Y splitter stacking
- Thread starter D3K
- Start date
Provided you keep it to less than 1A (most motherboards say 1A is the max) you can daisy chain away, although adding additional lengths of cables will lead to additional losses in cables so you may find the voltage drops slightly.
So as an answer..it rather depends on the fan. I have some that are 0.07A so in theory I could daisy chain around 14 of them. I wouldn't though. I'd build a distribution PCB for them if I needed quite that many fans to be running off 12v. Most quiet fans (<1500rpm) are around 0.1A.
So as an answer..it rather depends on the fan. I have some that are 0.07A so in theory I could daisy chain around 14 of them. I wouldn't though. I'd build a distribution PCB for them if I needed quite that many fans to be running off 12v. Most quiet fans (<1500rpm) are around 0.1A.
What new boy said. All PWM splitters be they cable 'Y' or hubs only use the PWM signal from PWM header .. and this signal strength spec as well as the fan PWM receiver specs determine how much signal is available as well as how much signal is required for fan. THis can mean 2-4 fans or 8-15 fans. To the best of my knowledge there are no PWM signal boosters available.
PWM signal is only a signal lead to the fan's PCB that triggers 12v power pulses from the 12v power lead to fan. To add complexity to this, the PWM "signal" is not a normal pulsing signal. That said, if the signal is not being recognized by fan PCB, the fan will run at full speed.
As a general rule, all fans of the same rpm range on same PWM signal will run the same speed. But this is not always true. Some fan PWM PCBs are programed with different signal to 12v pulse rates. For example, TY-147A and TY-147 are same fan with different PCB curves. Result is with same PWM signal, TY-147A rpm curve is different from TY-147 rpm curve.
As a general rule, all fans of the same rpm range on same PWM signal will run the same speed. But this is not always true. Some fan PWM PCBs are programed with different signal to 12v pulse rates. For example, TY-147A and TY-147 are same fan with different PCB curves. Result is with same PWM signal, TY-147A rpm curve is different from TY-147 rpm curve.
There should be no need for boosters as each fan should put only a tiny load on the PWM signal, however this does depend on the design of the fan and what they use on the PWM signal.
I did say slight. If you used the full 1A and had cables a metre long you might notice a drop in top end speed but with just 4 fans, assuming they are standard speeds, you'd probably not even notice and the drop in speed would be in the noise of the fan speed fluctuation.
The reason I mentioned it was if you were thinking of a dozen fans over 4 or 5 splitters you 'd have a lot of length and current flowing.
I've ran as many as 15 fans on single PWM signal. I also know people with Corsair PWM fans that had trouble running 3 or 4 fans. I've found as a general rule of thumb, 8 fans will rarely be a problem, but from 10-16 it's playing the PWM lottery as if the will or will not work as intended.
