Asked by: Jagjit Dellbrugge
home and garden indoor environmental quality

How does a fan controller work?

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I infer that the fan controller works by inserting a capacitance into the fan's power supply circuit. The slow speed is obtained by using the 4.3uF capacitor (purple, P), the medium speed is obtained by using the 2.1uF capacitor (red, R), and the high speed is obtained by direct connection (no capacitor.)


Keeping this in consideration, how does a fan speed controller work?

In a capacitive type fan regulator, various combinations of capacitors is used to control the speed of the fan. (or voltage across capacitor is inversely proportional to the capacitance). Hence, if capacitance is increased then the voltage across the capacitor decreases allowing more voltage across the fan motor.

is fan controller necessary? Fan controllers aren't necessary, more of a personal preference to slow down fans which are loud at full speed. I've never heard of fan controllers making them louder unless it's a weird situation where pwm fans are clicking at lower speeds.

People also ask, what do fan controllers do?

Having a PC fan controller in your system makes it much easier to monitor temperatures. Most feature software and allow you to manually adjust fan speeds and make your system the perfect balance of cool and quiet.

How a capacitor works in a fan?

The fan has an AC single phase motor. Now when capacitor is added to the additional auxiliary winding of stator it creates field which leads by 90 degree to main winding field so we get two field which are 90 degrees to each other, resulting a rotating field responsible for start of the fan motor.

Related Question Answers

Natascha Damour

Professional

Does changing capacitor increase fan speed?

You can change the capacitor and restore the rated speed of fan. However, that will not make it go any faster than its rated speed. The only case it might make the fan faster is if the capacitor used were smaller than ideal to begin with.

Lucyna Relea

Professional

Does capacitor increase fan speed?

You can overcome this problem by using capacitor regulators. Now, when you increase the capacitance, the voltage across the capacitor decreases but that across the fan motor increases. Accordingly, the speed of the fan increases. In other words, you need to increase the capacitor value to increase the fan speed.

Angele Debenham

Professional

Does reducing fan speed save electricity?

Capacitors regulate the fan speed by regulating the waveform of power supply. These do not get heated up and thus save electricity when the fan is running at lower speeds (at higher speeds electricity consumption of fan is the same with both regulators).

Zuria Ottolini

Explainer

Can you adjust ceiling fan speed?

If the fan is off, pulling the chain will set the fan in HIGH speed. The second pull will set the fan in MEDIUM speed. The third pull will set the fan in LOW speed. Most pull chains are marked with a fan symbol or a light symbol to identify which pull chain does what.

Hadil Ranieri

Explainer

Why does my ceiling fan not go fast?

Answer: A faulty capacitor may cause a ceiling fan to run slowly or quit running altogether. The capacitor should be replaced by an electrician: There are three screws that hold the light kit or switch or housing cap to the bottom of the fan. Remove these screws and take the light kit or housing cap off.

Itsaso Berraha

Pundit

Why does fan speed reduce?

once power was given, capacitor will create a RMF(Rotating Magnetic Field) in motor. if capacitor is not connected or damaged fan just produce humming noise and start heating and damage the windings also. once capacitor losses its capacitance value torque will be reduced resulting in slowing the fan speed.

Asensio Kamburova

Pundit

How does 3 speed fan switch work?

With 3-speed motor, Hot voltage connects to main winding at 3 different points. Only 1 point at a time receives power. That's what the fan switch does. When voltage is applied to each point, the main winding is energized as voltage from Black Hot wire completes circuit with White neutral wire.

Yonka Bulto

Pundit

Do I need a PWM fan?

PWM usually merely offers increased functionality ranges (some going as low as 20%). but no. you really don't need PWM for case fans. whether or not you want better case fans is up to you, but to make that decision solely on using 3 pin or 4 pin fans is largely irrelevant.

Abdelmoumen Verspohl

Pundit

Is PWM fan better?

Non-PWM fans can still have their speed adjusted by the mobo or a dedicated fan controller. PWM fans are more power efficient (although I can't imagine them saving you more than a few watts). I think a given PWM may have a lower minimum speed than an 'equivalent' non-PWM fan, but non-PWM fans can still run slow enough.

Jinyu Errichiel

Pundit

Does motherboard control fan speed?

The motherboard WILL NOT control your fans by itself. Give the software a go.

Ibrahym Dickopf

Teacher

Are all 4 pin fans PWM?

All 4 pin fan headers are NOT PWM.

Cheikhou Iparragirre

Teacher

What is the difference between a 3 pin and 4 pin fan?

You can plug a 3-pin CPU fan into a 4-pin socket on the motherboard with no problem. The fan will just run at full speed. The 4th wire is PWM or Pulse Width Modulation and it does a better job at reducing and controlling fan speed than reducing the voltage for a 3 pin fan. 4-wire fans are better..

Silda Bogalheiro

Teacher

What's a PWM fan?

PWM stands for pulse width modulation. PWM fans and/or pumps are found in some CPU coolers and GPU (aka graphics card) coolers. They use an integrated circuit to control the speed of a fan or pump and, therefore, how much cooling it's providing to the CPU or GPU.

Castorina Aliaga

Teacher

What is better PWM or DC?

The PWM header is a PWM-only header and won't be able to control a voltage mode fan. A voltage mode header is 3-pins and controls voltage mode fans and PWM fans that can detect they are being driven in voltage mode. Four-pin DC header will control both types of fans, but won't offer true PWM control.

Dewey Cirac

Reviewer

What does PWM stand for?

Pulse Width Modulation

Aditi Allspach

Reviewer

How does PWM fan control work?

In short, PWM operates like a switch which constantly cycles on and off, thereby regulating the amount of power the fan or pump motor gains. The PWM system that is used for controlling fans and pumps works with the motor, either getting +12V (full power) or 0V (no power). So, the motor is being fed impulses of power.

Matutina Artyukhin

Reviewer

What is a PC fan controller?

Fan control is the management of the rotational speed of an electric fan. In computers, various types of computer fans are used to provide adequate cooling, and different fan control mechanisms balance their cooling capacities and noise they generate.

Kit Trigueira

Reviewer

What is the best fan controller for PC?

Top 6 Best Fan Controllers On The Market 2019 Reviews
  • Aerocool Fan and Temperature Controller with USB 2.0.
  • NZXT Sentry 2 Touch Screen Fan Controller.
  • Kingwin Fan Controller with USB 3.0 Hub.
  • Thermaltake Commander F6 RGB LCD 6 Channel Fan Controller.
  • Lamptron FC2 Fan Speed Controller 45wx6 Channel.

Shad Saba

Supporter

How do you control a 3 pin fan?

For 3-pin fans, the connections to it are Ground to Pin #1, +VDC (varying) to Pin #2, and Speed signal on Pin #3. To control fan speed, the mobo header must alter the voltage on Pin #2, ranging form +12 VDC (max) to about +5 VDC.

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EveryThingWhat Staff Editor

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12th March, 2020

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