#24,840 in Electronics
Reddit mentions of Lamptron FC6 Fan Controller, 20W x 4 Channels with Changeable Color Display (Black Faceplate)
Sentiment score: 1
Reddit mentions: 2
We found 2 Reddit mentions of Lamptron FC6 Fan Controller, 20W x 4 Channels with Changeable Color Display (Black Faceplate). Here are the top ones.
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- Top line displays cooling fan RPM; Bottom line displays either temperature (Celsius or Fahrenheit), or fan voltage
- LCD display with 7 selectable colors in Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Cyan, Purple, and White
- Alarm is triggered when temperature is over 70 degree C, or if the fan fails to work when voltage is over 6.5V
- Industrial minimalism design with simple operation
- Solid Aluminum in black front bezel finish, up to 20W for each of the 4 channels
Features:
Specs:
| Color | Black |
| Height | 1.673225 Inches |
| Length | 2.95275 Inches |
| Weight | 0.39 Pounds |
| Width | 5.846445 Inches |
If you are using an application to measure fan speed/RPM while using a power splitter, than the readers are probably off.
[Warning: electrical engineering lesson]
The 4-pin fan ports produce 12V of power. However electrical power, or work produced by electricity is voltage x amps. The 4-pin power will only produce so much power as the load (your fans) will require. However when you add a 2-way splitter, you are more-or-less splitting the power in half so each fan is getting half the power the motherboard or software thinks it is getting. For example if the motherboard normally gives out 1 Watt of power (12 V x 1 Amp) and the fans are rated for 0.75 Watts. Then when you add a splitter each fan effectively gets 0.5 Watts, less than what the fans need to operate.
Another concern with using a splitter is that the SIGNAL pin that reads the RPM on a 4-pin fan plug is also trying to read the RPM as if it is only reading 1 fan. When you add a splitter, your will probably getting inconsistent or incorrect fan RPM readings. Each fan has a component to tell the SIGNAL pin how fast it is spinning. But the SIGNAL pin is not designed to handle two different signals at the same time. As a result, you might be getting inconsistent readings because at one point, your SIGNAL pin might read that the fans are spinning 500RPM and speed up the RPM to meet your fan curve. Then the next moment it might read 1000rpm (because of 2 fans combine their signals) and then your software or motherboards adjust the fans RPM accordingly, thus resulting in an inconsistent speeding up/slowing down of fans RPM.
[End engineering lesson]
With all that being said, can you connect 2 fans to a single port? Yes. But it will most likely lead to inconsistent readings and inconsistent/not-smooth fan RPM adjustments, especially if you are using software that is not designed to handle this type of connection. As long as you don't have crappy, poorly designed fans, this will not break anything. If you are fine with how the fans work with the splitter then you should be okay. A better option is to either (a) connect each fan to their own motherboard 4-pin fan connector or (b) if you don't have enough space, get a fan controller that gets its own power from the power supply instead of the motherboard via the molex connectors and just manually control the fans using something like this if your case allows for it. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with using the splitter other than incorrect readings and inconsistent fan speeds if you set up a fan curve a specific way.
This is the closest i could find.
Lamptron FC6 Fan Controller, 20W x 4 Channels with Changeable Color Display (Black Faceplate) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QJME5G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_r16hDbXJS26TZ