[SOLVED] How to connect rgb fans to mobo?

[ROG1NR]

My first build in years, I’m trying to connect an ASUS Strix LC360 RGB AIO cpu Cooler, which includes 3 rgb radiator fans, to an ASUS Strix Z390-e Gaming mobo... where should I connect all the fan cables? The fan’s 4 pin cables all go to a Y splitter, same as the 3 pin cables, so I only have 2 cables to connect to the motherboard. Mobo has (4-pin CPU_FAN; 4-pin CPU_OPT; 5-pin EXT_FAN; 4-pin W_PUMP+; 4-pin AIO_PUMP; 4-pin CHA_FAN1-2; 4-pin M.2_FAN), (4-pin RGB_HEADER1-2)and (4-1 pin ADD_HEADER) this last one only has three pins (two pins, a blank spot and 1 pin). I will really appreciate your help.

 

[GarrettL]

The RGB connector with 3 pins goes to the 5 volt addressable header marked as #9 in the manual. The 4 pin RGB headers are for 12 volt RGB lights.

 

[ROG1NR]

The RGB connector with 3 pins goes to the 5 volt addressable header marked as #9 in the manual. The 4 pin RGB headers are for 12 volt RGB lights.

So the 4 pin cable (the flat one) goes into 12vRGB_HEADER... already tried that and the plug doesn’t stay plugged in, it’s loose and comes out of the mobo connector. Neither of the 12v_RGB_HEADERs have the guide/tab to keep the cable plug in place. That made me think if I was plugging in the rgb cable in the wrong connector.

 

[Paperdoc]

"4-pin" and "3-pin" do not tell us all we need to know. Those two terms are used for connectors on two VERY different types of device.

FANS may have 3 wires from them ending in a 3-pin female connector about 3/8" wide with 3 holes, and two small ridges running down one side. The mobo fan header these plug into has 3 pins and a plastic tongue sticking up beside them, and the ridges of the female from the fan slip on either side of the mobo male header tongue. That way there's only one way to plug it in. The new FAN design uses a 4-pin header that looks VERY much like the 3-pin one, but is just a little wider with the fourth hole beyond the range of the side ridges. Actually, both 3-pin and 4-pin fan female connectors CAN plug into both 3-pin and 4-pin mobo male fan headers, but the results are not obvious if you MIX the two types.

RGB LIGHTS (like the ones built into a fan frame) come in two dominant types today. Plain RGB uses a female 4-hole connector about 1" wide on the end of the cable. The hole on one END will be marked for the 12 VDC line, as will the pin on one end of the mobo 4-pin plain RGB header. When plugging in, you MUST make sure the marked pin and hole are matched up! The more complex Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB or ARGB) system uses a very sinilar female connector on the end of its cable with one of those holes blocked off, and of course the mobo header for ARGB has only three pins. You can only plug these in one way.

The two lighting systems are completely incompatible, so you must not try to connect one type to the other in any way.

Almost all RGB fans or ARGB fans come with TWO cables from each fan. ONE is for the motor and goes to a mobo fan header. The other is for the lights only and goes to the correct type of mobo RGB or ARGB header. In each case (fan motors and lights) one can get Splitters that allow you to connect more than one device to a single mobo header.

 

[ROG1NR]

"4-pin" and "3-pin" do not tell us all we need to know. Those two terms are used for connectors on two VERY different types of device.

FANS may have 3 wires from them ending in a 3-pin female connector about 3/8" wide with 3 holes, and two small ridges running down one side. The mobo fan header these plug into has 3 pins and a plastic tongue sticking up beside them, and the ridges of the female from the fan slip on either side of the mobo male header tongue. That way there's only one way to plug it in. The new FAN design uses a 4-pin header that looks VERY much like the 3-pin one, but is just a little wider with the fourth hole beyond the range of the side ridges. Actually, both 3-pin and 4-pin fan female connectors CAN plug into both 3-pin and 4-pin mobo male fan headers, but the results are not obvious if you MIX the two types.

RGB LIGHTS (like the ones built into a fan frame) come in two dominant types today. Plain RGB uses a female 4-hole connector about 1" wide on the end of the cable. The hole on one END will be marked for the 12 VDC line, as will the pin on one end of the mobo 4-pin plain RGB header. When plugging in, you MUST make sure the marked pin and hole are matched up! The more complex Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB or ARGB) system uses a very sinilar female connector on the end of its cable with one of those holes blocked off, and of course the mobo header for ARGB has only three pins. You can only plug these in one way.

