After careful consideration I have decided to transfer all hardware review activities to a new domain. I purchased Hardwareasylum.com in 2012 and have been working hard to build a new and improved Ninjalane on that domain. If you are reading this you have reached one of the archived articles, news, projects and/or reviews that were left behind during the site migration.
Please update your bookmarks and be sure to visit the new and improved Ninjalane at Hardwareasylum.com
Lamptron FC3 Fan Controller Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Sunday, May 03, 2009
Installation
Installing the Lamptron FC3 is rather straight forward and quite similar to installing any other drive bay device. The faceplate is molded to fit most cases and cover any gap in the faceplate. 4 screws hold this device in place.
Power comes from the 4 pin molex connector and is then divided up between the 4 rheostat controllers.
For those of you that don't know a rheostat (or potentiometer) is basically a variable resistor to control voltage. These devices can be found almost everywhere. Light dimmers, ceiling fan controls, and volume knobs are just some of the more common applications. The ones featured in the FC3 are the radial type that spins around a fixed axis. At one end the power is cut off, on the other you get full voltage. Lamptron has included a lot of additional electronics to enhance the FC3 and make it handle more wattage in a consistent manner.
For those of you that don't know a rheostat (or potentiometer) is basically a variable resistor to control voltage. These devices can be found almost everywhere. Light dimmers, ceiling fan controls, and volume knobs are just some of the more common applications. The ones featured in the FC3 are the radial type that spins around a fixed axis. At one end the power is cut off, on the other you get full voltage. Lamptron has included a lot of additional electronics to enhance the FC3 and make it handle more wattage in a consistent manner.
When a channel is activated a blue LED will light up and change brightness depending on the voltage level.
The voltage can be adjusted between the standard 5 and 12 volts, as many of you may know to get 7 volts from a PSU you just mix the 5 and 12 volt rails together; however that is not always safe so having an active switcher is nice. In our testing we did notice a faint electrical feedback coming from the fan motors at certain voltages. This varied depending on what fans we tested with but the RPM adjustments were flawless. We tested with a variety of "quiet" 120mm fans so running full power was just like running them off the PSU, the real benefit is when you have powerful fans, not only can you control the RPM but overall noise and cooling performance.
You just don't get that kind of control from wimpy "quiet" parts.
The voltage can be adjusted between the standard 5 and 12 volts, as many of you may know to get 7 volts from a PSU you just mix the 5 and 12 volt rails together; however that is not always safe so having an active switcher is nice. In our testing we did notice a faint electrical feedback coming from the fan motors at certain voltages. This varied depending on what fans we tested with but the RPM adjustments were flawless. We tested with a variety of "quiet" 120mm fans so running full power was just like running them off the PSU, the real benefit is when you have powerful fans, not only can you control the RPM but overall noise and cooling performance.
You just don't get that kind of control from wimpy "quiet" parts.
