Best solution for controlling radiator fan speeds?

[antihero]

All of the fan controllers I've looked at only offer four fan channels, that's not even close to enough for someone who's running multiple radiators in their rig. I was gonna buy an aquaero but the four channels only kind of put me off. Sure, there's the option of getting adaptors to run them off of the PSU but that's not much to do with control, right? Right now connecting the fans to the mobo and using SpeedFan to set the RPM seems like the only option. On the other hand, I absolutely hate the idea of having tons of cables scattered across the mobo..

 

[Remmy]

NZXT Sentry Mix has 6, and I think 6 is generally a pretty common one tbh. You can run several fans on the same channel using 3 pin fan splitters (less than £2 on eBay). Seeing as they're on rads there's not too much point in having them running at different speeds, so splitting them is fine if you don't mind them all needing to have the same speed.

I currently have 3 fans on one channel and it's fine. Soon I'll have a 240 and 360 rad both p/p, and I'm going to pair them off so there's 2 on each of 5 channels, and the final channel will be the rear exhaust.

Edit: I think a lot of people (I know Tom does) just have them set at a constant speed using a fan speed reducer on each, and don't bother with controllers, but I personally like them, and how they look

 

[Snortan]

One way would be to use fan adapter to 5/7V.
The other way would be to use a fan controller that can drive more Watts/channel. Say for example Lamptron FC5 V2 supports up to 30W/channel and even though it has only 4 channels, 30W is more than enough. I know I've seen someone quoting a Lamptron official that you can safely use 10 Scythe Gentle Typhoon (AP-15) on Fc5v2.

 

[antihero]

So you're saying for instance I could have one set of radiator fans connected via splitters as long as they draw within the maximum current per channel?

Also it would be interesting to know if the Lamptron official meant 10 GTs combined or per channel since a single AP-15 only creates 1.2 Watts load @ 12V.

 

[Snortan]

So you're saying for instance I could have one set of radiator fans connected via splitters as long as they draw within the maximum current per channel?

Yea

Also it would be interesting to know if the Lamptron official meant 10 GTs combined or per channel since a single AP-15 only creates 1.2 Watts load @ 12V.

10 GTs per channel.
I don't see them mentioning max Amps/channel so not sure on how many fans can you really put on it.

 

[vorticalbox]

Yea

10 GTs per channel.
I don't see them mentioning max Amps/channel so not sure on how many fans can you really put on it.

30 w @ 12 v = 2.5 amps per channel

your fans should have the amps on them you can work out how many or your fans you can run on each channel.

 

[Snortan]

30 w @ 12 v = 2.5 amps per channel

Thanks. Didn't know you can work it out that way.

 

[remember300]

Thanks. Didn't know you can work it out that way.

P=V x I
im sad i just used the corsair link kit but thats probs cos im sad and like to do it in the pc, rather than on it, if it makes sense?

 

[vorticalbox]

P=V x I
im sad i just used the corsair link kit but thats probs cos im sad and like to do it in the pc, rather than on it, if it makes sense?

A = W/V (amps = watts/volts)

 

[remember300]

A = W/V (amps = watts/volts)

yes i know thats what you was calculating i was putting the inital formula normaly listed,