[SOLVED] Lancool 2 Mesh Performance Fan Hub

[BuffaloTech]

I recently downsized out of a larger case into the new Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance. I'm generally quite happy with the case, but struggling to figure out the built-in fan hub.

The hub itself can be seen here (about halfway down the page): https://www.lian-li.com/lancool-ii-mesh-performance/ This is for fan speed; not RGB.

In theory, the hub has three fixed settings, controlled by a front panel slider, and then a fourth setting linked to the motherboard. The fixed settings (low, medium, 100%) work just fine. The linked setting does not: it just runs at 100 percent, and shows nothing at all on whatever fan header it is attached to.

In terms of a connections, there is a 4-pin fan cable that is supposed to run from a motherboard fan header to the front panel PCB, alongside a SATA power connection. Then there is a 4 pin connection from the front panel to the fan hub. I assume that in fixed mode, the front panel generates its own power signal to the hub, while when linked it is supposed to pass through the PWM signal from the motherboard.

The issue, is that none of this seems to be recognized by any of the motherboard headers. I have an ASUS Z170 Premium board and all fan headers are in PWM mode in BIOS. I've tried fan control through both AISuite and SpeedFan, and neither shows any connection at all on the header the front panel is connected to. And seemingly good reason: the four pin cable from the front panel to the header only has three wires, and is missing the RPM wire. In effect, there is no RPM signal going back to the motherboard, nor does it seem that one was intended (it is shown with 3 wires in the documentation). Without a RPM signal coming back, neither AISuite nor SpeedFan seem to recognize that there is anything for them to control by way of the PWM signal and simply show 0 RPM while the fans on the hub run at 100%. Simply reducing the percentages in SpeedFan on the relevant headers likewise has no effect.

Am I missing something terribly obvious, or does anyone have an idea how this is supposed to work? Is there some way for the fan headers to be sending out PWM control signals without a RPM signal coming back?

I could, of course, simply bypass the hub and plug everything into the motherboard headers for automatic control. But then I have a slider on the front panel that doesn't function, which is irritating. And the mystery is something I'd like to solve, given that it is supposed to be able to link to motherboard PWM control....

GS

 

[dimtodim]

I recently downsized out of a larger case into the new Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance. I'm generally quite happy with the case, but struggling to figure out the built-in fan hub.

The hub itself can be seen here (about halfway down the page): https://www.lian-li.com/lancool-ii-mesh-performance/ This is for fan speed; not RGB.

In theory, the hub has three fixed settings, controlled by a front panel slider, and then a fourth setting linked to the motherboard. The fixed settings (low, medium, 100%) work just fine. The linked setting does not: it just runs at 100 percent, and shows nothing at all on whatever fan header it is attached to.

In terms of a connections, there is a 4-pin fan cable that is supposed to run from a motherboard fan header to the front panel PCB, alongside a SATA power connection. Then there is a 4 pin connection from the front panel to the fan hub. I assume that in fixed mode, the front panel generates its own power signal to the hub, while when linked it is supposed to pass through the PWM signal from the motherboard.

The issue, is that none of this seems to be recognized by any of the motherboard headers. I have an ASUS Z170 Premium board and all fan headers are in PWM mode in BIOS. I've tried fan control through both AISuite and SpeedFan, and neither shows any connection at all on the header the front panel is connected to. And seemingly good reason: the four pin cable from the front panel to the header only has three wires, and is missing the RPM wire. In effect, there is no RPM signal going back to the motherboard, nor does it seem that one was intended (it is shown with 3 wires in the documentation). Without a RPM signal coming back, neither AISuite nor SpeedFan seem to recognize that there is anything for them to control by way of the PWM signal and simply show 0 RPM while the fans on the hub run at 100%. Simply reducing the percentages in SpeedFan on the relevant headers likewise has no effect.

Am I missing something terribly obvious, or does anyone have an idea how this is supposed to work? Is there some way for the fan headers to be sending out PWM control signals without a RPM signal coming back?

I could, of course, simply bypass the hub and plug everything into the motherboard headers for automatic control. But then I have a slider on the front panel that doesn't function, which is irritating. And the mystery is something I'd like to solve, given that it is supposed to be able to link to motherboard PWM control....

