Case fans spin but don't light.

[marslander]

Howdy,

Looking for a bit of help. I've recently upgraded my GPU and while setting it up I decided to improve my cable management. The aftermath is that, while everything is working, only one of the 6 blue LED case fans lights up. They're just generic NZXT case fans. They all lit up prior to my tinkering and I can't figure out what I could of changed. Again, all the fans are working, they are spinning, just only one of them is actually lighting up. I feel like this is a simple fix and I'm just dumb. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[jacobweaver800]

Howdy,

Looking for a bit of help. I've recently upgraded my GPU and while setting it up I decided to improve my cable management. The aftermath is that, while everything is working, only one of the 6 blue LED case fans lights up. They're just generic NZXT case fans. They all lit up prior to my tinkering and I can't figure out what I could of changed. Again, all the fans are working, they are spinning, just only one of them is actually lighting up. I feel like this is a simple fix and I'm just dumb. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I'm not too familiar with the NZXT case fans, make sure there all plugged in correctly and no wires are bent or broken.

 

[zyh1987]

are they connected to mb or to molex?

which one is the working one connected too.

 

[marslander]

are they connected to mb or to molex?

which one is the working one connected too.

All of the fans are connected through a shared molex, including the single lit up fan.

 

[marslander]

Howdy,

Looking for a bit of help. I've recently upgraded my GPU and while setting it up I decided to improve my cable management. The aftermath is that, while everything is working, only one of the 6 blue LED case fans lights up. They're just generic NZXT case fans. They all lit up prior to my tinkering and I can't figure out what I could of changed. Again, all the fans are working, they are spinning, just only one of them is actually lighting up. I feel like this is a simple fix and I'm just dumb. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I'm not too familiar with the NZXT case fans, make sure there all plugged in correctly and no wires are bent or broken.

All the connections are good - no damage or anything - as for being plugged in correctly I assume that everything is, but for all I know I could have the wrong configuration. All the fans are powered from the PSU via a single shared molex.

 

[jacobweaver800]

Howdy,

Looking for a bit of help. I've recently upgraded my GPU and while setting it up I decided to improve my cable management. The aftermath is that, while everything is working, only one of the 6 blue LED case fans lights up. They're just generic NZXT case fans. They all lit up prior to my tinkering and I can't figure out what I could of changed. Again, all the fans are working, they are spinning, just only one of them is actually lighting up. I feel like this is a simple fix and I'm just dumb. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I'm not too familiar with the NZXT case fans, make sure there all plugged in correctly and no wires are bent or broken.

All the connections are good - no damage or anything - as for being plugged in correctly I assume that everything is, but for all I know I could have the wrong configuration. All the fans are powered from the PSU via a single shared molex.

Are they being powered through an adapter of some sort of a hub? Make sure the adapter is plugged in correctly since Molex is a pain to plug in correctly its possible its loose or something.

 

[marslander]

Howdy,

Looking for a bit of help. I've recently upgraded my GPU and while setting it up I decided to improve my cable management. The aftermath is that, while everything is working, only one of the 6 blue LED case fans lights up. They're just generic NZXT case fans. They all lit up prior to my tinkering and I can't figure out what I could of changed. Again, all the fans are working, they are spinning, just only one of them is actually lighting up. I feel like this is a simple fix and I'm just dumb. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I'm not too familiar with the NZXT case fans, make sure there all plugged in correctly and no wires are bent or broken.

All the connections are good - no damage or anything - as for being plugged in correctly I assume that everything is, but for all I know I could have the wrong configuration. All the fans are powered from the PSU via a single shared molex.

Are they being powered through an adapter of some sort of a hub? Make sure the adapter is plugged in correctly since Molex is a pain to plug in correctly its possible its loose or something.

Connections to the molex are good. I've tried both having the fans sharing a molex cable with the other devices as well as having their own independent molex. There is a fan hub built into the case for speed control that they are connected to, but that seems to be operating as intended. I haven't messed with the hub connections at all and the fans used to light up just fine while connected to it. Appreciate your help, keep it coming!

 

[zyh1987]

have you tried a connecting to a different molex from your psu? what voltage (measured from multimeter )across the fans's gnd and power

 

[zyh1987]

another theory, if your fan voltage is 7 volt, from 12v to 5v instead from 12v to gnd, and your fan has the led wired 2 led in series, you need 6.8 to 7.4 to turn on the led. 7v is a good number as fan in 12v can get higher rpm, and hence louder, so i wouldn't be surpriced that they are running 7

here is something i found,
Red LED = 1.7V (low brightness) - 1.9V (high brightness,high efficiency,low current)
Green LED = 2.1V
Yellow LED = 2.0V
Orange LED = 2.0V
Blue LED = 3.4 - 3.8V (4.6V for 430nm bright blue)
White LED = 3.4V

in that case, your first led will turn on, but anything after might experience some small voltage drop. and maybe you end up with 6.5V or something. fan can run with very little voltage 2 or 3 v, just slow but it will run, but diodes needs a minimum voltage to turn on.

since i don't have the wiring diagram nor the fan wiring diagram on hand, i can't really say for certain, but definitely a possibility. use a multi meter and see.

 

[marslander]

have you tried a connecting to a different molex from your psu? what voltage (measured from multimeter )across the fans's gnd and power

I've tried 3 different molex cables connected directly to the PSU, all three cables resulted in spinning fans, but only one lit fan (same fan every time.) As for the voltage for the fans I haven't a clue. Not sure how I would measure that.

 

[zyh1987]

buy a multimeter, or if you can take a picture off the wiring connection, with from the molex to where is 3 pin that goes to the fans. (all wires and cable) if possible.

 

[jacobweaver800]

have you tried a connecting to a different molex from your psu? what voltage (measured from multimeter )across the fans's gnd and power

I've tried 3 different molex cables connected directly to the PSU, all three cables resulted in spinning fans, but only one lit fan (same fan every time.) As for the voltage for the fans I haven't a clue. Not sure how I would measure that.

How skilled are you in taking things apart? You can try taking apart the fans that won't light up and making sure the LED's are connected right and they aren't burned out. It's possible some of the LED's are dead.