[SOLVED] H500 case, not able to set up RGB fans, any help?

[Le0nard0]

Its my first time installing rgb hardware. Yesterday i upgraded from my i5 2500k pc into a ryzen 5 3600, mobo and ram are also new. all that got set up easily. my problem comes when setting up the rgb fans ( never done an RGB setup), they turn on but i cant seem to control (ie: changing color, pulse and make it a solid color]. 00either with hardware or software, i'm posting some pics to see if you guys can tell me what i did wrong. thanks in advance.

ask away if you need more info

new rig.
ryzen 5 3600
corsair vengeance 16gb, 16k mhz
cooler master h500
aorus elite wifi by gigabyte
gaming x 1060 6gb
650w psu
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rCAAf6CakUMx6a0g_TWFFzsowmMBwNdk?usp=sharing

(PS: I did do cable management before problem, that mess is all troubleshooting.]

 

[Gang Sabre]

I know this isn't a solution to your problem, but you might need an external RGB controller.

Edit: The last B350 motherboard I owned had an RGB header on it. Go figure.

 

[Paperdoc]

The on-line manual and feature docs are not very clear. They say the two front RGB fans (200 mm) are pre-installed, plus a third non-RGB at rear. Now, such fans typically have TWO cables from each one. One from each ends in a standard 3- or 4-pin female fan connector to plug into a mobo header, and the manual doc seems to indicate that it comes with a small fan splitter to help you connect two fans to one mobo fan header. The second cable from each (well, just the front two RGB units) ends in a much wider connector with four holes in a line, and these are for the lights in the fan frames. The feature sheet says the case comes with a "controller" which appears to be a hand-held box, maybe on a cable connected tinside the case, and a 2-output RGB Splitter (NOT the same as the fan splitter) to allow you to connect both fans' RGB cables to that Controller box. It is the button on that box you must use the change light displays. I think that Controller box also has a second cable from it to plug into a SATA power output from the PSU.

 

[Le0nard0]

I got a case replacement since it was under warranty. I'll try to install again once I get home. The splitter had a dedicated cable for gigabyte motherboards with only a 3 pin while the motherboard had a 4 pin 12v make port(maybe d-led?). Could that have to do with it?

 

[Le0nard0]

So I came home. Connected everything and it all worked. I tried conecting the 3 pin to the motherboard to see if it would work and boom, the 200 mm fans LEDs went off. Now I can only make one turn on

 

[Le0nard0]

The on-line manual and feature docs are not very clear. They say the two front RGB fans (200 mm) are pre-installed, plus a third non-RGB at rear. Now, such fans typically have TWO cables from each one. One from each ends in a standard 3- or 4-pin female fan connector to plug into a mobo header, and the manual doc seems to indicate that it comes with a small fan splitter to help you connect two fans to one mobo fan header. The second cable from each (well, just the front two RGB units) ends in a much wider connector with four holes in a line, and these are for the lights in the fan frames. The feature sheet says the case comes with a "controller" which appears to be a hand-held box, maybe on a cable connected tinside the case, and a 2-output RGB Splitter (NOT the same as the fan splitter) to allow you to connect both fans' RGB cables to that Controller box. It is the button on that box you must use the change light displays. I think that Controller box also has a second cable from it to plug into a SATA power output from the PSU.
[/QUO]

So I came home. Connected everything and it all worked. I tried conecting the 3 pin to the motherboard to see if it would work and boom, the 200 mm fans LEDs went off. Now I can only make one turn on

 

[Paperdoc]

If your fans had a connector on the RGB cable with THREE holes (looks like 4 places but one blocked off), that is ONLY for the Addresssible RGB 3-pin system that supplies 5 VDC to the lights plus a stream of digital control data packets. The FOUR-pin male mobo header is for the OTHER system called just plain RGB, and it supplies 12 VDC plus three Ground lines for the lights. If you somehow manage to defeat the design of these connectors and force the 3-pin female on the cable onto the 4-pin male of the mobo header, you WILL burn out the LED's of the fan frames.

 

[Le0nard0]

If your fans had a connector on the RGB cable with THREE holes (looks like 4 places but one blocked off), that is ONLY for the Addresssible RGB 3-pin system that supplies 5 VDC to the lights plus a stream of digital control data packets. The FOUR-pin male mobo header is for the OTHER system called just plain RGB, and it supplies 12 VDC plus three Ground lines for the lights. If you somehow manage to defeat the design of these connectors and force the 3-pin female on the cable onto the 4-pin male of the mobo header, you WILL burn out the LED's of the fan frames.

Big oof on my end. The documentation didn't say any of that. I figured though. It just said there was one plug (4 pin) for asus, msi, assrok etc and another one for gigabyte(the one I have). I saw a guy install the fans of the same case to the 12 volts on a gigabyte Mobo so I figured thats where it went. I ended up tradingthe case in for a nsxt 500 elite with an integrated controller but it would have been nice having the instructions laid out better.(for the h500 I mean) If I had stayed with the h500 where would I have plugged the cables on my aorus elite? In case I need it for the future. Would be great help, thanks in advance

 

[Le0nard0]

If your fans had a connector on the RGB cable with THREE holes (looks like 4 places but one blocked off), that is ONLY for the Addresssible RGB 3-pin system that supplies 5 VDC to the lights plus a stream of digital control data packets. The FOUR-pin male mobo header is for the OTHER system called just plain RGB, and it supplies 12 VDC plus three Ground lines for the lights. If you somehow manage to defeat the design of these connectors and force the 3-pin female on the cable onto the 4-pin male of the mobo header, you WILL burn out the LED's of the fan frames.

How can I set your reply as the correct answer?

 

[Le0nard0]

If your fans had a connector on the RGB cable with THREE holes (looks like 4 places but one blocked off), that is ONLY for the Addresssible RGB 3-pin system that supplies 5 VDC to the lights plus a stream of digital control data packets. The FOUR-pin male mobo header is for the OTHER system called just plain RGB, and it supplies 12 VDC plus three Ground lines for the lights. If you somehow manage to defeat the design of these connectors and force the 3-pin female on the cable onto the 4-pin male of the mobo header, you WILL burn out the LED's of the fan frames.

It's weird the controller didn't come with a voltage suppressor though. I feel like it should have been something integrated into it. Like, a 5 dollar power bricks have a converter for power.. cost saving probably?

 

[Paperdoc]

"How can I set your reply as the correct answer? "
Searching a bit shows that only the OP can designate a Best Answer - others cannot see or use the icon needed. So, OP, on the particular answer you want to mark, look at the top left of that post, just above the number with arrows above and below. There should be a little trophy icon there. Click on that to designate a post as the Best Answer.

The voltage item is only one of the major differences between the two RGB systems, so merely rigging a circuit to limit voltage is not sufficient to make things work, That is why they used a different approach - try to make it impossible to mis-connect. The other difference is in HOW the light displays are controlled. In the 4-pin (12 VDC power) plain RGB system, there are three Ground lines, one for each of the three LED colours. In the light strip, all of the LED's of one colour are connected to the same ground line. Controlling one of those Ground lines controls all LED's of that colour at once. In the more advanced Addressable RGB system (5 VDC power) with THREE pins, two of those pins provide common 5 VDC power and Ground lines. The third line is the Control Line carrying data packets with instuctions and an address in each packet. Along the light strip the LED's are organized into Nodes. Each Node contains one LED of each of the three colours plus a small controller chip for that Node only. All the controller chips listen to the Control Line and do what they are told ONLY by a data packet with their unique address. So along the entire strip, every Node can appear different at the same time, making the light displays much more complex. With such different control systems, there is no simple way to "convert" one system to the other.