[SOLVED] Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance Sync PWM fans to motherboard

[Rui_Cardona_1]

Hi everyone, I just ordered this case after watching some pretty nice reviews about it and the fact it comes with a fan controller plus 3 PWM fans completely blew me away.

My question now is, how the hell do I connect that to my motherboard? I've been looking at the online manual provided by Lian Li but I can't exactly figure out how it works. I have provided a picture of SC of it so if anyone can help me figure it out it would be much appreciated!

SC of the Manual

 

[Nemesia]

Hi Rui_Cardonna_1

The orange cable is connecting to any sys_fan header on your board. That controls the speed of the fan.

The red cable is the SATA power cable that needs to be plugged in a SATA power cable from your PSU.

The yellow cable connect to that port on the Fan Controller.

The green cable is your front panel power and reset switch cables. You connect that on your board where it goes. Manual should tell where.

The blue cable is the front audio jack. You plug that on your board where it goes for the audio.

The purple cable is the front USB 3.0. You plug that in a USB 3.0 on your board if you have one.

The 3 fans plug in that fan controller FAN-1, FAN-2 and FAN-3.

https://imgur.com/a/mSKxR3h

View: https://imgur.com/a/mSKxR3h

 

[Rui_Cardona_1]

Hi Rui_Cardonna_1

The orange cable is connecting to any sys_fan header on your board. That controls the speed of the fan.

The red cable is the SATA power cable that needs to be plugged in a SATA power cable from your PSU.

The yellow cable connect to that port on the Fan Controller.

The green cable is your front panel power and reset switch cables. You connect that on your board where it goes. Manual should tell where.

The blue cable is the front audio jack. You plug that on your board where it goes for the audio.

The purple cable is the front USB 3.0. You plug that in a USB 3.0 on your board if you have one.

The 3 fans plug in that fan controller FAN-1, FAN-2 and FAN-3.

https://imgur.com/a/mSKxR3h

View: https://imgur.com/a/mSKxR3h

Hi, thank you for your reply and the explanation of the schematics. My doubt is how do I use that "MB" Mode that shows up on the table. It says it "syncs" with the motherboard's PWM signals but it apparently has no connection from the fan expansion board itself to the motherboard.

 

[Nemesia]

Hi, thank you for your reply and the explanation of the schematics. My doubt is how do I use that "MB" Mode that shows up on the table. It says it "syncs" with the motherboard's PWM signals but it apparently has no connection from the fan expansion board itself to the motherboard.

Yes it does. The orange cable on my picture is the one controlling the speed of the fans since it's plugged in sys_fan header.

When you switch the speed using the orange cable switch it will tell the fan using the yellow cable and since the fan are connected to the board with that orange cable they will sync.

 

[Rui_Cardona_1]

Yes it does. The orange cable on my picture is the one controlling the speed of the fans since it's plugged in sys_fan header.

So in theory I should be able to just use a fan speed controller software without having to physically connect anything to the motherboard? Because none of them go to the motherboard.

 

[Nemesia]

So in theory I should be able to just use a fan speed controller software without having to physically connect anything to the motherboard? Because none of them go to the motherboard.

The orange cable connects to the motherboard. A sys_fan header on the board. That's your motherboard connection for the fan.

Why would you want to do all of this so that switch can control the speed of the fans if you want to use a software? If you want to use a software just connect the fans to the boards like you would do normally without using that fan controller and the front panel control switch.

This isn't really a fan controller by the way. It's a fan expansion board.

 

[Rui_Cardona_1]

The orange cable connects to the motherboard. A sys_fan header on the board. That's your motherboard connection for the fan.

Why would you want to do all of this so that switch can control the speed of the fans if you want to use a software? If you want to use a software just connect the fans to the boards like you would do normally without using that fan controller and the front panel control switch.

That's because on that table it says "MB" -> "Sync motherboard PWM signal " And I want to figure out how that works, it's a physical slider on top of the case that switches to that mode but there's no other explanation of what exactly it works. That has been the whole point of this post, I probably should've worded it better

 

[Nemesia]

Right. Sorry I didn't understand what you meant at first.

The PWM mode is probably just a mode where instead of actually setting the fan to a certain speed using the slider other options it's probably just taking the PWM set in your BIOS or a fan speed software. it let you use the speed set somewhere else instead of using the low, med and high speed of that physical slider.

That's a neat thing so you don't have to use the other 3 options and can use whatever is set as a fan curve in the BIOS / software.

 

[Rui_Cardona_1]

Right. Sorry I didn't understand what you meant at first.

The PWM mode is probably just a mode where instead of actually setting the fan to a certain speed using the slider other options it's probably just taking the PWM set in your BIOS or a fan speed software.

That's what I assumed it does, but for that to work the fans should need to be connected to the Fan Hub otherwise that option of the slider would be useless. Which brought me to my question, how exactly does the Fan Hub communicate with the motherboard

 

[Nemesia]

That's what I assumed it does, but for that to work the fans should need to be connected to the Fan Hub otherwise that option of the slider would be useless. Which brought me to my question, how exactly does the Fan Hub communicate with the motherboard

This is not a fan hub. A fan hub will have a cable to connect directly to the board.

What you have is just a fan expansion board. You connect the fans in that expansion board. That expansion board connect to the rest of the front panel circuit board with the yellow cable.

THEN the orange cable is connected to a PWM sys_fan header on your motherboard. The speed of the fans on the expansion board is controlled by that orange single connection on your board.

Expansion board -> Yellow cable -> Front panel circuit board -> Orange cable -> Motherboard. That's the connection between fans to the board.

 

[Rui_Cardona_1]

This is not a fan hub. A fan hub will have a cable to connect directly to the board.

What you have is just a fan expansion board. You connect the fans in that expansion board. That expansion board connect to the rest of the front panel circuit board with the yellow cable.

THEN the orange cable is connected to a PWM sys_fan header on your motherboard. The speed of the fans on the expansion board is controlled by that orange single connection on your board.

Expansion board -> Yellow cable -> Front panel circuit board -> Orange cable -> Motherboard.

Oh! I misunderstood you completely then. I thought you were telling me that the orange cable was a one of the fan cables which led to me being confused.

Really sorry and thanks a lot for the patience, marking your answer now

 

[Nemesia]

Oh! I misunderstood you completely then. I thought you were telling me that the orange cable was a one of the fan cables which led to me being confused.

Really sorry and thanks a lot for the patience, marking your answer now

We understood each other in the end so that's what is important I hope everything is clear now with the mess of an answer I gave you haha

Take care and if you have any more questions I'm here!