[SOLVED] Can someone help me shop for a "Fan Splitter" 4-pin PWN connector that ALL the connectors are 4-pin and NOT some 4-pin and some 3-pin?

[SeriousGaming101]

Hello all,
I am looking for a Fan Splitter to connect 4 Arctic P14 case fans.
I am looking for something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Tea...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

But the only problem is that I am specifically looking for a Fan Splitter where ALL 4 of the cables are 4-pin connectors. I am NOT looking for Fan Splitters where 1 or 2 of its cables are 4-pin and then the other 1 or 2 cables are 3-pin connectors.

I am looking for a Fan Splitter where ALL 4 cables are 4-pin connectors.

Can someone please help me shop for one that meets my needs?

 

[madmatt30]

The amazon search link literally lists loads of items that are exactly what you ask for.

I'm not seeing what the problem is??

 

[SeriousGaming101]

The amazon search link literally lists loads of items that are exactly what you ask for.

I'm not seeing what the problem is??

If what you say is true, give me a exact link to a specific item.

 

[madmatt30]

If what you say is true, give me a exact link to a specific item.

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Sle...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

 

[SeriousGaming101]

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Sle...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Thank you for that link. Actually I am trying to avoid buying something that looks like this. I prefer something that looks like this:
https://www.amazon.com/TeamProfitco...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
With my exact specification requirements(ALL 4-PIN) , of course

 

[Nemesia]

You can't get something like this with all 4 pin since only 1 of the 4 cable on the splitter is used for the PWM in this case.

You connect 4 4pin fan to that splitter and they all go at the same speed using the 4 pin cable PWM speed you will set up. When you go in the BIOS the 4 fan will be seen as one fan. The fan connected in the 4 pin cable will be the one deciding the speed of the others.

The 4 pin is the master and the 3 pin are the slaves.

And before you plug 4 fan on 1 motherboard header be sure they are under .25A each. Each fan header on your mother is 1AMP. Can't put 4 .5A fan on 1 header.

 

[SeriousGaming101]

You can't get something like this with all 4 pin since only 1 of the 4 cable on the splitter is used for the PWM in this case.

You connect 4 4pin fan to that splitter and they all go at the same speed using the 4 pin cable PWM speed you will set up. When you go in the BIOS the 4 fan will be seen as one fan. The fan connected in the 4 pin cable will be the one deciding the speed of the others.

The 4 pin is the master and the 3 pin are the slaves.

You will not find a splitter with all 4 pin. It's always 1 4 pin and all the rest is 3 pin.

And before you plug 4 fan on 1 motherboard header be sure they are under .25A each. Each fan header on your mother is 1AMP. Can't put 4 .5A fan on 1 header.

The Arctic P14 case fans are 1.44 watts each, i dont know how that translates to AMPs...

Also, they will NOT be connected to my motherboard, they will be connected to an external fan controller:
https://www.newegg.com/thermaltake-...display/p/N82E16811998156?Item=9SIA24G4996030

 

[Nemesia]

The Arctic P14 case fans are 1.44 watts each, i dont know how that translates to AMPs...

Look at the stickers on 1 fan. Should say the Voltage and AMP of the fan.

 

[Mr.Spock]

there are: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16812119893?

but as mentioned PWM signals will be definitely screwy with multiple fans.

btw
Power = Voltage X Current
Watt = 12V X amps
so each of the fans draws ~ 0.12 amps (or .28 on a 5V fan header).

 

[madmatt30]

The Arctic P14 case fans are 1.44 watts each, i dont know how that translates to AMPs...

Also, they will NOT be connected to my motherboard, they will be connected to an external fan controller:
https://www.newegg.com/thermaltake-...display/p/N82E16811998156?Item=9SIA24G4996030

That fan controller is voltage based meaning you don't even need 4 pin fans.

If you don't already own the fans then buy the cheaper 3 pin single speed ones not the 4 pin pwm ones.

 

[Paperdoc]

You are over-thinking this, and I gather you don't understand why. So some explanations of the technology.

Older fans are often called 3-pin fans, because that's their connector - the female has three holes for the 3 pins on the mobo header. What do they do? Pin #1 is Ground, Pin #2 is the +VDC power supply, and Pin #3 carries a speed signal generated in the fan back to the mobo header. That signal is a series of pulses (2 per revolution) the mobo can count to get speed. The mobo can control the fan speed by altering the VOLTAGE supplied on Pin #2, from 12 V for full speed down to about 5 V for the lowest speed. Any voltage lower may cause the fan to stall.

The new fan design called PWM also is called 4-pin, because it uses a 4th pin. The first three pins are the same as above EXCEPT that the Pin #2 power source is always a full 12 VDC. The fan has a special chip inside that uses the new PWM signal from Pin #4 to modify the current flow from that 12 VDC supply through the fan windings to accomplish speed control. The new PWM design was done with as much compatibility with the older 3-pin design as they could do, but mis-matching can cause some odd results; that is why you read not to try to mix the two fan types.

A mobo header can deal with the speed signal pulse train coming back to it from only ONE fan; two or more mixed trains of pulses causes major confusion in counting and errors leading to odd behaviour. So ALL proper Splitters and fan Hubs will only send back to the host header the speed of ONE of their fans. That's the the fan plugged into the output with all four pins. ALL the other output connectors should NOT have a Pin #3, to avoid sending back an extra speed signal. This does NOT cause any problem in control of the fan speeds because the mobo does NOT use the speed reading to do this control.

So, there is NO need to try to find a Splitter with all 4 pins on all its outputs. And you won't find one!