The two lighting systems are completely incompatible, so you must not try to connect one type to the other in any way.

Almost all RGB fans or ARGB fans come with TWO cables from each fan. ONE is for the motor and goes to a mobo fan header. The other is for the lights only and goes to the correct type of mobo RGB or ARGB header. In each case (fan motors and lights) one can get Splitters that allow you to connect more than one device to a single mobo header.

The 3 pin cable is PWM, and the 4 pin cable in addressable rgb... tried to upload images to help...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ju250itwbw3eonu/96E320AE-967E-4D67-9615-F130EFDB3119.jpeg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iumvct5wb92bcgr/D10FA7EC-DC62-4A56-8D0F-D1AB08C0B700.jpeg?dl=0
And the mobo connectors...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gpzdgajufm4fc6w/8FE61F3E-ACB3-417A-97B2-959ED0B185C6.jpeg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tcvsirk50bc4hw/36843849-3837-4E43-B4B5-638B15B08537.jpeg?dl=0
The addressable 3 pin cable connects fine to the 5v ADD_HEADER mobo connector, but the PWM 4 pin cable is the problem, if it’s supposed to go in that 12v_RGB_HEADER it just doesn’t stay put it falls off, right now it’s plugged into a CPU_FAN connector and it’s working... but my rgb fan lights are flickering in a weird way and some fans are not lit at all. Do you think I need to use SATA from PSU?

 

[GarrettL]

No, the connector for the fan power goes to the motherboard fan header, not a 4 pin RGB header.

 

[Paperdoc]

As I suspected, you have been confused because the SAME two terms are used in DIFFERENT ways for two very different systems. There are 3-pin FANS, and 3-pin ARGB lighting cables, and they are VERY different systems and do NOT mix! Likewise, there are 4-pin FANS and 4-pin plain RGB lighting systems, and they ALSO do NOT mix! Your last post indicates you think that any 3-pin female (with holes) connector is for FAN motors, and any 4-pin female connector is for ARGB lights. Wrong!

Of those four photos you linked to:
First one is the female ARGB LIGHTING cable connector. See note below on the LAST photo.

Second photo is the 4-pin female FAN motor connector.

Third photo is the mobo 4-pin make plain RGB header you do NOT use for ANYTHING in your system.

Last photo is the 3-pin male ARGB mobo header that you DO use to connect the cable in your FIRST photo.

Your AIO system came with a 4-output ARGB Splitter for the three rad fans' lighting systems, and you have connected them all to this Splitter if I understand your comment about "daisy chain". Then that plugs into the mobo 3-pin ARGB header (Last photo above).

You have not posted any photos of a FAN header. I see, however, that you have connected a FAN connector to the mobo 4-pin CPU_FAN header and that makes the fan motors work. I presume, in fact, what you plugged into that header is the input arm of the three-output 4-pin FAN Splitter that also came with your AIO system. That is the correct place for that one. All three rad fans connect to outputs of that Splitter. The cable directly from the PUMP unit of your AIO system that ends in a 4-pin female fan connector should go to your mobo's AIO_PUMP header. The pump also has a cable that goes to a mobo USB2 header. Lastly, you must download the ASUS software utility (see p. 25 of the AIO manual) and install that (maybe you have that done already). It takes control of CPU cooling, communicating with the AIO system via that USB2 cable connection to the pump. I presume it also takes control of the lighting systems run by the mobo's ARGB header you have used.

 

[ROG1NR]

Everything is plugged in just like you’ve said, included a few pics:
Addressable cable and top exhaust fan (hard to get a picture cause of GPU mounted vertical and blocking)...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d4be1j2pjmw4va5/IMG_2578.jpg?dl=0
AIO pump and back exhaust argb fan PWM cable...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xogsmsve3o95x3b/IMG_2579.jpg?dl=0
Top exhaust fan and 4-pin PWM rad fan splitter cable...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/55vi27krip76z17/IMG_2580.jpg?dl=0
The whole view...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8y9zqzzvhjc6dmm/IMG_2581.jpg?dl=0
View of the mobo layout labeled...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4229kuhoyckc0s5/IMG_2584.PNG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l69gzfjbkvqctx0/IMG_2586.PNG?dl=0
Even though everything is plugged in as it should, the rad fans aren’t lightning up as they’re supposed to, that’s another reason I was under the impression that I was connecting cables in the wrong places (I’m grateful I didn’t get any magic smoke😯). Maybe the fans aren’t getting enough power for the RGB lights to turn on?! Thought about using SATA power but not sure.
Whole system has the latest drivers and updates, and I’m able to apply changes in colors to the AIO water block and motherboard in ASUS ArmourCrate/Aura; it’s the ARGB fans that aren’t turning on correctly, only about two or three lights turn on on each fan and they don’t change. Might it be a power issue?

