PC Fan Controller connection guide (SPX-18570)

SPARK-X
1

I purchased this PC Fan Controller board and am awaiting its arrival - I don’t see a connection guide anywhere so I am hoping that someone can confirm, or correct, my assumptions. I also purchased a small three wire fan (red, black, yellow) and from what I can see its red wire is VCC, black wire is GND and yellow wire is TACH.

Fan that I purchased

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002YFSHPY?re … tails&th=1

PC Fan Controller board through hole connections; left side, top to bottom.

GND - connects to fan GND

VCC - connects to fan VCC if simple on/off operation is desired?

TACH - connects to fan TACH wire (yellow?)

PWM - connects to fan VCC if PWM/speed-control is desired?

External power connectors?

GND - connects to external power GND

FAN VCC - connects to external power VCC

2

Thank you! Hopefully I don’t let the green smoke out :wink:

3

Don’t have my scope with me but do have a multimeter and verified some of my assumptions.

GND - connects to fan GND

Correct

VCC - connects to fan VCC if simple on/off operation is desired?

This also seems to be correct. The SparkFun fan controller library for the Arduino affects this pin thusly:

fan.disableFan() causes 0v to be present on this pin.

fan.enableFan() causes +5v to be present on this pin.

TACH - connects to fan TACH wire (yellow?)

Have not gotten here yet…

PWM - connects to fan VCC if PWM/speed-control is desired?

This also seems to be correct. The SparkFun fan controller library for the Arduino affects this pin thusly:

fan.setPercentThrottle(0) causes 0v to be present on this pin.

fan.setPercentThrottle(100) causes +4.1v to be present on this pin.

Again, I don’t have my scope with me and can only see what the multimeter tells me.

4

I have a question regarding connections to a 12v 4 wire fan. I see in the dsheet for the board, there appears to be a mosfet included in the “Fan Power MOSFET” diagram. Is that internal (Open Drain output) to the Fan Controller board or do I need to add external ?