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Cobalt3 Thermo Fan Controller opinions

Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 4:58 am
by Francis
I was a little surprised I couldn't find much mention on the forums of these fans controllers:

http://www.cobalt3.com/

Do these control fan speed with PWM? Are these to be avoided? Anyone with experiences or opinions on these fan controllers?

Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 9:54 am
by fmah
I would guess they use either PWM or DC converter. If done right they should be fine, I may consider checking one out. I like the fact they have a failsafe function and alarm.

Their website needs some help though, it keeps opening new windows and there are not manuals for all the products. Does look nice though. Thanks for the link.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 7:38 pm
by circuitweed
I recently purchased a Cobalt3 Pyramid V to replace my home made thermostatic fan speed controller, and I am very happy with it.
I have it connected to two 80mm Antec blue LED fans (exhaust), and one 120mm Panaflow L1A (intake) which I'm probably going to switch to an aluminum evercool fan.

The nice thing about the Pyramid compared to my old controller is that when you first turn the computer on, it sends full 12v to make sure the fans get started.

Honestly though, my case never gets warm enough for it do do much, but if I artificially warm it up, it does a nice job of increasing the fan speed.
At idle the two Antec fans are nearly silent, and the evercool fan is just slightly above a whisper--about the same as the Panaflow, but it has the ability to push a little more air (about 10 cfm at similar db levels) than the Panaflow if needed.

I'm completely happy with the Pyramid V. The only think I could possibly criticise about it would be a lack of adjustability, but it seems to perform quite well. I'd buy one again if I build another system. I much prefer not to have to fiddle with knobs and dials to keep my computer's temperature and noise level optimal.

Cheers!

John Bertram

SPCR Review?

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003 10:36 am
by Francis
Since MikeC has recently issued a spate of fan controller articles, this may be a good device to include. The features, (like full-12V on fan startup), sound pretty good, but the lack of any kind of adjustments makes me cautious on whether this would be worth trying. I'd also like to know the exact differences between the "non-illuminated" Cobalt3 (which is what I would prefer, as I don't have a window on my case) and the illuminated ones.

I wouldn't mind seeing more articles or discussion of the pros and cons of thermosister-based fan controls... where to position the temp sensor, does it use PWM and create more fan noise, etc...