molexed up nicely, and then the other lead runs back to the graphics card's fans. The connector will only go one way around so this should be simple for Leeroy to fit.
The black bit is from a GPU to standard fan converter I bought 2 years ago and then never used.
This end is actually a 5 pin with one of the pins removed and a little bit of hot glue stuffed down the empty cavity. The connector fits in lovely, just like a glove.
So I thought I was done. Everyone who has asked for a circuit to be built has had them built and fully tested. Then it occured to me, there is one person who wanted one of these, ME!
The whole point in this was to develop something to control my DC fans with my PWM pulse.
So I busied about making my own.
As before the components fly onto the board but it's the connectors and wiring that takes a long time, especially when you sleeve the wires with Orange braid.
Yes I went for a potentiometer protected from melting by a 1k resistor. I'm only looking to control 1x Noctua 86mA fan for the moment so don't need anything beefy. If I want to control another one I will just make another.
I was thinking about having a flying lead off the end but the orange connector looks quite nice on the board and I will need to make a hole for the potentiometer anyway.
Not quite finished as I haven't actually powered this one up yet, but I'm confident.
Blew another B772 today. Good thing a new batch of 10 arrived this morning.
Soldato
So I thought I was done. Everyone who has asked for a circuit to be built has had them built and fully tested. Then it occured to me, there is one person who wanted one of these, ME!
That bit actually made me LOL for real.
Must say the orange braiding look spectacular.
Mine is complete, altough I haven't heatshrunk it yet.
No need for a heatsink on a 86mA fan so I won't bother with it.
My fan curve. I didn't bother with voltage as the multimeter was down the shed and I'm lazy today.
Got it all set up in Gigabyte's ET6 using PWM and it revs up nice and smooth responding to the PWM curve I set. 30% at 40 degrees, rising to 100% at 80 degrees.
Sweet.
I think I will make a PWM splitter now as I may want another one to control my rear fan, or I might use the graphics PWM as it's that that gets hot and needs the faster exhaust.
Oh and Panyan I did get to the post office yesterday but the dozy woman put a 2nd class stamp on the jiffy bag and the wife had paid before I realised so it might take a couple of days mate.
No need for a heatsink on a 86mA fan so I won't bother with it.
My fan curve. I didn't bother with voltage as the multimeter was down the shed and I'm lazy today.
Got it all set up in Gigabyte's ET6 using PWM and it revs up nice and smooth responding to the PWM curve I set. 30% at 40 degrees, rising to 100% at 80 degrees.
Sweet.
I think I will make a PWM splitter now as I may want another one to control my rear fan, or I might use the graphics PWM as it's that that gets hot and needs the faster exhaust.
Oh and Panyan I did get to the post office yesterday but the dozy woman put a 2nd class stamp on the jiffy bag and the wife had paid before I realised so it might take a couple of days mate.
Oh dear I don't remember you saying anything about two cards mate. Now that I check your sig I can see that you have two.
Hmm.
It would probably power them both but connectivity is going to be tricky seeing as I used the only GPU fan connector I have is used on the single controller. Without the GPU to normal fan converter cables that came with the Gelid it's going to be tricky.
If I'd realised I would have made a dual board.
Can you please check if you have a adaptor cable with the small GPU fan connector on one end and a Molex or standard fan connector on the other end. You should have two of them.
You can see them in this image of the accessory pack that comes with the Gelid. The little black connector on the right can be then used to plug into my converter, with a slight modification or two.
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Hmm.
It would probably power them both but connectivity is going to be tricky seeing as I used the only GPU fan connector I have is used on the single controller. Without the GPU to normal fan converter cables that came with the Gelid it's going to be tricky.
If I'd realised I would have made a dual board.
Can you please check if you have a adaptor cable with the small GPU fan connector on one end and a Molex or standard fan connector on the other end. You should have two of them.
You can see them in this image of the accessory pack that comes with the Gelid. The little black connector on the right can be then used to plug into my converter, with a slight modification or two.
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Thanks mate.
Fingers crossed.
Actually this might be a blessing in disguise. It will giv me a chance to build a dual circuit for control of higher power configurations, using 1 PWM signal and 2 B772 but possibly just the one mosfet. Interesting.
Fingers crossed.
Actually this might be a blessing in disguise. It will giv me a chance to build a dual circuit for control of higher power configurations, using 1 PWM signal and 2 B772 but possibly just the one mosfet. Interesting.
Nice.
Give me a day or so and I will knock up a super super double trouble converter for you mate. Will keep the board I made for a future build.
I will build it so that the two 3 pin fan headers from your cables plugs into my converter and it gets the PWM from the little 4 pin female, power will need to come by separate Molex of course. So nothing's really wasted. I will still use one switch that will hopefully set the same fan speed for both. You will get feedback from just one fan but they'll all be similar anyway.
I will show you exactly how it'll work for you when it's built. It's in my head but not so easy to explain.
Thanks.
Give me a day or so and I will knock up a super super double trouble converter for you mate. Will keep the board I made for a future build.
I will build it so that the two 3 pin fan headers from your cables plugs into my converter and it gets the PWM from the little 4 pin female, power will need to come by separate Molex of course. So nothing's really wasted. I will still use one switch that will hopefully set the same fan speed for both. You will get feedback from just one fan but they'll all be similar anyway.
I will show you exactly how it'll work for you when it's built. It's in my head but not so easy to explain.
Thanks.
So put together this piece of art this morning.
The black connector goes in your top GPU fan connector (as it's usually hotter), then you stick the converter out of sight somewhere, then you route the two fan connectors to your Gelid fan adaptor cables. One of the connectors is mounted on stripboard, I will do the other the same as it's much much stronger like that.
As you may notice from the graphs below one fan does run slightly faster than the other in most instances, so I'd choose that one for your top GPU. I will mark the connectors Top and Bottom so you'll know.
I've gone aggressive with the fan curve again because those GPUs will need their speed at the top end but if you want it slower then switch the switch down to a lower setting.
I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
The black connector goes in your top GPU fan connector (as it's usually hotter), then you stick the converter out of sight somewhere, then you route the two fan connectors to your Gelid fan adaptor cables. One of the connectors is mounted on stripboard, I will do the other the same as it's much much stronger like that.
As you may notice from the graphs below one fan does run slightly faster than the other in most instances, so I'd choose that one for your top GPU. I will mark the connectors Top and Bottom so you'll know.
I've gone aggressive with the fan curve again because those GPUs will need their speed at the top end but if you want it slower then switch the switch down to a lower setting.
I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
I just thought this was mildly interesting.
How good is my circuit at keeping fan speeds constant?
Well it's pretty good actually. Measurement using Speedfan over half an hour. Variance only 5 RPM, that around 1% of the fan speed.
Compare this with my Recon fan controller which adjusted my PWM Apache's speed by 200 RPM on a setting of 600 RPM. Quite a staggering difference.
How good is my circuit at keeping fan speeds constant?
Well it's pretty good actually. Measurement using Speedfan over half an hour. Variance only 5 RPM, that around 1% of the fan speed.
Compare this with my Recon fan controller which adjusted my PWM Apache's speed by 200 RPM on a setting of 600 RPM. Quite a staggering difference.
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Soldato
Very impressive Tealc. Can't wait for mine to arrive, I've got the SP120s on order, expected del on Tuesday 
Soldato
Great stuff. Thanks once again for building it and keep me informed of the future projects, really do find it interesting.
Thanks once again for building it and keep me informed of the future projects, really do find it interesting.