3 fans on one motherboard fan header?

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muthabord

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I purchased some Thermaltake Riing RGB fans which come in packs of 3 and feature a fan controller that the 3 fans plug into. I think this fan controller is supposed to plug into the motherboard. I want to know if that is safe?

I actually purchased 6 of these fans so i guess the chassis fan 1 and 2 headers will total 6 fans. i just want to know if that is okay and won't fry the new motherboard? I've been looking into 4 pin to MOLEX converters just in case.
 
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raisonjohn

raisonjohn

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You'd be safe. Typical motherboard fan headers have a max. of 1A rating.

Assuming you got the Riing 12 LED RGB 256 Colors Fan 3-fan pack (CL-F042-PL12SW-B) version, the rated current of each RGB Riing fan is only 0.21A (total of 0.63A for all 3 fans).

If you got the 140mm version (CL-F043-PL14SW-B ), the rated current is 0.26A per fan (total of 0.78A for all 3 fans).

But if you got the Riing Plus RGB Radiator Fan TT Premium Edition 3-fan pack, the 120mm (CL-F053-PL12SW-A) or the 140mm (CL-F056-PL14SW-A) versions, the fans/fan controller will be powered by the PSU (via Molex) and interfaces with the motherboard via a USB2.0 connection.
 
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muthabord

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Well i got the fans (not the premium ones). They don't seem to work so well. Sometimes the LEDs die out shortly after startup, and the fan blades spin slower than they should as if they're not receiving enough power. The weird thing is if i reboot the PC (has to be full shutdown and startup, not reset) the fans often work as expected responding perfectly normal to Asus FanXpert 4 and having the fully lit RGB LEDs. Sometimes the LEDs just don't turn on but the fans work fine and all i have to do to turn the LEDs on is cycle through the options on the fan controller. What's the deal?
 
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raisonjohn

raisonjohn

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What motherboard do you have? Is the Riing fan controller connected to a 4-pin fan header in PWM mode? Most likely reason for the LEDs dimming (and fans spinning slower) is due to low voltage supplied by a header set in DC mode (variable voltage). When in PWM mode (or connected to a PWM header), the voltage supplied is always full 12V.

Similar problem that was solved: http://community.thermaltake.com/index.php?/topic/43233-riing-rgb-fans-not-remembering-settings/
 
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muthabord

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It's in PWM mode but the lights still seem to shut off sometimes. It's strange because they may stay on for 5 minutes before one of the controllers decides to turn off. I can open the case and press the control buttons to turn on the LEDs again but why should i have to be doing that. Most of the time just one of the controllers will turn off and the other will continue to work as you would expect.

What ever the case, i've contacted Thermaltake support to see if they know what is happening.
 
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