Now comes the question of why you want this. You say you have four fans. You call them Arctic P14, which is a 3-pin fan. But there also is a similar model called P14 PWM, which is a 4-pin fan. So which do you have?

You say also that these are all to be connected to a Thermaltake Commander F6 RGB LCD 6-channel controller. Since that has 6 separately-controlled outputs, why do you need a way to connect 4 fans to it?

As madmatt30 says above, that controller works by adjusting the VOLTAGE it outputs on each channel. That is, it is already working only like the older 3-pin fan headers by changing the VOLTAGE supplied on Pin #2, and it does NOT output ANY PWM signal to any fan. Now, the new PWM fan design includes as part of its backwards compatibility features the ability to be speed controlled by this method, even though it is not optimal. So IF you have the P14 PWM models, they can work this way. IF you have the plain P14 models with 3-pin connectors, this is the right way to control their speeds. Either way, the simplest option is to connect each of the four fans to its own Controller output port. If for some reason that is not possible, you can use plain 3-pin Splitters OR 4-pin ones like you have been showing (with missing Pin #3 on most outputs) to do that. NOTE that on SOME 3-pin output ports on a controller there is not enough space to plug into it a 4-pin fan connector. IF that is your situation, you may find it hard to find any 3-pin Splitters. If that's not a problem, you can use 4-pin Splitters even with 3-pin fans - the fans simply will not make any connection to Pin #4.

 

[SeriousGaming101]

You are over-thinking this, and I gather you don't understand why. So some explanations of the technology.

Older fans are often called 3-pin fans, because that's their connector - the female has three holes for the 3 pins on the mobo header. What do they do? Pin #1 is Ground, Pin #2 is the +VDC power supply, and Pin #3 carries a speed signal generated in the fan back to the mobo header. That signal is a series of pulses (2 per revolution) the mobo can count to get speed. The mobo can control the fan speed by altering the VOLTAGE supplied on Pin #2, from 12 V for full speed down to about 5 V for the lowest speed. Any voltage lower may cause the fan to stall.

The new fan design called PWM also is called 4-pin, because it uses a 4th pin. The first three pins are the same as above EXCEPT that the Pin #2 power source is always a full 12 VDC. The fan has a special chip inside that uses the new PWM signal from Pin #4 to modify the current flow from that 12 VDC supply through the fan windings to accomplish speed control. The new PWM design was done with as much compatibility with the older 3-pin design as they could do, but mis-matching can cause some odd results; that is why you read not to try to mix the two fan types.

A mobo header can deal with the speed signal pulse train coming back to it from only ONE fan; two or more mixed trains of pulses causes major confusion in counting and errors leading to odd behaviour. So ALL proper Splitters and fan Hubs will only send back to the host header the speed of ONE of their fans. That's the the fan plugged into the output with all four pins. ALL the other output connectors should NOT have a Pin #3, to avoid sending back an extra speed signal. This does NOT cause any problem in control of the fan speeds because the mobo does NOT use the speed reading to do this control.

So, there is NO need to try to find a Splitter with all 4 pins on all its outputs. And you won't find one!

Now comes the question of why you want this. You say you have four fans. You call them Arctic P14, which is a 3-pin fan. But there also is a similar model called P14 PWM, which is a 4-pin fan. So which do you have?

You say also that these are all to be connected to a Thermaltake Commander F6 RGB LCD 6-channel controller. Since that has 6 separately-controlled outputs, why do you need a way to connect 4 fans to it?

As madmatt30 says above, that controller works by adjusting the VOLTAGE it outputs on each channel. That is, it is already working only like the older 3-pin fan headers by changing the VOLTAGE supplied on Pin #2, and it does NOT output ANY PWM signal to any fan. Now, the new PWM fan design includes as part of its backwards compatibility features the ability to be speed controlled by this method, even though it is not optimal. So IF you have the P14 PWM models, they can work this way. IF you have the plain P14 models with 3-pin connectors, this is the right way to control their speeds. Either way, the simplest option is to connect each of the four fans to its own Controller output port. If for some reason that is not possible, you can use plain 3-pin Splitters OR 4-pin ones like you have been showing (with missing Pin #3 on most outputs) to do that. NOTE that on SOME 3-pin output ports on a controller there is not enough space to plug into it a 4-pin fan connector. IF that is your situation, you may find it hard to find any 3-pin Splitters. If that's not a problem, you can use 4-pin Splitters even with 3-pin fans - the fans simply will not make any connection to Pin #4.

1. I have the Arctic P14 PWN version which has 4-pin each.
2. I have other fans in my case and the 4 Arctic P14 PWN fans are only for the back left side of my Tower 900 case (I am only going to connect the 4 Arctic Fans to only 1 slot on the Thermaltake Commander F6 using the splitter.)

 

[Paperdoc]

Thanks for those details. A closer look at the web page for that Controller suggests (not completely clear in the photos) that all of its output ports use 4-pin male connectors, so you should have no problem using a 4-pin Splitter with it. And there is no concern about electrical load. The fans are spec'd at 0.11 A max each, so four comes to 0.44 A or 5.3 W, and the controller says its ports can handle up to 30W each. I see no problems.

Just a small note. The controller says it WILL allow you to run the voltage output for each channel down to zero, thus stalling the fan. Fine if you intend to stop a fan. But if you want any to run just a minimum speed, experiment to find how low you can go without stalling, and that may be different for different fan models. In doing this with the four F14 PWM fans, remenber that, because you are using a fan Splitter, only ONE of those fans' speeds is reported (the others should be very nearly the same), but you should check the fans yourself to be sure none have stalled.