GS

Noway 😁 . Some manufacture make pin with 3 wires but conector look like 4. And u can run that fas on 100% speed only. Buy acrilik pac 5x p12 its cheep and very good air cooling with minimal noise.

 

[sank!rthan]

I recently downsized out of a larger case into the new Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance. I'm generally quite happy with the case, but struggling to figure out the built-in fan hub.

The hub itself can be seen here (about halfway down the page): https://www.lian-li.com/lancool-ii-mesh-performance/ This is for fan speed; not RGB.

In theory, the hub has three fixed settings, controlled by a front panel slider, and then a fourth setting linked to the motherboard. The fixed settings (low, medium, 100%) work just fine. The linked setting does not: it just runs at 100 percent, and shows nothing at all on whatever fan header it is attached to.

In terms of a connections, there is a 4-pin fan cable that is supposed to run from a motherboard fan header to the front panel PCB, alongside a SATA power connection. Then there is a 4 pin connection from the front panel to the fan hub. I assume that in fixed mode, the front panel generates its own power signal to the hub, while when linked it is supposed to pass through the PWM signal from the motherboard.

The issue, is that none of this seems to be recognized by any of the motherboard headers. I have an ASUS Z170 Premium board and all fan headers are in PWM mode in BIOS. I've tried fan control through both AISuite and SpeedFan, and neither shows any connection at all on the header the front panel is connected to. And seemingly good reason: the four pin cable from the front panel to the header only has three wires, and is missing the RPM wire. In effect, there is no RPM signal going back to the motherboard, nor does it seem that one was intended (it is shown with 3 wires in the documentation). Without a RPM signal coming back, neither AISuite nor SpeedFan seem to recognize that there is anything for them to control by way of the PWM signal and simply show 0 RPM while the fans on the hub run at 100%. Simply reducing the percentages in SpeedFan on the relevant headers likewise has no effect.

Am I missing something terribly obvious, or does anyone have an idea how this is supposed to work? Is there some way for the fan headers to be sending out PWM control signals without a RPM signal coming back?

I could, of course, simply bypass the hub and plug everything into the motherboard headers for automatic control. But then I have a slider on the front panel that doesn't function, which is irritating. And the mystery is something I'd like to solve, given that it is supposed to be able to link to motherboard PWM control....

GS

I had the same issue with my gigabyte z390 with lian li cool 2 mesh performance. After much research, I found that if you connect one of the fans to "fan1" on the controller hub (the one with the white color), the mobo will get the rpm signal. I think lian li should make sure to do this in their build rather than connect to whatever port on the hub. Hope this is the issue you are having.

 

[BuffaloTech]

I had the same issue with my gigabyte z390 with lian li cool 2 mesh performance. After much research, I found that if you connect one of the fans to "fan1" on the controller hub (the one with the white color), the mobo will get the rpm signal. I think lian li should make sure to do this in their build rather than connect to whatever port on the hub. Hope this is the issue you are having.

Yep. That did it.

I don't entirely exclude that it may well have been connected that way in the box, before I happily detached everything. But it should definitely be indicated in the documentation somewhere.

Also, I assume that the missing wire in the motherboard connector is probably the power line, rather than RPM, which would kind of make sense, since the hub is SATA powered. But the diagram in the documentation indicates that it's RPM that is not connected, so that is also a bit misleading.

In any event, problem solved.

 

[sboerner]

Hello all, I know this problem has been solved but I have a related question. I did my first build yesterday in a Lian Li Lancool 2 Performance Mesh case. I studied countless build guides, and did more research than I did on my graduate school thesis. In the end, it all came together and I posted just fine.

Since this was my first ever build, I was keeping everything simple and using the 3 stock fans from the Lancool 2 Performance case. Thus, other than the CPU fan, I did not add/remove any fans, so I have the 2 case fans on the front and the one on the back as shipped. Cable setup seemed to go fine, and the fans are all spinning and adjust accordingly to the case fan control switch (low, medium, high). When I have that switch in the "auto" position, it appears to adjust appropriately (fan speed goes back down to very low spinning at idle). The caveat here is I am not really able to put the rig through a high load scenario because I am still waiting on a GPU and just using the Intel integrated graphics setting at the moment. So I'm not sure if the fan speed is really adjusting up according to heat yet, but lets assume it is.