 

[ROG1NR]

As I suspected, you have been confused because the SAME two terms are used in DIFFERENT ways for two very different systems. There are 3-pin FANS, and 3-pin ARGB lighting cables, and they are VERY different systems and do NOT mix! Likewise, there are 4-pin FANS and 4-pin plain RGB lighting systems, and they ALSO do NOT mix! Your last post indicates you think that any 3-pin female (with holes) connector is for FAN motors, and any 4-pin female connector is for ARGB lights. Wrong!

Of those four photos you linked to:
First one is the female ARGB LIGHTING cable connector. See note below on the LAST photo.

Second photo is the 4-pin female FAN motor connector.

Third photo is the mobo 4-pin make plain RGB header you do NOT use for ANYTHING in your system.

Last photo is the 3-pin male ARGB mobo header that you DO use to connect the cable in your FIRST photo.

Your AIO system came with a 4-output ARGB Splitter for the three rad fans' lighting systems, and you have connected them all to this Splitter if I understand your comment about "daisy chain". Then that plugs into the mobo 3-pin ARGB header (Last photo above).

You have not posted any photos of a FAN header. I see, however, that you have connected a FAN connector to the mobo 4-pin CPU_FAN header and that makes the fan motors work. I presume, in fact, what you plugged into that header is the input arm of the three-output 4-pin FAN Splitter that also came with your AIO system. That is the correct place for that one. All three rad fans connect to outputs of that Splitter. The cable directly from the PUMP unit of your AIO system that ends in a 4-pin female fan connector should go to your mobo's AIO_PUMP header. The pump also has a cable that goes to a mobo USB2 header. Lastly, you must download the ASUS software utility (see p. 25 of the AIO manual) and install that (maybe you have that done already). It takes control of CPU cooling, communicating with the AIO system via that USB2 cable connection to the pump. I presume it also takes control of the lighting systems run by the mobo's ARGB header you have used.

Everything is plugged in just like you’ve said, included a few pics:
Addressable cable and top exhaust fan (hard to get a picture cause of GPU mounted vertical and blocking)...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d4be1j2pjmw4va5/IMG_2578.jpg?dl=0
AIO pump and back exhaust argb fan PWM cable...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xogsmsve3o95x3b/IMG_2579.jpg?dl=0
Top exhaust fan and 4-pin PWM rad fan splitter cable...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/55vi27krip76z17/IMG_2580.jpg?dl=0
The whole view...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8y9zqzzvhjc6dmm/IMG_2581.jpg?dl=0
View of the mobo layout labeled...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4229kuhoyckc0s5/IMG_2584.PNG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l69gzfjbkvqctx0/IMG_2586.PNG?dl=0
Even though everything is plugged in as it should, the rad fans aren’t lightning up as they’re supposed to, that’s another reason I was under the impression that I was connecting cables in the wrong places (I’m grateful I didn’t get any magic smoke😯). Maybe the fans aren’t getting enough power for the RGB lights to turn on?! Thought about using SATA power but not sure.
Whole system has the latest drivers and updates, and I’m able to apply changes in colors to the AIO water block and motherboard in ASUS ArmourCrate/Aura; it’s the ARGB fans that aren’t turning on correctly, only about two or three lights turn on on each fan and they don’t change. Might it be a power issue?

 

[Karadjgne]

Connection issue. The pump should have more connectors.

Pretty sure it needs a Sata power connection, USB connection and the rad fans are on a 3way included splitter to the pump.

Fans and lights are 2 seperate items, treat one or the other, just because lights work, that's got nothing to do with the fans spinning, and just because the fans spin has nothing to do with lights working. Think of them as a regular fan and a seperate light strip. They just happen to be glued together.