lamptron fan controller not working

I suspect you're talking about a LAMPTRON (not lampoon) controller.

From what I can see on the Sharkoon website, the fans are 3-pin design, with both the fan's motor and the LED's included powered from the same supply lines. Now, all fans MUST have a certain minimum voltage to start up, typically over 5 VDC, often over 8 VDC. However, the LED's WILL usually light up at lower voltages. So, are you sure that the controller is set to output full voltage when you try to start up? Do not try to start with the controller set to reduced speeds.

I note that you say the fans cannot start even when they are fed 12 VDC. And yet, when you connect them directly to a PSU Molex output using an adapter, they do spin. So, when they don't spin while "connected to 12 VDC", how do you now they are getting 12 VDC?

Take a close look at the output connectors of the Lamptron unit and at the connectors on the ends of the fans' wires. The controller has four 3-pin fan male output connectors, each with a "tongue" sticking up beside the pins. The fan female connector has 3 (or 4) holes, and grooves on one side. When fitting them together, the grooves on the female connector slip over the tongue on the male so there is only one way to plug them together. In the case of a 4-pin female fan connector, the fourth hole simply does not mate with a (missing) Pin #4.

You were able to get a 4-pin fan to work when plugged into the controller, and that is what should happen. When you plug a 4-pin fan into a 3-pin header, the method of control in use makes the 4-pin fan behave exactly like a 3-pin fan. So, in your test, the controller DOES work as a 3-pin fan controller when a 4-pin fan is plugged into it. That certainly prompts the question, how did you plug in a 3-pin fan so that it did NOT work?

Have you tried plugging any of those 3-pin fans into another fan header? For example, plug one into any mobo SYS_FAN header. If the header uses 4-pin PWM Mode for control, that fan should run full speed all the time. If the header uses the older 3-pin Voltage Control Mode, its speed should be controlled by the mobo header. But either way, the fan should start up and run. If it does, then the fan is OK.

This makes no sense to me so far, so let me ask for you to check a couple of things.

Your original post says the case 3-pin fans will not start up when connected to the Lamptron controller's outputs, but do run when plugged into a PSU Molex output. I'd like you to check details of the connections. Also, since you have a volt meter available, I'd like you to take readings at particular test points.

Look at this diagram of the female (with holes) connector on the end of a 3-pin fan's wires.

http://www.overclock.net/photopost/data/1249403/a/ae/aef6b553_3pin-molex2.jpeg

In the upper one, note the ridges on one side of the connector. These fit around the plastic tongue beside the pins of the male power output connector, so there's only one way to plug it in. Now note the colors and pin numbers. Pin #1 is Black, and it is the Ground connection. Pin #2 is red, and it's the +VDC supply, varying from 5 to 12 VDC to control speed. Pin #3 is Yellow, and it only takes the speed pulse signal from the fan motor back to the male header.

So, when you measure voltages on the fan during tests, ensure that your + probe goes to the RED wire coming out of the connector, and the - probe goes to the BLACK wire. Depending on what the probes are, this may be difficult to get contact with those wires just outside the connector body. For this I can make two suggestions. One is to use a sharp knife to remove a small patch of insulation from the Red and Black wires where you can reach it with the probes. It may be easier to do this close to the fan motor, rather than at the connector. You can put tape over those spots later if you like. The other thing I've done is to get a couple of small straight sharp pins, like sewers or dressmakers use, and push one each into the back of the connector where the red and black wires come out, enough to contact the wires inside where they are already bare. Then use the probes on the pins.

Next, set up to compare the two power sources. One is the Lamptron outputs. Plug a fan into there and see what the actual voltages are on the wires leading into a fan. When you do this, make SURE that the fan connector's ridges face the Lamptron unit's port's tongue, and slide on either side of it. Then, on to the PSU Molex output. Its female 4-hole connector has 4 wires, and there SHOULD be a color mis-match here. The FAN's BLACK lead should connect to the Molex's BLACK. But the FAN's RED lead should connect to the Molex's YELLOW lead because that is the 12 VDC supply there.

So, from those two tests, please confirm what the fan did in each case, and what the voltage readings were in each case.

I would not worry too much about the amps consumed. When it's specified to consume 3W (that's 0.25A at 12 VDC), that is a common (maybe even slightly higher than common) value, and it certainly will NOT use vastly more than that to start up. By the way, I'm surprised to read that your fan controller module is rated for 30W PER CHANNEL. 30W TOTAL is a more common rating for a controller.

Anyway, your last post said something important. You wrote, "then turned up the voltage to 12 volts and it just started spinning while connected to the fan controller!" I should have caught that before. ANY fan must have a certain minimum voltage supplied to it to start up. Computer 12 VDC fans typically need at least 7 or 8 VDC for start-up when they are new and in good condition. Most are in danger of stalling if they are fed less than 5 VDC when they are already running. For this reason, the automatic fan speed control systems used on mobo ports normally feed every fan the full 12 VDC at start-up time, then proceed to complete all their other POST tasks. A few seconds later when that is finished and the software has time to check the temperature sensors in use, THEN it gets around to reducing each fan's voltage (or, for PWM fans, the PWM signal) to achieve the reduced cooling needed for that temperature condition. Moreover, such systems are set never to feed less than some minimum (typically, 5 VDC) to any fan. Further, most such systems monitor each fan's speed signal for failure indicating it has stalled, and will respond to a stall by raising the voltage to full 12 VDC for a short time to re-start, then lowering it again. In other words, the mobo makers know that you always give a fan full voltage to start it reliably.

Users of third-party manual fan controller modules need to understand this and follow the same rules. Always start up your system with all of the fans' speed controls set to max, then reduce them to your desired setting. And do your own periodic checks for a stalled fan that needs to be re-started.

OK, so we're back to the questions I was asking Feb 27. To me it makes little sense for the fan to work perfectly when fed 12 VDC from one source, and then to fail completely when fed that SAME voltage from another source. That is why I asked that you rig ways to measure the actual voltage at the fan with a voltmeter to verify the info.

So, you're sure that the voltage actually reaching the fans is always 12 VDC, no matter what it is plugged into? And yet, the fan does NOT start up when plugged into the Controller module, but works OK when plugged into either the mobo fan header or the PSU output connector?