So here's the issue... when I went into my bios to adjust my XMP profile to get my RAM speed corrected, I noticed that only the CPU fan was registering RPMs. The three "system fans" all listed N/A. Again, they are spinning, so I assume they are working. I stumbled on this thread, and BuffaloTech's issue pretty much described my same issue and I saw the reply that one of the fans must be plugged into "fan 1" on the controller to register RPMs.

Lo and behold, the case, as shipped, did NOT have anything plugged into "Fan 1" on the controller. This amazes me, because I can assure you that I did not unplug any of them during my build, so at least MY case was shipped with no fans in the correct position. Once I moved one of the fans over to "fan 1" on the controller, I rebooted to bios and could see ONE fan (sys_fan 2) now shows RPMs, while sys_fan 1 and sys_fan3 still show as N/A.

So I'm hoping someone can answer a question to a neophyte. Is it a bug or a feature that only one fan is showing RPMs? I admittedly know nothing at all about PWM fan controlling, and bought this case under the assumption that I wouldn't have to fool around much with it since it got such good ratings for the stock fan airflow. Are all fans in a linked PWM setting under a fan controller like this supposed to be running under the same speed and showing up only once in the bios control? Maybe something is wrong, or maybe it is just fine, but I have no clue. The Lancool seems like an awesome case, but the instructions were awful. Thank you SO much!

 

[BuffaloTech]

Once I moved one of the fans over to "fan 1" on the controller, I rebooted to bios and could see ONE fan (sys_fan 2) now shows RPMs, while sys_fan 1 and sys_fan3 still show as N/A.

So I'm hoping someone can answer a question to a neophyte. Is it a bug or a feature that only one fan is showing RPMs? I admittedly know nothing at all about PWM fan controlling, and bought this case under the assumption that I wouldn't have to fool around much with it since it got such good ratings for the stock fan airflow. Are all fans in a linked PWM setting under a fan controller like this supposed to be running under the same speed and showing up only once in the bios control? Maybe something is wrong, or maybe it is just fine, but I have no clue. The Lancool seems like an awesome case, but the instructions were awful. Thank you SO much!

It's a "feature," as it were.

Your motherboard sees the fan hub as a single fan. The fan hub is connected to the Sys_fan 2 header on your motherboard, and thus that fan spot is showing as populated. But your motherboard can't tell where there is one fan or six connected to the hub, hence it only shows one fan. The fan hub then replicates the motherboard signal from the connected header to all of the fans connected to the hub. Thus, there is no individual control of the fans on the hub. They all run at the same percentage of their max RPM. Sys_fan1 and Sys_fan 3 are other headers on your motherboard that presumably have nothing connected to them.

Sounds to me like everything is working as it should. If you want to test the fan speed, as controlled by the motherboard, without actually generating a lot of internal heat, you should be able to do that with any one of various freeware apps (e.g., FanSpeed), or possibly the config software for your motherboard (e.g., AI Suite for an ASUS board).

Agree that Lian Li's documentation is terrible and that they should be shipping the fans connected correctly. Otherwise, though, it's a great case.

 

[sboerner]

It's a "feature," as it were.

Your motherboard sees the fan hub as a single fan. The fan hub is connected to the Sys_fan 2 header on your motherboard, and thus that fan spot is showing as populated. But your motherboard can't tell where there is one fan or six connected to the hub, hence it only shows one fan. The fan hub then replicates the motherboard signal from the connected header to all of the fans connected to the hub. Thus, there is no individual control of the fans on the hub. They all run at the same percentage of their max RPM. Sys_fan1 and Sys_fan 3 are other headers on your motherboard that presumably have nothing connected to them.

Sounds to me like everything is working as it should. If you want to test the fan speed, as controlled by the motherboard, without actually generating a lot of internal heat, you should be able to do that with any one of various freeware apps (e.g., FanSpeed), or possibly the config software for your motherboard (e.g., AI Suite for an ASUS board).

Agree that Lian Li's documentation is terrible and that they should be shipping the fans connected correctly. Otherwise, though, it's a great case.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the explanation. Yes, sys_fan2 is the only populated fan header on my mobo (other than CPU fan). So it sounds like all is indeed likely well, but I will play with the apps you suggested. Thanks again!