Thermaltake Case Question

(Pegger) #1

A friend of mine purchased the Thermaltake case that comes with seven case fans and four reostat variable speed controllers for the fans. The problem is that he had the retailer build his system, controls for the fans don’t work (the fans run steady though).

The owners manual does not provide a schematic, and I can’t seem to find anything on the internet.

There are two black and two red wires grouped together with a sticky on them indicating “to power supply”. My question is: do these four wires feed the controllers which then in turn feed the fans or are the fans fed from the power supply and a third new wire that was not included is needed for the controllers?

If you have the same case and your controllers work, perhaps you coud have a look and tell me how your fans are wired, thanks.

(damocles) #2

The power leads control the speed (different levels of power from the motherboard control the speeds of the fans).

I don’t have that case, but I have a thermaltake speed controlled case fan. I just plugged into a connector on the motherboard and it works fine.
Was the motherboard supplied with the case or was it bought seperately? If seperate, then you’ll hjave to locate the connectors yourself and there may not be enough to go around.

(Pegger) #3

Different mobo.

The power leads control the speed (different levels of power from the motherboard control the speeds of the fans).

I understand that two fan controllers support .35 amps or greater and that 2 other controllers support less than .35amps combined.

But I am not sure if I understand what I quoted you on. If I am not mistaken (and for godsakes pls don’t quote an electrician on this, LOL!) the pwr supply provides 12 volts DC to the fans, a red and black (positive and negative, like your car battery) If I only have four wires to pwr supply(2 red and 2 black) what controls the speed? A third wire or the controller?

Thanks for the response.

(duke'ku) #4

if the controls are dials, the speed is controlled by a pentiometer. just a variable resistor - the higher you turn the resistor, the higher the fan speed goes because it’s getting more power.

(damocles) #5

Typically motherboard controlled fans (set through the bios) work on a pulse basis. A pulse of electricity causes the fans to speed up for a split second, then they start to slow down, then another pulse is sent. The shorter the interval between pulses, the faster the fans turn.

(Pegger) #6

Being an electrician by trade (other than being an infantryman by trade) I seem to recall it as a reo-stat, a variable dial that works off of resistance. However this is not the issue. The description you gave me does raise interest though

pentiometer
I do recall that word from school, and now I just gotta look it up! LOL!

(Pegger) #7

These are not mobo controlled fans, they are controlled by the case, or power supply, tis what I need to know :bored:

(weasel) #8

That’s potentiometer. It adjusts voltages, though. A rheostat (spelled with an “h”) adjusts resistance.

(Diabolikul) #9

Xaser III right? I have this case.

On the rheostat/potentiometer, whatever it is, there are 4 dials. But 7 fans. Each fan has a molex connector for power. The rheostat has 6 molex connectors. 4 connectors for the fans and 2 for “power”. The power runs from power supply molex to the rheostat power molexes, to the rheostat itself. Then the rheostat runs power to the fans. I believe potentiometer is the correct term because the controller is regulating how much power goes out to those fans, making them slower or faster.

So, here’s what I did. I plugged the front two fans molex connectors to each other (the molex from the fans are “pass through”), so hook one up to the other and then run the 2nd molex power to “fan 1” on the potentiometer. Then I ran the side 2 fans in the same fashion to “fan 2” on the potentiometer, then the rear 2 fans to “fan 3”, and the top fan to fan 4. So, the potentiometer dial for “Fan 1” will turn down the front 2 fans, “Fan 2” for the side 2, “Fan 3” for the rear 2, and “Fan 4” for the top blowhole fan.

I can’t remember the specs on the potentiometer, but it is ample for 2 fans for each dial. This works perfectly well for me for over a month now.

Also, head to www.directron.com if you want to personalize that bright blue “Thermaltake” name up from. Look for “Thermaltake Xview” it’s like $20. You get another of those blue LEDs without the thermaltake name and a peice of transparency paper. Print out something you want on the transparency paper, swap the LED and instead of “Thermaltake” up there, you can have (for me!) a bright blue “Diabolikul” or a picture or whatever you want up front there.