Conley

How will that work? I'm looking for an 140mm fan that I can hook up to my fan controller. What will happen if I use one of those +/-10% speed fans? Will it work just the same as variable? With my variable speed fans right now, I can use any RPM I want, from 0-2200.

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getbigtony

as with other motors, it'll just underpower them and run slower
don't quote me on it though!

BlackHoleSun

Yes it will work fine. A fan controller is a potentiometer wired to limit the voltage going to the fan. Typically they are called rheostats. By lowering the voltage to the fan, you end up running it at a slower speed since DC fans use DC motors and the shaft speed of the motor is dependent upon the voltage supplied to the motor itself.

Hope that helps!

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#3160 LC9Z

dennyb

I got some goodies from the Egg today -30 watt Sunbeam fan controller and it is working nicely. All 4 Antec case fans work as they should. I have a problem with this fan that I bought for my Dark Knight. I can't get it to run at all. I have plugged it into the CPU Fan header-no go, system fan header-no go, fan controller-no go. I don't know if it is a wiring problem or a bad fan. Here is a link to the fan. Please look at the spec and it says compatible with Dell PC's and has an odd plug on it. Did I buy the wrong thing or is it just a bad fan?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835706016
edit -sorry meant to make a new thread

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Sno

I learned something there.

Very informative BlackHoleSun .

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u238

This is true, but most fan controllers do not use rheostats. They have circuitry where the voltage output of a transistor is varied. A potentiometer (simply a variable resistor) is used to indirectly control the voltage by varying the voltage of a minuscule current to the base of the transistor. Consequently, there is very little current traveling through the potentiometers. This is advantageous because potentiometers are mechanical devices and would have to be larger and more expensive to handle the current draw of fans, etc. Alternatively, the controller might utilize PWM where the full voltage is provided in bursts (duty cycle) to regulate the speed.