Fanmate 2 and determining voltage levels

faro · Post by **faro** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:16 am

Couldn't find info from a seach so here it goes:

How are people determining the voltage levels supplied to the fan while using the Fanmate 2?

I am about to set up a system using them. I see references to using the Fanmate at 5V (which I gather is turning it all the way down) or at 6V or higher. I am most concerned about the Nexus that will be perched atop a XP-120. I don't want to have to worry about that one not starting up.

nici · Post by **nici** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:46 am

Cant say anything for the Fanmate2, but on the Fanmate my Nexus fan starts easily if i stop it with my finger with the mate at its lowest setting, wich should be 5V. It runs at 450rpm or something like that, and moves barely any air at all.. If you have other fans in your system or little backgorund noise, you wont be able to hear it at 7-8V either so id say you are safe with the Nexus on the XP-120

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 11:15 am

My system has 2 Nexus 120mm running on FanMate2s. Both start reliably at the lowest setting even with an additional resistor stuck in there (completely unneccisary, just wanted to see how much headroom I had). One of the fans is vertically oriented, the other horizontally. No problems either way.

I'm pretty sure a fanmate2 at minimum is the same as a 1 (5V)

faro · Post by **faro** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:12 pm

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am about to start my build (if the case would ever get here) and I was have lasts minute jitters.

JanW · Post by **JanW** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:14 pm

My guess would be that if a post specifies an actual voltage level out of a fanmate (other than 5V and 12V) this would be measured using a multimeter.

But knowing the voltage is only half the deal if you want to know if the fan will start reliably. It also depends on your personal paranoia coefficient, i.e. what you call "reliably":
FWIW, I just set my Nexus exhaust on the lowest fanmate2 setting plugged into the exhaust fan fan header on my A7N8X-E Deluxe (don't have a multimeter handy, so don't know the voltage) and tried if it would start reliably: unplug, let fan spin down completely, re-plug, repeat 20 times (times my personal paranoia coefficient, wich, naturally, I defined to be one

). Well, it started 18 out of 20 times: not reliable for me. (It did start the first ten times, though

)
Plugged into 7V from the PSU it will start reliably as measured with this method, but I'd be able to stop the fan manually while plugged in and, letting go very gently, it will stay "stuck". If I then unplug the fan, the jerk produced from the voltage ramping up upon re-plugging will get the fan going again. But if instead I turn up the voltage on a "stuck" fan gradually with a fanmate, I'll need to go to quite high settings (I'm sure far above 7V) to get the fan unstuck. My suggestion is that at this much higher setting even the most paranoid user (paranoia coefficient of infinity?) would be assured that the fan will never ever fail to start up. Or would (s)he?
In-between it's a question about your own level of comfort

Techno Pride · Post by **Techno Pride** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 7:32 pm

fanmate 1 spits out 4.8v at minimum setting as measured with a cheapo multimeter.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:17 am

faro wrote:
How are people determining the voltage levels supplied to the fan while using the Fanmate 2?

I use a multimeter.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:44 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
faro wrote:
How are people determining the voltage levels supplied to the fan while using the Fanmate 2?
I use a multimeter.

Thats what i use also, much more handy than a oscilloscope for this type of work

faro · Post by **faro** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 1:12 pm

Hmmmm, where do you jam the points of the multitester? Inside the connections or does it require stripping insolation off wires?

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 2:35 pm

Well, once when i wanted to measure the fan voltage inside my PSU i put some sewing-needles on the multimeter pins with some zip-ties and stuck the needles in the wires

That´s hardly practical though..

SometimesWarrior · Post by **SometimesWarrior** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 7:05 pm

I just held the two multimeter probes on the high and ground Fanmate pins and tried not to short them too many times.

I used some white-out to mark on the Fanmate 1 casing where the minimum (~5V), 7V, and max (~10.5V) levels were. For me, it was at 7 o'clock, 10 o'clock, and about 12:30, so everything from 12:30 to 4:30 was the same max voltage.

I also tried this with a fan plugged into a 3-pin Y header, testing the other end of the Y. Both a low-speed 80mm and medium-speed 92mm fan gave the same results, so I don't think the Fanmate's output voltage is significantly load-dependant--it'll work the same with any fan.

faro · Post by **faro** » Sat Feb 12, 2005 7:08 am

That worked for me too, thanks.

Fanmate 2 and determining voltage levels

Fanmate 2 and determining voltage levels

Re: Fanmate 2 and determining voltage levels

Re: Fanmate 2 and determining voltage levels