How to connect RGB Fans?

[Guest]

Okay So I have the Corsair SP120 RGB fans (2 of them) without the controller These fans have 3 pin connector (for the fan) and 4 pin connector for the RGB LED in the fans so can I connect the 4 pin rgb led connector to a floppy disk connector which comes from the PSU because it is a bit tough for me to get a controller

and in this link

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=162617

He mentioned that I shouldn't connect the 4pin rgb connector to the fan connector on the motherboard but I accidentally connected it just for a couple of SECONDS and turned off the system and unplugged them (I didn't know) So is anything gonna happen to the LED's ?
Please Help.
Thank You.

 

[Vangar]

I think you will be just fine as long as there was no fire or sparks, or your system didn't explode 😉
It might have not been enough power for the fans + LEDs to work.

 

[Guest]

I think you will be just fine as long as there was no fire or sparks, or your system didn't explode 😉
It might have not been enough power for the fans + LEDs to work.

No Sparks Nothing..
Fans were working just led's weren't on was able to boot into bios too..

 

[Vangar]

You probably need a controller then. The fans are getting power but the LEDs might not, or they might be switched off because there is nothing to control them with.

 

[Paperdoc]

Do NOT connect that LED 4-pin connector to any connector from the PSU! You will burn out your LED's!

It is VERY likely that the 12 LED's mounted in the fans are actually four groups of three LED colors. Then the wiring has separate leads for each of the three colors, and one common Ground lead. Power and control of the LED's is done entirely by sending the right voltages to the leads in the right sequences to generate several visual effects. The controller that Corsair sells is pre-programmed for several effects.

The key thing here is that the LED's each need 5 VDC max to operate. They warn you about NOT connecting to a standard mobo fan header because one set of pins on that header will supply 12 VDC, and that's 'way too high a voltage, and likely to burn out the LED's. Exactly the same applies to any power output from the PSU - some combinations of pins from such a connector will supply that 12 VDC power that is too high.

Without the Corsair controller, you could custom-build your own simple switching system. Its supply MUST be only 5 VDC. I expect you could rig it so that you could switch that 5 VDC power supply on and off to each of the three lines that supply the three colors. The fourth line would be Ground or the (-) side of the power supply. Which pin is which is not documented, but you could probably figure it out. That sort of basic control would allow you to switch each color on or off, and maybe make intermediate colors with mixes of two or three LED colors. Of course, those would be fixed colors until you change your switch settings. You could not get all the fancy visual effects that the Corsair controller can do unless you custom-design your own switching controller system.